That Time I Was in the Delivery Room

 

That Time I… was started by Alex from Let Life Be Like Music and Emily from Inhabit Your Moments, and is being used with their permission. Be sure to visit their blogs on Wednesdays to read their That Time I…

With the birth of my first niece coming this week (possibly today, depending on whether the doctor decides today’s the day to induce), I’ve been feeling nostalgic about the birth of my youngest nephew, Logan.

Our family was a wreck when Amanda got pregnant with Logan. We were so broken, I didn’t think anything could ever save us, but Logan did. I was so excited to be having another nephew. Noah was seven by then, so it had been a long time since we’d had a baby in the family. I was thrilled when Amanda asked me to be in the delivery room for the birth. I missed Noah’s birth entirely (ironically enough, my family was pretty broken around the time of his birth too, and he saved us then…seems to be a bizarre theme in my family), so I was excited to get the chance to be there for Logan.

Amanda, her sister, and I spent the entire day together on February 4th, 2010 waiting to get a call from the hospital that Amanda could go in to be induced. They didn’t give us any time frame, so we tried to stay busy so we wouldn't go crazy. We headed out early in the morning to do some shopping, then went back to Jamie and Amanda’s for lunch and to hang out. Late that evening, we had pretty much given up hope that it would be that day, and Jamie and Amanda were about to take me home when we got the call.

Long story short…Amanda was induced, had an epidural, and when she was finally in active labour, it was literally about 20 minutes of pushing before Logan came out. I couldn’t believe it. She’d had complications with Noah - he hadn’t wanted to come out and they had to use the vacuum thingy to basically suck him out, so I expected hours and hours of labour.

The second he came out, the three of us were so surprised and excited we all let out this little cry and Logan whipped his head in our direction. He was so busy trying to figure out what was going on that he didn’t even cry. Right then I knew he was going to be something special, and boy, was I right!

The nurses took him to clean him up and I started taking pictures of him. My absolute favourite is this one:

I’d been taking pictures for just a few minutes when he did this. I laughed, thinking he looked like he’d had enough of me taking pictures, and I remember thinking, again, that that was going to say a lot about his personality, and again, I was right. He’s got the biggest personality of any kid I’ve ever met. He’s funny and smart and crazy and so, so lovable. He's my best buddy. 

In short, seeing a baby come into this world is the most beautiful, disgusting, incredible, exciting, life-changing experience. I credit it for the really intense connection Logan and I have, and I wouldn’t trade that for the world.