Hilton - Webb Update! A Father's Perspective

Hello everyone!

Just wanted to let everyone know that on Oct 3rd at 3:59am, Mairi Johannah Webb entered the world, and our hearts (and our kitchen!).

Mom and baby are doing great, Oliver is pleased (more or less) at having a little sister, and the four of us couldn't be happier!

So here's the thing; her name 'Mairi' rhymes with 'starry', and it's Gaelic. And no, neither Haidee nor I has any Gaelic in us, we just really liked the name and so we took it. We're just thieves that way. As for the last name being 'Webb', Haidee and I agreed when we started having kids that all the boys would be Hilton's, and all the girls would be Webb's. So in a way, Mairi brings some balance to the house. And in all probability - to the Force.

As for the kitchen birth thing, it was our intent all along to have Haidee labour in a large inflatable birthing pool at home to maximize her comfort, and to mimic the awesome experience she had with the labour of Oliver at BC Women's Hospital in Vancouver. One of Haidee's women folk friends had one of these labour pools, and were kind enough to lend it to us.

So at 3:00am I was woken up, informed by my wife that active labour was well underway and instructed to start filling the tub. Haidee's Mom began boiling water in pots and mixing it with cold in the sink to add to the tub as we quickly wiped out all the hot water we had in the hot water heater. With all the boiling water and towels, it was looking like we were prepping for our own little-house-on-the-prairie birth scene in our kitchen. Very old-school.

Just after 3:20 Haidee got in the tub, and expressed a concern that it may slow the labour down. We'll chalk that up to confused hormones and wishful thinking.

At 3:30 the doulas arrived. They are non-medical birthing attendants, and frankly were totally awesome, if actually helpful for only a few minutes.

At 3:40 Haidee's contractions are still 5 min or so apart, but getting stronger. When Oliver was born, this stage lasted for about 90 minutes.

At 3:45 one of the doulas calls 9-11 in anticipation that we will need a ride to the hospital. Many of us (mostly me) thought that this was premature.

At 3:59 exactly, Mairi arrived. Everyone was pretty surprised by this, though Haidee managed to be less surprised than the rest of us and caught her before she landed on the inflatable bottom of the pool.

Just after 4:00 the paramedics arrived, letting us know that there wasn't much help they could offer given all the work appeared to have already been done. They were pretty cool about helping me cut the cord though.

At about 4:10 we were all entertained for a solid 20 minutes as the two burly paramedics, and the two doulas used various kitchen utensils (my favourite popcorn bowl, etc) to try to locate and retrieve the placenta and remaining umbilical cord out of the bottom of the tub. You'll have to trust me on this, but it was past 4:00am, we were very tired, and this was even funnier than you think.

Anyway, after a visit to the hospital that included an interminable wait for some necessary shots, etc., Mom, Mairi, Oliver and I are all happy to be home and healthy.

Popcorn anyone?