in which I brag on my husband. a lot!

For Mark and myself, child birth was an amazing experience. Well, amazing doesn't really begin to scratch the surface. Even though practically everything that could go wrong did go wrong, our daughter's birth was just phenomenal. As is every birth of a child, of course!

We went through BirthWorks, which was an 8-week class to prepare us for birth. And, boy, I am SO glad - beyond glad - that we did. Not only was I mentally prepared for what was to come, but Mark knew exactly what to do, what to say, and exactly how to help me. Days before her birth, he was re-reading our gigantic birth manual just to make sure that he was prepared to be the best coach ever. It was the cutest thing, really...

And when I realized that I had to have Pitocin and an epidural, I sort of lost it and cried and told him that I was a failure. I really had the "perfect" birth set up in my head, and I was pretty sad that it wouldn't work out. But my husband stepped right up and was there for me, and he never left my side.

Pushing was seriously the hardest thing ever, and I'm not sure if her being sunny side up made it worse or not. While my sister and friend held my legs up in position, my eyes were glued on my husband's for the entire hour and a half of pushing. I seriously don't know what happened to him, but as soon as I began to push, he turned into Super Doula and was remarkable. Everyone in the room was seriously shocked at how awesome he was. I fell in love with him all over again that day. I'm so, so proud that he's the daddy of my daughter.

right after she was born!

To this day, Mark still mentions how "beautiful" I was during labor and how amazing he thinks I am. But I think he's the amazing one. I really don't know any (many?) guys that take the responsibility of a birthing coach that seriously. He's my everything, and I love him to death.