The beginning - as told by daddy...

Day 0

The labour was close to 10 hours. Or rather we were in the labour ward for that duration. She had been dilating slowly throughout the day and towards the last hour, one of the midwifes had to help with the dilation. I'd almost thought that she'd pop the following day.

The gyne arrived at about 10.45 pm and told the wife that all she needed by 11 pm were 3 pushes. 2 midwifes were assisting by pushing on each side of the wife's tummy.

By the 2nd push, he paused to ask me what was the make of the camera I was using and commented that since he had not seen it before it must be new. I was dumbstruck for a good 5 seconds and lost the focusing on the camera. I had too lost track of the 3rd push, only to realise the baby will soon be out as the gyne reached for his 'favourite' vacuum plug.

The gyne barked over my wife's raised legs, telling me to ready the camera for the 'moment'.

***

She kind of 'slipped out' with the final push.

The gyne was almost directing my shoot from the front of the wife's legs.

'Set it on multiple!'
'Here's the head, look!'
'Out. Here you go!'
'Shoot shoot!'
'Take the time, the clock's behind you.'

My camera swung from place to place.
Got the baby, got the blood, got the wife, got the clock.
I'd lost focus on the camera but I didn't quite care. It's the Moment, right?

In a seamless flow, the midwives were dabbing and wiping her while inserting the tubes in all orifices to suck out the fluids. She cried and cried, then paused momentarily to open her eyes for the first time, peeking into the World.


I went 'wowowowow' and broke into a few 'hos'. I was tongue tied. Vocabulary eluded me. The wife was slightly better...at least she went 'Oh my, oh my....hello baby.'

The gyne had deftly snipped the cord and I was looking up down the little one, checking for hands, fingers, legs, toes, ears, nose...just making sure she's got them all.

The gyne then proceeded to draw the cord blood for our donation and had the placenta removed. I took a glance at the blue-purplish blob of placenta on the tray and failed to understand how anyone would process and consume it. I wasn't sure if the wife felt the gyne stitching her up after this. She was just looking over her shoulders, watching the midwife clean up Avery.


The midwife had her wiped down and prepared to give her her first jab. I alternated between shooting and assuring my wife.

The stitching took a while more (those were really big surgical hooks!), in the meantime, she was bringing the house down with her cries.

***

The midwife brought her to the wife.

It was indescribable that the pregnancy had ended and we were looking at our baby, our firstborn for the very first time. I don't know how the wife felt when she cuddled her for the first time. As i recalled mine, i was awkward, afraid that I would mishandle and injure my fragile dearest.
The stitching got done, and the gyne recommended a ped for Avery.
He got round to all the paperwork and gave me a firm handshake and a pat on my back.

'Congratulations.'

Avery was all swaddled by now and we were told that she'd be wheeled to the nursery on Level 6 and the wife had to stay put for 2 more hours for further observation. I followed the midwife and was briefed of the procedures for retrieving her from the nursery.

It's already 10 minutes past midnight when i called the folks to let them know of Avery's birth. Guess that officially makes me a father and them, grandparents.

***