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Mr Beautiful.
At 1:52pm (AEST) on January 20, 1998 my first grandson was born. He weighed 3240g (or 7lb 2oz) and was 51cm long. I was privileged to be present and support my daughter all through her labour and the birth of her son. This is how it happened On Monday morning she started to have contractions and unfortunately this was the day new carpet was laid in our house so I spent most of the day packing and unpacking things and moving furniture. Having chatted for all but two hours of the previous night i was hoping that it was not labour. By midnight we had the house back in order for the most part and it was clear that it was indeed labour. I did what i could to get my daughter comfortable and tried to get a few hours sleep before we went to hospital. At four in the morning the pains were quite strong and i was sure that the labour was going to continue so we drove to town in my clapped out kombi. At the hospital we were shown to a labour suite and my daughter was pressured right from the outset to have procedures which she did not want. The next few hours passed slowly as the contractions intensified. We moved about the labour suite, from shower to bed to birth mat...trying to find relief from the discomfort and pain. At times we both just held each other and cried. There seemed to be an attitude among the medical people who came in that their intervention should be accepted without question. My daughter did not share this belief and resisted, vulnerable though she was. She went the entire labour as she wanted...without drugs and with minimal intervention. I can only admire her strength and integrity. That was the pattern for nine hours, through the first change of shift of hospital staff until with the next shift midwife andrea came in. I'm not sure if it was her or my daughter or the baby or what...but all of a sudden the room seemed calm and the contractions strong and the urge to push came upon my daughter. This stage of labour seemed to take only about half an hour before mr beautiful emerged *s* He was wide eyed and alert and looking around. All the family gathered around oohing and aahing while he lay on his mother's belly. There were a few tense minutes as my daughter bled with the birth of the placenta and seemed to be in shock. Some vigourous abdominal massaging and a shot stemmed the flow and she fell into a daze then slept for a few hours with baby in her arms and her mum at her side. How inspiring and profound the whole experience has been for me. To be so close to someone I care so deeply for and share with them the intense joy and fear and pain and pleasure of a lifetime, all in a day. This is what it is to be human. |