She did it! Rainbow had her baby. He is wonderful. I know every grandmother says that, but I happen to believe it’s always true. Babies are the best thing ever. Baby Chili Pepper is a cutie. He doesn’t like having his diaper changed, he can burp with the best of them, and he knows how to make the big people act fast when he makes loud noises.

It was a dark and stormy night (haha!) when he was born. The wind had been blowing most of the day, and snow was falling the night I was called by Daddy Pepper telling me they were at the hospital because Rainbow was in labor.

Finally! At a week past his due date, we knew he was going to be a big Chili Pepper. I hurried up to the hospital women’s center. Rainbow had asked me to be there to help her, and you just never know how fast these things are going to go the first time around.

The midwife and Daddy Pepper were there with her helping her to breathe low through the contractions and she was doing a great job listening and taking their advice. I stayed back for a while and just doodled in a notebook. It didn’t seem like I could really add much to the effort at that time, so it seemed best to not get in the way. There were both water and apple juice there for her to sip on while she labored. It was nice to see that the antiquated philosophy of forcing an IV drip on laboring women and starving them during labor has finally passed.

Soon Rainbow moved to the jetted tub. Now there’s a blessing for laboring mommies. Hurray for the buoyancy of water during contractions. Daddy Pepper was a great support to Rainbow this whole time, and the midwife and nurses were fantastic, giving them good ideas for how to work/relax through each contraction.

Finally, after the jetted tub, and moving back to the bed, we counted through the contractions and the pushing, and in the wee hours of the morning, Baby Chili Pepper was born! 9 pounds, 1 ounce, 21 inches long. Quite an accomplishment. Mommy worked so hard to get him here. There was a little excitement at the end to make sure he didn’t inhale anything he shouldn’t have just before birth, but he was all fine, and Mommy got to hold him for a little bit while Daddy cut the umbilical cord.

Rainbow had the midwife and nurse hopping for a little while to make sure she didn’t bleed too much, but they handled it just fine. Daddy needed to go put his feet up and take it easy for a minute there. It can be unnerving to see how much bleeding sometimes happens after birth. When Chili Pepper was ready to be held again, Daddy was right there and ready on the job.

After Rainbow and Baby Chili Pepper were moved to their very own room, he had a messy diaper to test the capacity of the diaper. Diaper fail. Daddy was the hero of the moment and changed the diaper and cleaned up the poopy perpetrator. Poor Mommy was so tired she could hardly lift her arms.

I left the hospital in the grey light of dawn, scraped an inch of beautiful, downy snow off the windshield of my car, and drove home for a long nap.

Babies are wonderful! It’s a grandma’s job to say that, and remind mommies when they are too tired and frustrated from being up all night trying to figure out baby mysteries. And by the way, Grandma is always right. 😉