birth!

My friend had her baby yesterday. A 10 lb baby girl. And wow, what a courageous birth it was. She laboured hard all night with no drugs, only to agree to a c-section in the morning because she had stopped dilating. After a little gas to calm things down while they waited for the doctors to get ready she finished dilating and pushed out that precious 10 lb er. They shipped her off to the city hospital for repairs which turned out to be less extensive than the country doctors had thought.
Now they’re all holed up at the grama’s house for a few days or recovery. I talked to the baby’s grama who has been a good friend for years. It’s pretty cute; she’s in a post-baby fog for sure. Having never been in labour herself (4 c-sections), she read, during early labour, the birthing book I had given the mom. She thanked me for the support and I was a bit taken back. She said no one else had been as supportive of natural birth. I thought it was a sad commentary that no one else had talked to her about that, because I hadn’t really done a lot. Loaned some books, that’s all, really. It made me realize that the little things I say make a difference – that sometimes people really are listening and hear what they need.
So, I’m going to bring over some herbs – callendula and comfrey for the mom’s bath, and stinging nettle and red raspberry leaf for the milk. It’ll be hard not to stay and visit and ooh and aah and be completely overbearing.