Nurse Practitioner Sarah

My sister always jokes that her husband is a doctor and I am a nurse practitioner, because we have a knack for remembering medical information, and then correctly diagnose ailments. We have a running joke that one day he and I will open an office, and because we have no degrees in that field we'll just accept bags of corn and a couple of chickens for our opinions.

I earned a few more NP points on Thursday, when I was in the delivery room with Amanda when she gave birth to Bria Marie. We had sort of talked about me being there before, but I think we all thought there would be a lot more time to try it out. She called in labor at 6:30 Thursday morning. My mom ended up staying home from a nun event (that's another long story) so she could take the girls, and I got to the hospital at 8:20. I walked into a room full of nurses and equipment, and after being cleared by Amanda I hopped right in next to Connor. Amanda had already started pushing. She had arrived at the hospital at 7, and was dilated to 7. Within minutes she was at 10. I ended up in charge of her oxygen mask -- on between contractions and pushing.

Originally, I had thought I'd just hang out with her during the long hours of labor, and I'd probably end up leaving for the actual pushing. I figured I could stand up by her head and miss it all. Of course, the truth is that her head was not as far away from the action as I'd somehow imagined.

So there I was. Cheering her on. Holding her mask. Bria was born at 9:09 after a completely natural childbirth (too fast for anything else). Then I was able to hold her hand while the doctor patched her back up, and Connor got all of the pictures of Bria getting weighed and measured.

I'm in no way signing up for med school, but I am very glad I was there. My proudest moment later, was when Amanda said she had noticed that all of the sudden her oxygen mask was going on and coming off at exactly the right times, and she had looked up and seen that it was my hand holding it. I'm surprised by a lot of things. Really surprised I managed to stomach that whole scene. Even more surprised that I've done that twice, and still didn't really know that's what it looks like. And then just surprised that I've done that twice at all. Childbirth sure isn't pretty, but it is amazing. How you can witness something like that and not believe in God, I have no idea. What an intricate process He's designed. There's a reason it's often referred to as the miracle of birth. I'm so thankful that He gave me an opportunity to get that new perspective.

Bria Marie
7 lbs. 9 oz.
9:09 am, March 8
19" long