Birth.

I got to take part in one of the sweetest deliveries this morning. One of my OB patients delivered, a 16-year-old girl recently moved here from Mexico. Of course, it's always a little hard when your patient is only 16 - I certainly do not want to encourage that kind of thing, and I always am saddened to see one so young have to suddenly take on big responsibility. But during this birth, her boyfriend was right there beside her the whole time. He was incredibly gentle and loving, holding her hand, getting excited to see the baby's hair starting to show. Right after birth, he gave her a sweet kiss, then proudly held his new daughter with a few happy tears glistening in his eyes. My patient's mother and sister were also there, and everyone was crying at the wonderful sound of that baby taking her first loud squawk. This situation is sadly fairly rare with most of our patients. Usually, the baby's father is nowhere to be seen - or worse, he tries to deny the baby is his own. Even though in some ways this birth situation was not ideal, it was still wonderfully moving to see such a caring father right there going through it along side her, and know that precious little girl has a family who already loves her deeply.

It was also nice that this little girl decided to arrive right in the middle of the day, during a very convenient time, and not hang out to long inside her mom, making me stay for long hours at the hospital waiting on her.