Tidbit Tuesday: ChapStick

At 1:00 a.m. August 18, 2013 my water broke...evidently. I wasn't entirely sure it had even happened until my back pain started to cycle and I could barely stand up. The back pain turned out to be contractions and at 4:15 a.m. when we arrived at St. Vincent's Birmingham I was "complete"...i.e. about to have a baby, three weeks early, in less than an hour, sans pain medication. So at 5:11 a.m. we met B for the first time and our lives were forever changed.

But let's rewind to that 56 minute period from when we got to the hospital to when B arrived. Pain meds would have been lovely but I only needed two things - ChapStick and Dad. 

ChapStick was essential because out of nowhere my lips were dry as the Sahara. Dad did a great job of reapplying in between pushes. It was such a strange necessity I felt compelled to write to Pregnancy & Newborn when they requested submissions for suite essentials. 

Suite Essentials in the March 2014 issue of Pregnancy & Newborn.

And I couldn't have done it without Dad. He did a great job keeping me calm because he was calm. He stayed by my side as they wheeled me into the birthing suite, rearranged the bed into a table, pulled out the stirrups, and flipped on the high beams pointed directly at my...well, you get the point. When I started to push, with nurses on my left, Dad was on my right making sure I was breathing. When everything else was chaotic, I knew it would be OK because he was calm. We did it together - and no one even knew yet because it all happened so quickly.

Dad and sweet B hanging during our first days at home.

Dad making sure B is warm enough at his one month check up.