I immediately took your parents into my heart. During the pregnancy check-ups, your papa was the perfect secretary: He always made sure that all questions were answered and nothing was forgotten. On the day of your birth, too, he was always by your side.
Your waves began gently. It was a Monday morning, and I still had an appointment that I couldn’t reschedule. That’s why I sent you ahead to Triemli. When I arrived later, the midwives said that the contractions still seemed rather irregular and that you had simply arrived early.
As I entered the room, your mama was lying on her side on the bed with you and immediately reached for my hand. With tears in her eyes, she looked at me and said, “Lior, I’m so glad you’re here.” I, too, was glad to have arrived with you.
Soon I saw that your little gate was actually already wide open, but you were still quite high in the pelvis. We tried many things to give your mama some pain relief with the increasingly strong waves. Even the laughing gas didn’t quite bring you the relief you had hoped for. So it came to pass that your mama wished for an epidural.
Since I suspected that you wouldn’t arrive quite so quickly, I didn’t think that was a bad idea at all. In this new setting, we continued to work on bringing you closer to us step by step.
Slowly you came deeper. But in the last hours, it was primarily your mama who pushed you forward with incredible strength. Again and again, we changed positions, and with great endurance, courage, and composure, she brought you closer piece by piece. It was a true feat of strength – also for my arms, which repeatedly served as a counter-pull.
When I joked at the end that luckily I do kettlebell training – especially for you – your mama laughed and said she did too. Then we both knew why we still had so much strength.
And so it came to pass that, in the end, we used the vacuum extractor as a final support. With its help, you slipped safely and soundly into your mama’s arms that evening.
Your papa was quite amazed at what a feat of strength a birth can be. He was all the happier when you were finally there and you had achieved it together.
I, too, was overjoyed that you were doing well. I immediately gave you a small healing ointment for the bump on your head.
Welcome, little fighter. It was wonderful to be able to accompany you on your journey into life.