The adrenaline is still pumping despite it being 1am so I may as well write a birth story from the man's point of view.
I left Mrs Greenback on Sunday evening, convinced that I would get a call any time during the night telling me she had gone into labour as I'd heard from others that Propess can work very efficiently. Having had a fairly fitful night's sleep and no call early this morning I was prepared to do a day's work from home. No sooner had I posted here, emailed my team at work telling them it was business as usual and cleared my home working with my boss, I had a call from the delivery unit to say Mrs Greenback was in quite advanced labour and I should come to the unit asap. Cue me running like a loon to the car and driving in a manner that will cause me some shame when I reflect on the day.
Arrived 10 minutes later at 9am to a distressed mum to be. It turned out that Mrs Greenback had been in labour since 2am but it was hospital policy not to allow partners onto the ward, only when expectant mums are transferred to the delivery suite. Mrs Greenback was pretty emotional, frightened and already very tired. I tried to contain my anger at this point - I was equally upset that I had been denied the opportunity to comfort my wife, especially as this was our first baby and everything was unknown to us.
Those thoughts passed quickly to helping Mrs Greenback through the final stages of the labour. I guess by the time I arrived contractions were only 3 or so minutes apart and rapidly getting stronger. She was doing brilliantly well and was determined not to use any pain relief other than her TENS machine and gas and air. They insisted on monitoring her whilst she was on her back for 20 minutes, which then turned out to be about 45 minutes. Thankfully we managed to get her off the monitor for a couple of hours thanks for the midwives who negotiated with the doctor (her thyroid problems were 18 months old by that point and everything was moving along nicely). Meant she could stand again, which made things a little easier.
By 12pm she was ready to push and push she did. After an hour and a half it seemed like things were slowing down. Mrs Greenback was moving towards exhausted despite her valiant efforts to push the baby out and by 2pm the baby was at the end of the birth canal but not quite crowning. The midwives were adamant that she could push that final way and their support and encouragement were brilliant, especially the student midwife who was kind, supportive and ever present.
By 2:30pm she was back on the monitor and at that point came the moment that any expectant parent dreads - the baby's heart rate suddenly dropped, monitors started going off and we were suddenly presented with an army of medics complete with machines and all sorts. I was suddenly a spare part oushed back to the corner of the room and desperately trying to hold it together when Mrs Greenback looked me in the eye. Thankfully almost immediately the heart rate recovered to normal although we were rapidly losing hope of a normal birth.
Just under an hour later it was clear that things weren't happening. All of a sudden the doctor decided enough was enough and wanted to do a forceps delivery but in the operating theatre should a c-section be needed. We were rushed to the theatre and by this point Mrs Greenback was inconsolable, made worse by the fact that I couldn't be present during the epidural. I sat for a long 15 minutes in my scrubs before being taken through to the operating theatre to sit by her side.
Almost in a flash she was pushing through her numbness during another contraction and the next thing I knew a purply pink thing was yanked with some force straight out of her, following by the most exhilarating cry. We both broke down and it's still very emotional writing this now, but I wanted to get this down before any memories fade. Nothing prepares you for that moment when you realise that baby's wailing means that everything is going to be ok. The paediatrician held up the baby so I could see and we were finally told it was 'a pink one'. Took me a couple of moments to realise they meant it was a girl 
. After a brief check up I insisted that Mrs Greenback held the baby before me and then it was handed over for me to cradle whilst they began the stitching.
I was allowed to take the baby back to the delivery room whilst they finished repairing Mrs Greenback and had a good half hour on my own with Susannah, just holding her and watching her gurgle happily in the crib. The massive positive out of Mrs Greenback's bravery in refusing any more serious pain relief was that the baby was so alert, taking in everything around her. It was 30 minutes of pure unadulterated joy. Eventually Mrs Greenback was wheeled back in and we went straight for skin to skin contact. The midwife was fantastic in getting the baby to breastfeed and it got a good 25 minute feed before falling asleep.
After another couple of hours, Mrs Greenback's drip was finished so it was time to clean her up. I took the opportunity to go out and get some fish and chips - due to the timing Mrs Greenback hadn't had a hot meal in over 2 days. I also made a few calls to let people know the happy news before lugging my cool box back to the maternity ward. Big kudos from the staff for bringing in hot food that didn't stink 
. Wish I'd brought some for everyone.
I managed to wangle an extra half an hour beyond visiting time to spend with Mrs Greenback and Susannah, leaving them to get to grips with the next feed. I suspect tonight is going to be very tough as the epidural wears off and establishing feeding will inevitably be difficult. Before I left I did change the baby's first nappy and got vomited on twice, so I consider myself to have done something useful . Absolutely horrible to leave your wife and child alone though and this is one of the reasons why I'm still awake. It doesn't feel right.
So there you have it. What a rollercoaster.
