A special baby

Today I wanna tell about Joshua.

Not only that our names have the some beginnings, but his birth was a bit like mine. He had the umbilical cord tight around his neck …

But let’s start with from the beginning. Wednesday after Christmas I was going in for work again and Kate was “my” pregnant woman for today. Her partner Julien was a nice bloke. We were chatting for like 2 hours while Kate was in labour and a bit funny in the head due to all the nitro gas she inhaled for pain relief. She wanted to have an epidural anaesthetic when the pain worsened but obviously the anaesthesiologists were too busy with emergencies and when they arrived she was too advanced in the birthing process. So only nitro gas and Julien’s hand to squeeze for her.

Becky the midwife explained a lot and when the head started to show I was allowed to assist in helping the baby to “develop”. When the head came, we saw it was kinda purple-ish and Becky reacted very quickly: Kate was told not to push anymore and clip, clip, snap. The cord was cut and we could turn the baby so that the shoulders and the rest of the body could get out.

And then the big shock for the parents. Nothing dramatic. The baby was alive and crying. But it had bits and pieces.

So far Kate and Julien were thinking they’ll have an Isabelle. Everything was bought in pink for the baby’s arrival… And no name for a boy! Kate was asking three or four times: “Are you sure it is a boy?”- But there was no doubt.

We were joking, fooling around and thinking about possible names (seriously [like Luke, John] and not so seriously [Hercules]). Julien sent a text to his mother in law they named the baby Mortimer Bryan…She called back immediately asking “What the **** were you thinking…?”

I saw all three of them today again. Kate has been recovering and they chose a name for their baby surprise…. JOSHUA.