Holy shit! Tuesday night at 11.18 pm after I dunno how many hours of labour, my amazing and lovely wife produced a beautiful little boy….! Rohan Alexander was born the right way up and with Rach on just gas and air; no epidurals, Ventouse, or machines that go ping.
(Really) short version of labour:
7am: small contractions
2pm: bigger ones
4pm: really, really big ones
6pm: hospital (didn’t get lost. Yay!)
7pm: expecting birth any second now…
8pm: in the bath.
10pm: things slowing down!
11pm: things speeding up!
11.18pm: pop
Turns out he started OP (Second dad, see, I know all the terms. For you amateurs out there that means back to back, hurts a lot, not a good thing..). This was even after Rach had spent weeks sitting on inflatable balls, not slouching, doing yoga and eating pizza while hanging off the ceiling (I made that last one up). The midwife was incredible in persuading him to turn around: loads of different positions and some hocus-pocus down the “other end” (the place to which we, as dads, do not go during labour..) which all worked spectacularly in the end.
So, he stayed chilled all the way through, came out with a big cry and then started rooting for food almost straight away. He’s absolutely lovely – LOTS of hair (more than me, goddamit), amazing fingers and toes and incredibly alert – already looking for any gadgets to fiddle with, I reckon.
My thoughts on the whole experience: fucking amazing, but ouch.
Congratulations.
Good move to name a baby after a clothing brand. Potential sponsorship there methinks!
Thanks! We thought about Nike, Coke and Cadbury but they didn’t have the same ring 🙂
Fantastic, Mike, many congratulations to you all. Enjoy! I’m envious – although I think we’re happy sticking at three, there’s nothing quite like the magic of holding your newborn. I hope you get plenty of time to enjoy it all.
Many congratulations Mike (and Rach). Rohan’s a new one on me too. Where’s it from? Should be easy for people to spell but also make him easy to google. Very thoughtful. All the best to all of you.
Joe
Thanks Joe and Jeremy!