Sympathy Pain

It smelled like Mrs. Moore’s 11th grade biology class. Sarah had begun shaking uncontrollably. It’s an effect of the epidural. The room had a strange sound mix, the rhythm of Tony’s fetal monitor, James Taylor, and a nurse counting backwards from 10. My wife was laying with her legs in stirrups, spread open for all who wandered in.

“Honey, could you do me a favor?”

“What is it honey?” I would have walked through hell for this woman.

“Could you drape something over the T.V?” I look at the turned off television and see my wife staring at the reflection of her ripening vagina.

An hour passed. She had been amazing. I could tell she was tired, but knew that we were in for some more. She had stopped the trimmers. She was doing great. It was surreal to have the nurse say,”I can see the head, your at about +1 station…wanna see?” To begin with I said no. However, I promised myself not to miss anything. So, I took a peek. First, let me state that this may be too description for some…but it was as if everything went very clinical. Yes, I realized I was looking down my wife’s nu nu, but it was more academic at times. I saw his head, about 2 inches into the birth canal. He has tons of hair. Black hair like…um…my dad, I guess.

Time passed again, and we where into our second hour of pushing. The night nurse came in to help at this point. Sarah says it felt like a lifetime, but in my world, the time went by very quickly. I wasn’t coaching, like in class, but was taking my cue from the nurse, Julie, and Sarah’s contractions. My job was to listen for Sarah to say “OK” and make sure the nurses heard her, grab a leg, and squeeze until the contraction passed. The head was making great process with every push, but would retreat slightly when she rested…something you don’t say out loud to an exhausted mother-to-be…Julie.

The doctor came in carrying the vacuum apparatus to help with the delivery. They used this to assist with Jack. He was waiting to see if we would need it. I could see Tony’s head all the time now. It was cream white with hair…coming out of an irritated red vagina. It was very sci fi. The doc left for a few minutes while Sarah continued to push.

At about 2 1/2 hours into this, the doctor came back in. He decided it was time to do this. He put on his booties over his shoes. They dropped off the end of the bed, put the bag to catch…stuff. He palmed the babies head and Sarah pushed. Out came the head. I noticed that the song playing was our song. It had just reached the break in music at the end of the song, and the sax began to play “Auld Lang Syne”. The doctor sucked out his mouth and nose, adjusted the cord, and got ready for the next push. As the song rapped up, the last contraction hit, and James Anthony Comer was born.