Oh Baby, Baby – Twins!

Beautiful, soft blinking eyes peered up at me from a tiny body swaddled in a blue towel. I held back tears as I locked eyes with a newborn baby twenty minutes post-delivery. Mere minutes before, he and his tiny identical brother had been born.

And my god…those boys were beautiful.

During my entire shift on the labor ward, I was so present. In retrospect, I didn’t think once about other commitments or anyone else, really. Every ounce of me was invested in those moments in the hospital.

The nurses scurried around the room charting and scribbling quiet notes on the brand new baby wristbands. With grace and smiles, the busy nurses maintained a soft and reassuring demeanor, even when abnormalities and complications arose. Midwifery is so different than other forms of nursing care. It is incredibly directed and specific. With each new patient, there are a few unmistakable and universal goals. Deliver the baby. Keep the mother healthy and safe.

Shortly after I walked into the patient room during my midwifery rotation, the mother and I casually joked about how she could start her own rugby team with all the children she would have after the delivery. Within minutes, the entire atmosphere of the room changed as she pushed two little lives into the world. During delivery, I found myself continually and subconsciously nodding to the mother in encouragement. There were nine other people in the room, but I felt so zeroed in on her and her experience. A few pushes, some coaching, a sigh of relief, a baby’s first cry.

In the clean white walls of the hospital, I witnessed the establishment of a new period of growth and development in the course of a human life. This was the moment that the mother would forever consider a benchmark moment. Life before twins. Life after twins. Another pencil line etched into the door frame to mark her growth as a woman, a wife, and mother.

And the father – as I saw that nervous father’s visible relief after the delivery, my eyes welled up with tears. He sat quietly in the corner of the room, nervous and overwhelmed. I quietly slid back behind the medical team to see how he was feeling. I put my hand on his shoulder. With tearful, nervous eyes he quietly nodded at me as he held his son. He’s so beautiful, congratulations, I whispered.

I never want to become desensitized to the significance of those moments of raw humanness. It is crazy, it is undeniable, it is real, it is life.

As a nursing student, my most unforgettable moment moment occurred after delivery. As the father and mother each held one baby, the head midwife asked if the family had a camera to take a picture. The father replied that a picture would be wonderful, and without hesitation, he handed me his baby and went to find his camera.

As I received that tiny little gift in my arms, I was amazed at the father’s trust in me, simply because I am a nurse. With absolute confidence, he handed me his brand new child. The trust placed in nurses is unreal. This is what we do – we walk alongside our patients as confidantes, caregivers, and companions in their most vulnerable, raw moments.

As I held that baby’s warm body, in that tiny blue blanket, my eyes filled with tears. He made noises at me as we stared in absolute awe into each other’s eyes. My high school anatomy teacher used to cite the immense detail of the human anatomy as her proof of God. As I felt his tiny lungs breath in air for the first time, I understood.

I have traveled the world this semester, yet I have never seen a sight so beautiful as the one I held in my arms. You are so beautiful, I whispered to him. Welcome home.