A Birth Day

Another birthday party has come and gone for my granddaughter. She will turn five at the end of the month but we celebrated early because she’ll be going back to her dad’s house next weekend.

Soon after my daughter found out she was pregnant, she asked me if I would like to be with her for the birth of this child. I was not present in the conscious sense for either of my children’s arrival and had never seen a human being born before. I was both nervous and honored to be asked to share in this highly personal event. As a way of preparation for the big day, I watched many episodes of "A Baby Story" on the Lifetime channel. Programs like this are only interesting if you or someone near and dear to you is expecting. I figured this was as good a way as any to prepare myself for whatever might happen.

When the long-awaited phone call came telling me it was time to get to the hospital, I found myself in a nicely decorated birthing room. My daughter was on the bed with her husband standing on one side and her doctor and a staff nurse on the other. Everything seemed to be proceeding nicely and my daughter was handling her labor like a trouper. She intended to have an epidural ( a needle inserted into the spine to numb the body from the waist down). Apparently, there is a very small window of time during the dilation process of the cervix in which to administer this. Something or other occurred that caused her to miss this "window". Before long and before my eyes my beautiful daughter gave birth to a beautiful girl without benefit of any anesthesia or pain-killing drugs whatsoever. It was the most incredible thing I ever saw in my entire life and she accomplished this in a most stoic manner. It was astounding to me that she was able to deliver this baby with no more than a minimum of grimacing and a modicum of profanity.

I was so proud of her and so thrilled to be present at the moment of my granddaughter’s arrival into the world. She was born in the same hospital where my son was born almost 17 years ago. There is no longer a maternity ward in this hospital; my granddaughter was one of the very last babies to be born there. Now, if I happen to have to visit the billing department and I look across the hall to see the room where such a happy memory was made,  all I see is another dreary office. It’s as if the cheerful, non-threatening birthing room never even existed. But it and what happened there will exist forever in my memory.

It certainly doesn’t seem like it’s been five years since I witnessed this miracle. And now, here is this little blonde, blue-green eyed girl celebrating her fifth birthday and all registered to begin kindergarten this fall. Amazing.