I arrived just after midnight, a dimly lit labour room at Vincent Palloti Hospital. Midwife and doula quietly present either in the labour room or just outside making detailed notes of each stage of Birgit’s labour.
Stepping into the labour room as quietly as possible, the air felt thick and Birgit was lying like a reclined nude in a Renaissance painting in the water of the tub with her partner by her side. I know she had been in labour for long already and she was starting to get tired. Hours passed and she moved around the space slowly.
I went home briefly and then returned to the hospital where she had agreed to take an epidural, then rest a bit and then go into theatre for a Caesarian. The doctor who was on standby for epdiurals was unreachable and arrived with an arrogant attitude, disrespecting both the staff and the birthing space. The entire environment went form an internal space to a clinical and fluorescent environment. Long needles, graphs, masks.
The edpidural must have been a relief but she later told me how she felt guilty that her baby was then left alone in the birthing process.
Early morning and the bed was wheeled into the operating theatre; white, green, blue and silver environment, prepared with staff waiting.
After the first few cuts through her abdominal tissue Dylan emerged like a little warrior, frowning, fierce and brave with his little chest proud and strong as he came out of his Moms tummy, absolutely perfect!
The surroundings at that moment faded away and only his little body and all the natural colours of birth become visible for those moments.
