A New Kid On The Block

So much information, so little time!

I suppose I should start by welcoming our new baby to the fold! After doing battle in the labour ward for a full four hours, Mrs L delivered a beautiful baby boy yesterday afternoon at 4:10!

The day was not uneventful: I took a whitie at the sight of an epidural needle and my own mother decided to reveal clairvoyant talents we had never suspected before!

First up: I am very squeamish. A labour ward veteran by now, I’ve seen my share of afterbirth and been curiously unaffected by it. This time, as Mrs L was receiving her epidural (which is administered into the back), I started feeling light-headed. I knew she was supposed to stay still, so I persevered, not wanting to upset her.

By the time the anesthesiologist had finished, my head was spinning. I tried to walk out of the room, but was caught by a midwife just outside and made to sit down. Anyway, I recovered fairly quickly, but felt a little weaker for the rest of the day.

Second: The Psychic Mother. Mother Levee has never displayed any signs of having supernatural powers before. In fact, both my parents have been strangely detatched from the whole pregnancy process this time which has been disappointing.

Anyway, Mrs L and I were still in the labour ward with our newborn. We were enjoying those first few tender moments with the baby and had no immediate intentions to start ringing around with the news. Both of us were knackered….when my mobile started to ring. I’m sure I cursed, thinking it was the mother-in-law checking up on progress. Instead it turned out to be a frantic Mother Levee!

“I’ve been hearing Mrs Levee scream for the last hour!” she gasped. “What’s going on with the baby? Has she given birth? Is she alright?” She was shooting questions at me. Here’s the rub: she didn’t know Mrs L was being induced. We hadn’t spoken for over a week at this point and my parents had no idea what was going on.

I was guarded at first. Had she been in contact with the in-laws? Had somebody let them know? It wasn’t possible. Eventually I got my more rational father on the phone and he concurred. About 4:00, my mother had started rabbiting on about ‘having a feeling’ that something was happening and hearing Mrs L in the pains of labour! Uncanny stuff!

There’s so much more to tell. I’ll hopefully pick this up again later when there’s a bit more time. Right now, I’ve got to straighten up the house for the inevitable (or is that unenviable) round of visitors later today!