My brother just phoned: he is the proud father of a baby girl.
However, the delivery details sounded like a story you read in your local morning newspaper. I’m tired, so here’s a very quick recap. His wife checked herself into an upscale maternity clinic, one of those places where the mother is pampered with LCD cable TV, a fully functional internet connection and a video link, just in case the child is premature. A place that will cost a small fortune, but has a reputation to deliver top quality pre and post-natal care.
After the attending gynecologist had registered significant dilatation, my brother’s wife was wheeled into a pre-delivery room, where unfortunately the whole process came to a grinding halt. The physician decided to let nature take its course and wait for a natural birth, the mother’s personal wish. He left the room, with only a monitor and my brother checking her status. It all must have taken way too long, given that the nurse left too. And then it happened.
“The monitor suddenly started to beep alarmingly, with my wife going into very fast contractions”, my brother said on the phone. “I walked out of the room to call for assistance, but no one was there. In fact, the entire gangway looked completely deserted”. He apparently tried the phone, where a voice menu prompted him for a numeric destination. Checking back on his wife, she was going into full labor, with major dilatation. “I could almost see the head of my child, and I was basically left to my own devices”, he told me with some emotion. He then ran all the way to the entry, where a desk nurse followed him, running back towards the distant delivery room. The healthy baby girl was delivered by the attending nurse, assisted by my brother. When the monitor alarm was finally muted, a stunned midwife rushed in, uttering “but this wing was empty, according to my screen”. It wasn’t.
I’m proud about how my brother handled the entire ordeal. But somehow, I do hope your offspring got slightly more attention during childbirth
Update 6 pm: I just returned with my SO from the maternity unit: lots of smiling faces and heartwarming laughter. I was given a card announcing the birth of baby L, which I was allowed to post (after removing the names and addresses). Their photo composition made me smile 
On the card: my brother’s daughter (left), his 2 yo son (right), and yesss: right in the middle: my brother’s pregnant wife. Like you may have noticed, we’re a mixed race, liberal family, living in a quite liberal country. Sound asleep: baby L. Below: my SO, dozing off, next to the all-singing-and-dancing LCD display that are all over this maternity clinic (pressing “HELP” will only start a tutorial for this phone/internet/TV/food/etc hospital system. Nobody will come to assist you. Weird.)
This blog is not affiliated with or endorsed by the city of Antwerp, Belgium.
Wow. First off, I’m glad that baby and mom are ok. Second, having delivered 23 babies during my medic career, I know how unnerving it can get. Third, and I hate to say this, but if that happened here in the states, your brother would have grounds for a healthy lawsuit. They sue doctors here for frivolous things, so something like this would have caused quite a stir, and possible media attention to boot.
I’ll have to tell this to my friend in Arizona. She is an OB-GYN, and I am wondering what she will think of it.
[Blog author: "I'm with you all the way, Mr. Nighttime. While my brother, his wife and my entire family are very pleased welcoming L, this shouldn't have happened. I just returned from the maternity unit (we laughed a lot!) and couldn't help but notice the high-tech touch-screens that are absolutely everywhere. I pressed "help": the machine started a guided on-screen tour on how to use the unit (I'll post a picture). Basically, there should have been someone attending all the way until L was born."]
Comment by Mr. Nighttime — July 19, 2008 @ 2:41 am |
Oh, stupid me! (smacking myself in the head!) Congrats uncle! I know the feeling! (I live vicariously through my brother, as we don’t have kids.)
[Blog author: "Thank you! You know, I do the same: being unable to have children of my own, my brother's children are my substitute family
"]
Comment by Mr. Nighttime — July 19, 2008 @ 7:13 am |
Ahhh, in the US, that would be a lawsuit.
[Blog author: "Indeed Pam. In Europe you have to 1. prove physical damages 2. prove 'intentional neglect'. Although Belgian MDs have a top reputation, their liability is much more limited."]
