The Arrival of Zachary: A mother's report

Andy has been doing such a great job posting on the blog and keeping everyone up to date. He said that I would be getting on to share my side of Zachary's birth story and so I thought I should follow through. Truly, I thought he painted a perfect picture of what happened but it occured to me that we have quite a few friends that are about to also be moms for the first time and they may not have enjoyed reading that entry quite as much as he enjoyed writing it. So, I will add that the way I see it is all you really need is lots of encouragement and knowing that everyone is right there if you need them. Andy mentioned that the midwives were incredible and I would absolutely agree. They worked so hard for us and were so competent and skilled in all ways. I cant imagine having gone through this process with anyone but them. Most importantly though, Andy was the most amazing labor coach ever. You would have thought this was something he was quite experienced in by the way he was able to keep me so calm and confident in my ability to have this baby. He even made me laugh sometimes which was important and even managed to film a labor documentary in the process (only the early parts of course). At one point...after we had been working for at least 20 hours one of the midwives asked him if he had eaten lunch. He wandered over to find a granola bar and I am pretty sure never actually even ate it as he ran back over to be where the action was.

I really thought that one of the coolest things about the labor and birth process is that you get this total ability to draw in and close out everything around you...time flies by...you are focused on one thing only. As he mentioned it was quite a long process so I remember the feeling that I had truly truly never known exhaustion quite like this. Yet, at the same time have never had to work so hard or perform a task so challenging. Of course, then came more strength from who knows where and everything worked out perfectly. I definitely did tell Andy at one point that this little baby was going to be an only child, but once Zach arrived and I reached down to grab his sweet little body I forgot about absolutely everything we had just been through. Well, maybe not forgot but suddenly when I thought about a few of the hard moments they just didn't seem that bad. It was an incredible feeling to be able to finally look at the face of the little guy that I had been carrying for 10 months and feeling his little kicks. I finally knew who he was. Another amazing part of the process that I had not anticipated was to watch Andy see him for the first time. From the moment he saw the top of the head he began to well up with tears. (Dont tell him I told you!) As the baby was being delivered I was too exhausted to even lift my head, but I could see Andy's face and knew exactly what was happening as he was the most overwhelmed and the most joyful that I have ever seen him all at the same moment. It was amazing. So I keep thinking about all of my friends that are about to have their first babies and I hope you are encouraged and excited...no matter what happens it will certainly be the most amazing experience of your whole life.