A Baby Story

Let me just start by saying that God has been blessing me immeasurably lately when it comes to celebrating new life. My last post was about my boys' baptism and now, tired and incoherant as I am, I am excited to tell you that I had the amazing privilege to be a part of a birth last night.
My sweet friend, Heather, was due to have her first baby last week. She was a little apprehensive about the whole labor and delivery thing, so she wanted someone who had been down that road a few times (wink) to be in there with her. Her hubby was a little.....ok, ALOT.....skiddish about the whole process, bless his heart, so they both agreed that ol' Gayle ought to take his place next to her Mama in there.
YAY!!
We arrived at the hospital on Saturday night around 9 p.m. where she labored on her own until around 7:30 a.m. with little progress. It was then, that the Dr. came in and decided it would be a good time to get things moving a bit faster (thank you Lord), so he put her on a pitocin drip and broke her water.
Ok, NOW we are in business. She labored until about 9 a.m. with those horrid pitocin contractions until, most blessed and honored event that it is, she was able to get her epidural.
The angels sang audibly at that moment, folks. Life was good and all was well.
Heather was even able to catch a nap while her Mama and I drank our 256th cup of coffee and prayed that our deodorant wouldn't wear out. At about 5 p.m., she was ready to start pushing.
Here is where I give a big shout out to all the nurses and labor coaches in the world. I am sure that many of us can relate to only having been on the pushing side of the whole delivery event, so we don't realize that it takes a village of folks doing a full body workout to assist in getting these little pumpkin's out. Before you say that it is nothing compared to what the mother is going through, I will tell you that I unequivocally agree. Remember, I have done this 4 times myself. I just have to say that I was SURPRISED at how physical it is for the helpers.
Our (Heather's Mama and I) main duty was to hold Heather's legs and push backward on her feet during a contraction. It's all about giving them resistance, I guess, and let me tell you, her legs are STRONG. We pushed, pulled and contorted, dispensed numerous spoonfulls of ice, and dried exhausted tears from our champ for about an hour and a half. My shoulders and legs are sore today, but I wouldn't change it for anything, because, at 6:21 p.m., I saw the most amazing and beautiful thing happen. I saw this perfect little face and then this perfectly formed little body slip out of her mother, and I absolutely marvelled at our God. I just wept (and still do every single time I think about it, including now) at how miraculous birth truly is. God is so very good to us. I just want to give Him the praise right now, for this awesome experience.
Well, I need to wrap up this long post and make my children something to eat. I will end this by telling you that Mom and Baby are fine, and are resting comfortably as they get to know each other while figuring out this whole nursing business. I have a trillion pictures of Heather's sweet baby girl, but I don't think it would be a good idea to post them on the world wide web without permission. Just trust me that she is extremely cute with her wide eyes and a head full of fuzzy dark hair. Alright, I'm really going now..
OH! HOW could I forget? Happy St. Patricks Day, from this Irish lass! Are you wearing green?