The girls are all to bed.It's nearly 9:30 in the evening here and the girls are all to bed. All four of them now, after River has joined us.
I'm drinking a glass of wine and recovering, letting the last of the adrenaline seep away and allowing me to sleep too. No doubt I'll be awoken several times in the night, and will be up and about early again tomorrow.
SO, we've been through a birth again, for the last time. This was different than the other two. The adrenaline rush was very intense because the baby decided to come so suddenly. It was touch and go whether the midwife would make it in time for the delivery. As it happened, she walked through the door about 30 seconds before the head appeared.
It's a visceral, overwhelming experience no matter how you approach a birth. I can only imagine what it must be like for a woman: something so animal, so real, in our world that is so distanced from the animal and the real. No wonder so many women these days give birth doped up and by caesarian. The reality is hard to deal with. For men too - I think most of us have times when we wouldn't mind the old days of "show up with cigars" when all the blood and screaming have been washed away.
She's a beautiful child. I'm lucky - I am abu el banat - "father of daughters". And I know it's a sort of insult in Arabic - comparable to being called impotent - but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm kind of dreading in a dozen years time having three teeenage daughters and a menopausal wife mind ;-)
