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Baby showers are amazing. The air is filled with love, laughter, positivity and the cuteness overload is palpable in the air — it’s hard to miss! After all, a baby shower celebrates motherhood and the soon-to-arrive new member of the family. I’ve been to a bunch of them, and they’ve all been beautiful experiences. However, of all the baby showers that I have experienced, nothing compares to the one I myself arranged for my elder sister. Let’s read on to find out what actually happened at my sister’s baby shower!
1. First, Some Backstory
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When my sister was twenty-eight weeks pregnant, she decided to switch from the conventional hospital set up for birth to one that was more intimate and close-knit. Yes, she decided to opt for a home birthing! She got in touch with a reliable midwife, one who provided round-the-clock assistance and provided all the guidance and support my sister needed. Before making this decision, she did, of course, check to see if she might have any complications. Everything looked fine, and the doctors too gave the go-ahead regarding her decision. She was well prepared to give birth at home.
Fast forward to thirty-two weeks, and we all decided that it was time for the long-awaited baby shower to happen. My friends and I took it upon ourselves to make it one hell of a blast. It was my older sister, after all, and considering how much of an annoyance I’ve been to her all my life, it only felt fair that I made her baby shower out of the world! And so I slowly started to make all the arrangements, without anticipating anything out of the ordinary. Little did I know what awaited me just a few days ahead.
2. Labor Is A Long Process
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You know how they portray labor as some ticking time bomb where the water breaks, mommy screams, she’s rushed to the hospital, and in a split second, the baby is born? Yeah, it’s nothing like that. At least not in most cases, and definitely not in my sister’s case.
Experiences with childbirth can vary widely from person to person depending on the situation. However, the biology behind childbirth is pretty much the same for us all:
When you reach the end of your pregnancy, you’ll experience something known as the early stages of labor. You may not know this (I sure didn’t), but it can last for hours or even days! You then gradually lapse into the active stage of labor, where your body begins to prep for the baby’s arrival (for real this time). Here’s where you experience more intense contractions, your water might break, and your cervix begins to dilate rapidly. Your water might also break during early labor. The active stage can last anywhere from four hours to eight hours or even more! On average, it has been observed that it takes an hour for your cervix to dilate one centimeter. Ten is the goal. Then comes the final stage of labor — childbirth (1).
So when my sister first experienced something weird happening in her tummy, she called for her midwife, who got down to check her cervix. And yes, she was dilated. This meant the start of labor for her. I panicked. Does this mean we rush her to the hospital? Where’s the water, wasn’t it supposed to break or something? Why was my sister not screaming?!
All I saw was a calm woman, who kept wincing here and there, but she continued with her day as if nothing happened. The whole day went by like this, and the next day too. Finally, it was the day before her baby shower.
3. An Unexpected Intruder
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My best friend, my sister’s best friend, and I were busy the night before the baby shower. The place had to look perfect; I had to check that the caterers didn’t get anything wrong and were going to be on time, and there was one crucial thing left pending — the music playlist. Just as I was collating a bunch of great tunes, my sister sent me a message: “Get upstairs. RIGHT NOW!”. Older sisters are a bossy bunch, so I didn’t think much of it, but I went upstairs anyway. Older sisters are scary, but pregnant older sisters can be a particular kind of nightmare (I wish I were kidding).
Nothing prepared me for the sight I was to behold. My sister was in the bathtub, holding her husband’s hand, while the midwife was telling her something on the lines of “Push, take a deep breath, and push!”.
It took a while for me to process things. Even though I was aware of the fact that my sister was very close to delivering, the fact that she could be delivering right then and there was bewildering. It also crossed my mind that my sister is about to deliver her baby just a day before her baby shower! These and a thousand other thoughts were running through my mind at that moment.
However, I did snap out of this mini trance and rushed to do whatever my sister asked me to do – click pictures and record everything. It was a special moment for my sister and her hubby, and they wanted to have a tangible memory of it. What I witnessed was surreal. After an hour or so of crying and pushing, the little one slowly entered this world. It was a girl, and I knew I already loved my little niece. Never was I this proud of my older sister! She just made a tiny human!
4. Baby At The Baby Shower
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It was the day of the baby shower. The guests were here, the food was ready, the playlist was done (my best friend did it for me, thank heavens), and the only thing left was for my sister to make an entrance.
And what an entrance that was! She looked lovely in her maternity dress, and wrapped in her arms was her little baby. The guests were puzzled, “was that a doll?” they all asked. No, it’s my niece! None of us saw this coming. It wasn’t the most conventional baby shower, but it was better than anything I had ever seen! And that’s what made it special!
References
- Stages of Labor
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544290/
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