Comment by Pamela Poole — July 19, 2008 @ 8:33 am |
Wow….and eeekk! A bad situation handled magnificently…congrats to all.
[Blog author: "Thanks. My brother (who already has two children) appeared hardly shaken: "well, since I virtually delivered L myself, I'm sure they will 'forget the bill' ", he said with a smile
"]
Comment by gemmak — July 19, 2008 @ 11:59 am |
congrats uncle peter!
[Blog author: "Thank you Van! Someone is buying a birthday present next week, and I love the feeling."]
Comment by furiousball — July 19, 2008 @ 4:47 pm |
Another beautiful baby has blessed the world! What a wonderful ending to a nerve wracking delivery! Please give your brother and his wife my congratulations and inhale the sweet baby head aroma for me next time you cuddle the little bugger. Congratulations Uncle Peter!!!!
xox
[Blog author: "Thank you Claudia! I will see them again today and will convey your wishes. My brother's older daughter was thrilled learning that people from across the Atlantic were looking at her picture
"]
Comment by Claudia — July 20, 2008 @ 3:29 am |
What a beautiful baby! How exciting and what fun stories to tell for years to come! Glad everything turned out okay for all concerned. I keep wondering what the phone options were: “If your wife’s water has just broke press 1, if she is ready for an epideral (you will know by the screaming) press 2, if the baby’s head appears to be crowning press 3 and assume a position to catch the baby just in case the doctor doesn’t make it….
Congratulations and lots of best wishes to the new family!
Peace
[Blog author: 'Thanks Peace. I talked to my brother on the phone and he sure was pleasantly surprised getting all these best wishes from people across the globe. As for this computerized hospital system: you wouldn't believe your eyes. In each room, there are 20 inch touch-screens attached to the phones, with obligatory dialing by touching huge, on-screen buttons. It's a brand-new, upscale system, made in America, but somehow the translation in Dutch/French still need some tweaking. The voice prompt often said "you cannot access this option" or "please press help for a (10 min) tutorial". I managed to crash it within 5 min, which is not very reassuring in a maternity unit. The main screen even made me laugh: "Get well soon"
I'm glad I found your blog! "]
Comment by Peace — July 21, 2008 @ 3:27 am |
Wow, that’s a very surprising tale. I am so glad that the ending was that healthy and beautiful little bundle of joy! Such neat pics! Congratulations to all!
[Blog author: "We sure were all relieved Shirley. I'm glad my brother is very stress-resistant and easy going, and so is his wife. Thank you for your best wishes!"]
Comment by Shirley — July 21, 2008 @ 4:38 am |
Granola Grrrl delivered her third baby in the bathroom at home. Ask her about it!
[Blog author: "Oh my God! I didn't have a clue... "]
Comment by V-Grrrl — July 22, 2008 @ 1:36 am |
Congratulations, Uncle Peter! Sounds like that was a grand adventure, and every birthday little L has will be a great excuse to tell her awesome birth day story.
V-Grrrl is right: my youngest, Alex has a very similar story, which I’ll get to tell him next month. We were planning to have him at home, which is good, since he would’ve been born there anyway, apparently. It was about 2 hours, start to finish, and the midwife talked my [then] husband through birthing a baby over the phone while she was driving like a maniac to get there. She got there in time to weigh and measure him and clip the cord. And yeah, it *was* on the bathroom floor, mostly because I was already in the bathroom and the contractions were coming so quickly that I really couldn’t walk anywhere else. John still says wistfully, “It’s a shame about that bath mat; I really liked it…” (joking, of course)
[Blog author: "Thank you! It's nice being an uncle again, although my brother and his wife feel they now have reached the limits of a "large family" (3children).
“]
Oh my, you were really on the bathroom floor when Alex was born... So your [then] husband actually assisted you while he was getting guidance over the phone: an amazing story that makes what my brother’s wife went through pale in comparison. The bath mat part put a smile on my face
Comment by Granola-grrrl — July 22, 2008 @ 2:50 pm |