Lesson learned - #2 from the delivery room...again.

I must say, I never thought I would stay in the delivery room when Amy was giving birth. There is just too much "extra" going on that I never thought I wanted to be a part of until I was the actual person giving birth. I'm not sure, maybe I assumed it would scare me to death and my poor husband (figuratively speaking right now) would never be able to convince me to have one of my own.

I decided to use some of my comp time (or call in sick, whichever makes you feel better) to be with Amy and David on Matthew's grand debut. It was my FULL intention to snap pictures of this special day so they would remember every moment. every. single. moment. Well that is except the actual "pushing time." I would simply give the camera to David and he could snap away until his little heart was content. As the time got closer, my heart picked up pace as I heard the dr say now david you're going to stand here and hold her leg to help her push... "hold her leg??? how will he do that AND take pictures?" I thought for no longer than a split second.... Answer - he won't.

But guess who wasn't holding anything and more than able to take pictures?? Yep, you got it... yours truly. I asked Amy if she wanted me to leave and she gave me about as definitive answer as a woman in labor could give.... "sure, if you want to. I don't care." right. If I want to? Is this a trick question? Of course I don't want to, but then who would capture the moment? ugh. no one. Poor little Matthew's arrival would be undocumented.....

So guess what, I strapped up, hid behind my camera, the IV's and Amy's round belly and started recording the moment. Matthew's moment. The day that the Campbell's life changed and will never be quite the same.

We cheered, encouraged, shouted and waited for a couple hours. At one point (I'm not sure what I was saying), the doctor looked up at me and said "you guys must come from an athletic family. I can tell by the way you're cheering." LOL. Then one of the nurses says, "who do you think will cry first??" I answered quite confidently almost in unison with Amy, "I'm not really a crier." Well, another hour went by and that little guy finally decided to make his grand entrance into this world.

While I was busy making sure to get this all on film (wait, what is it called now, digital, digits?), a bunch of thoughts whipped through my mind about Amy before David... and then her meeting David, and then marrying David and then when they told us they were pregnant... and now this beautiful, perfect boy is here waiting to be cleaned so he can be put in his mother's arms. My eyes felt hot. WHAT IS THAT?!?! Wait, am I... I turned to look at Amy and she had a tear running down her cheek. So I did what all normal (I mean what is normal anyway) sisters would do... I pointed at Amy and shouted "She's crying first!!"

eh-hem. I'm sorry, was that inappropriate? I'm gonna have to plead ignorance. I've never been in a delivery room while a mother is delivering a child. Plus, they wouldn't have known that I won if I hadn't pointed it out, right? :) Ok at this point, Mom's eyes should be about to pop out of their sockets because she can't believe how insensitive I'm being. Obviously, I realized that my comment was completely unsuitable for that moment, hence the whole point of this bl0g. I really didn't mean to say it, it was a knee-JERK reaction as I felt myself starting to cry (see, I do have a heart). So my lesson learned #2: Witnessing the birth of a child is almost an indescribeable thing that words really can not do justice. 2b: don't point at the new mom just after the child is born and shout that she's crying... it's just not nice. :) Sorry Ames! Love you!!! Congratulations Campbell fam, is what I meant to shout!!

(isn't he beautiful??)