Monday 17 May 2021

May 17, 1991: With every contraction I had to push on Nancy's lumbar harder than I'd ever pushed to get a piano up a stairs


Thirty years ago today

            I was sleeping soundly on Friday when at around 1:00 the phone rang. It was Nancy and she said, "I think my water broke!" She said she'd had a few cramps but decided that maybe she should just sleep until morning. I went back to bed but she called me again at 1:30 and asked me to come because the cramps were becoming more frequent. I got ready, called a cab and took it up Warden until we got ahead of a bus. It was about 3:00 when I arrived and Bridget and the other midwife were already there. 
            With every contraction I had to push on Nancy's lumbar harder than I'd ever pushed to get a piano up a stairs. 
            There was a small complication when the baby's heart rate dropped and so Bridget called 911. But two minutes later everything was normal and so when the ambulance guys got there they just hung around and gave Nancy some oxygen, which she didn't need but it made her high and she kept asking for more. They left before my child opened her eyes and cried halfway out of Nancy's vagina. 
            She was born at 11:14 after a short labour of nine and a half hours but a long delivery of ninety minutes because of her size. 
            She found the nipple right away. 
            She cried again when she was weighed in at 4.5 kilograms and was incredibly quiet after that.

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