Charlie Brooks
posted in Mom Stories
My wife has given birth without painkillers for a second time. This terrifies me, because I don’t know what else she might be capable of.
We were extremely lucky with our Halloween baby in that the entire labor and birth process unfolded almost exactly the way it did with our first. That meant we both looked like pros during the entire process. It was still painful for my wife, but significantly less so because suddenly we were experienced at this. (Tip for those who want to go through a natural childbirth: the combination of a birthing ball, counter pressure, and massage worked wonders for us.)
Experience also came in handy for me at several points during the labor. Aside from being able to gauge when I needed to coach my wife on her breathing and when she was doing fine on her own, I also knew when to turn my head away from the things I didn’t want to see and when to focus on the real miracle-of-life stuff that I want to remember forever, such as when the baby came out and took her first few breaths.
Knowing that the flood of emotion that comes after a birth almost caused me to faint last time, I even took a moment to put my head in between my knees and breathe deeply, expecting that to happen again. Instead, it turns out that since my heart had already grown three sizes with the first birth, I didn’t need to worry about that stuff. Once I realized that, I just jumped up and down while squealing like a schoolgirl.
Now we’ve got two children, and the chaos will begin soon.
When my wife finally got a chance to take a shower, I got a brief few minutes alone with both kids. I had the new arrival cradled in my arms, needing an occasional rocking and shushing to keep her content, and I had my two-year-old son running around the room in a frenzy, pumped up from his trick-or-treating and wanting to play. This served as a valuable glimpse into the future, where both children will be demanding my attention and I have to be the social equivalent of Mr. Fantastic, stretching my interaction capabilities to handle both their needs at once.
I suppose this is an improvement, however. Last time around I spent the first month worrying about whether I would accidentally kill my son. Now I’m worrying about how expensive it would be to magically clone myself so I can be in two places at the same time.
Down the line, I suppose I’ll also have to worry about how to make Halloween something that is still a special holiday in its own right but which also doesn’t distract from my daughter’s birthday. The good news on that front is that the Halloween babies I’ve spoken to say that Halloween is a great holiday to be born on because it feels like the entire world is dressing up for a costume ball in your honor.
I suppose all that’s left for the moment is to hunker in and prepare for the first-month craziness that I know is about to come. Experience got us through labor without any major problems – hopefully it can get us through several weeks of sleepless nights as well.
Read more from source:“babycenter-com-baby”