It seems many of you were able to appreciate the lightness of my son's birth. I come from a family that enjoys seeing the humor in things, and dear lord, the day of Jack McKay's debut was certainly filled with many opportunities to do so.
However, I realized after sharing my dramatic tale that there were a few things I forgot to mention and I decided that some follow-up is needed.
(1) All the noise I was making was not necessarily from the pain I was in. Yes, giving birth was very painful at times, however, up until some nurses taught me how to rein in my vocals, I was using being loud to actually get through the contractions in a positive way. It helped me keep my focus. I'm going to do a different write-up about natural child birth in the near future, but until I do, hear this: many natural childbirth advocates believe that an open mouth equals an open cervix. Sounds crazy, but I totally buy into the idea that if your body tenses up (like clenching your jaw), you're less likely to progress as well in labor. If you let go in regards to what your body is doing, things happen faster.
(2) The birth I had was AWESOME. I realized after a few friends commented on how terrified they now were of having a baby after reading my story that I hadn't adequately conveyed my satisfaction. Almost everything I could have envisioned about how it would go down, did. Granted, I didn't expect to show up at the hospital at the last minute, shoot amniotic fluid at some nurses and I CERTAINLY didn't think the midget from Poltergeist would be the doctor on-call delivering my child, but you can't get everything you hope for in this life!
(3) I have never felt more proud of myself or my body. Bringing another HUMAN (!) into this world the way nature intended... I did what I set out to do and no one can take it away from me. And I have the world's cutest baby to thank for it.
(4) Kyle did not get major props in my last write-up. I won't deny it: I was a little skeptical about how he would be as a birth partner leading up to "the big day." I had asked him to read three books, most of which he did not because he thought the cesarean was definitely happening. The night he started scrambling to catch up was the night I went into labor (oops). But you guys, he pulled it out. He, more than anyone else on the planet it seems, has a way of keeping me calm when things seem their most chaotic. And aside from his choice of parking space and his incorrect use of a certain "contraction tracker" app, he was awesome. I was (and still am) super proud of how he handled everything that day.
(5) I forgot to mention the world's most delicious oatmeal cookie can be found at Sharp Mary Birch Hospital. It was the first thing I ate after giving birth and I have never loved a cookie more.
In the coming weeks (because it seems I am still having difficulties getting posts up; sorry about that), I will be writing a slew of things about birth, life with baby and officially starting out as a working mom. I hope you'll join me in all my new adventures!
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