The following birth story was written by a couple living in Sohar, Oman (about two hours from Muscat).
"Eliana is almost 6 weeks old. It's taken longer than we thought but finally we are posting her birth story. It was an exciting story- here's the details, not too gory but be warned...
To Eliana, Your Birth Story
My dear daughter,
Your coming into the world was exciting and your mom and I wanted to write it down before our memories of your birthday faded.
We went to bed about midnight. A little before 1 AM, I remember waking up because Mom got up to go to the bathroom. When she came back, she breathed a deep sigh and looked very uncomfortable. Since that was the third time in half an hour that she had gone to the bathroom, we both wondered if you were coming.
We both got up and went downstairs. Mom wanted to see if this was real labor or false labor. We didn’t want to wake up our midwife friend Auntie Lynnie if this wasn’t the real thing. I was excited even though we were both tired. Mom sat on a silver rubber exercise ball as she labored through each contraction. At 1:30 AM Mom decided to call Auntie Lynnie. Halfway through the conversation, another contraction came and Mom couldn't talk through it. At that point, we all knew it was time to go to the hospital.
I rushed upstairs to get the suitcase that we had packed for the hospital. It took me a few minutes to finish gathering everything. Your big brother was sleeping in a Pack-n-Play. I knocked on our friends' bedroom door (who we were staying with) to tell them we were leaving for the hospital. Suddenly, Mom called up, "Jon, come down here!" I dropped the suitcase and rushed downstairs. By the way that Mom yelled, I knew something big had happened.
When I arrived downstairs, Mom said, "My water broke. Get me a towel." I grabbed two towels from the kitchen. (Side note: This was much better than when Josiah was born because I only gave Mom two small Kleenex when her water broke.) After giving Mom the towels, I turned to go back up the stairs when your mom let out a big groan, "Ooohhh!"
I turned to see that your mom had taken off her pants and was reclining on the floor. I looked down to see a circle of dark hair, your hair. In that second, a thousand thoughts raced quickly through my mind as time stood still. "This isn't happening. I don't know what to do. This isn't the movies! I'm a man, another woman should do this." In a moment, I called loudly, "Solva!"
Mom, being the amazing woman that she is, let out a deep exhale as another contraction passed and said calmly to me, "Jon, you can do this." Those words gave me all of the confidence I needed. I bent down and said, "What do you want me to do?" Mom was really concerned about not bleeding on Solva's carpet in their living room, so she wanted lots of towels under her.
I knew from our experience with Josiah that I needed to apply pressure to your head to keep it from coming too fast. One push from Mom and I could see your forehead. Another push and I saw your eyes. Another one and there was your mouth. One last push and your whole head was out. It was amazing holding your head in my hands.
Mom calmly said, "Wait." In my mind, I am thinking, "Wait?!? We got to get this baby out now!" Then, Mom reached down and said, "I have to check for the cord." In total awe of your mom's presence of mind, I stared dumbfounded. In the middle of the pain and pushing, Mom was so careful as she checked to see if your umbilical cord was wrapped around your neck. When you didn’t come right after that she said, "Jon, lift up." That helped your shoulder come out.
I lifted up and you rushed into my hands. Mom said, "Do you have her?" I cried out, "Yes." Solva started crying and saying, "This is so amazing." Within a few seconds, you cried out, then Mom and I rejoiced together. We laughed, maybe cried and smiled. It was a beautiful moment as we wrapped you up and tried to dry you off. You were messy and warm, but a beautiful miracle. (No one looked at the clock but we guess the time of your birth was 1:53 AM.)
After the warmth of the emotions swept over us and you were comfortably laying in your Mom's arms, I looked down to notice that your umbilical cord was still inside Mom and a dark thought came into my mind, "Delivering Eliana was easy, but delivering the placenta, that's disgusting and I don't want to do it." I asked Victoria what to do, and she said it would be fine. Mom did get the after-birth shivers which is normal.
About that time, Auntie Lynnie arrived. She didn't know the way to the house so Klaement had rushed off to find her. When Lynnie came in the door, she was surprised and excited for us. I was relieved because I could let the professional take over. Solva asked us for the third time, "Do you want me to boil some water?" We said, "No."; but she did anyway. The placenta came about fifteen minutes after your birth and Lynnie did a professional job delivering it. We put the placenta into a plastic grocery sack.
We packed Mom and you up in the back of our Toyota Yaris and drove slowly to the hospital with Aunt Lynnie following us. After a ten minute trip, we walked into the hospital. Mom was holding you in one hand and the bag with the placenta in her other hand. It was quite a sight."
