Today we went for our hospital tour to see where Miss EJ will be born.
Is it weird that I was more nervous about finding out and knowing where to park the car than the actual birth?
I'm sure that will change...mostly because now we know where to park.
There were 3 other couples in our tour plus one really really excited grandmother. I loved walking around in the group holding Mr. Murphy's hand. All of us were first time moms and each of us had the pregnant waddle down like pros. We were all accompanied by our spouses, or to be politically appropriate as the hospital must say, "our birthing support partner." Hah.
We were both thoroughly impressed with the largeness of the Labor and Delivery rooms. Our tour guide was very informative.
However, it is kind of weird to hear words like, "stirrups, circumcision, and that special 'v' word" in mixed company.
Although nothing was more awkward than when the tour guide showed us the BIRTHING MIRROR. Talk about a moment you're not ready to experience with a crowd of strangers for the first time. All of us were giggling like middle school children. Suffice it to say that no hospital tour should conceivably be complete with out seeing the fully rotatable birthing mirror, that's what made it for me.
Well, in all seriousness the real magic happened when they took us up to the nursery. The tour guide was jabbering on about visiting hours or some other helpful information and it was like everything around me melted away. There, in the nursery, was a tiny newborn baby girl laying in her bassinet. She was a beautiful pink and freshly out in to the world scrunching her tiny toes. She opened her little eyes for a small moment only to squint and drift back to sleep.
Tears welled up in my eyes and all I could think of was our EJ in her first moments of life as a perfect beautiful small baby that I made with the one I love the most. I buried my head in Mr. Murphy's chest to hide my watery eyes and having a baby never seemed more real than in that moment.
I tuned back in somewhere around talking about birth certificates.
Today was wonderful.
I have never felt more ready to park the car and have my life changed forever.
5 comments:
the hospital tour...a memorable milestone on the first-time road to motherhood...things seem a bit more real after this. You're almost there Mama...it's going to be glorious! ;)
& don't worry...my group giggled about the mirror, too. & you can bet I had them hide that thing in the corner come D-day. Ha.
I actually used the mirror with Cameron (not with my other two). I had to push for 2 hours, and by about 1.5 hours, I was exhausted and DONE. So they busted out the mirror so I could watch his head move down with each push. It was gross, but it definitely let me see what all of my hard work was actually doing. Just something to think about! :)
Whilst on my hospital tour I did hear a lady giving birth in a nearby room (complete with almost-screams) - I could have done without that. HAHA
Reading your blog always make me so excited to have a child with my husband. I love the way you put everything you're feeling so eloquently into words. :) Blog on, Rachel. Blog on.
loved this post :) and I feel like I'm just as wonderfully anxious about having this babe as I was with Brooks (my first)!!! While home births seem amazing (and honestly quite tempting) I'm so grateful for modern medicine and wonderful facilities that allow such great comfort for the moms and the babes. That place is going to be your little heaven for those first few days after having your baby <3
and i laughed a bit about the birthing mirror...I still remember being asked by the nurse if we wanted her to pull it down from the ceiling for us...Adam and I looked at each other with the most awesomely awkward smiles and said, "no thank you" ;)
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