Hello, Aunthood

My sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl at dawn on August 29th, Sunday. I was at the hospital since Saturday evening with my camera and baby memory book in tow ready to record that momentous event. Only two people were allowed inside the delivery room to witness the childbirth...I was one of them. Each person was given an exclusive wristband that said "COACH." It felt like having a VIP pass to a major concert. Indeed, it was major. Nay--"Major, major!"--to quote Miss Universe finalist Venus Raj.

My sister has always been the brave one. She also has a remarkably high tolerance for pain. She's okay with having her cavities filled without anesthesia. I'm super-sensitive that I actually beg for anesthesia even when the dentist cleans out the cavity prior to applying the filling.

She was dilating at 3 centimeters down there and she was still refusing the epidural anesthesia. "Epidural" is a horrific-sounding word that means being injected on your spine. Others would have already requested it at that point, but she was contemplating a normal delivery sans anesthesia.

When my mom spoke to her on the phone, she convinced her to take it. "It will help with the pain!" My sister considered it, and finally gave her consent to the nurse.

I stayed by the door to watch the anesthesiologist prick her from behind a few times. I feared my sister would scream in pain, but she remained calm and endured it all in silence, her face contorted by the foreign objects invading her back. But it was for her own good. When asked again afterwards how her pain was, she said she felt so much better. We knew it was going to be a long night.

The pushing commenced close to 2AM that Sunday. It was just the nurse assisting with the contractions. My sister's belly was strapped with monitors that detected each ebb of the contractions as they came, so that the nurse would know when to instruct the mother to breathe and push strategically.

The nurse's voice was soothing as she told my sister to "Pushpushpushpushpush! Push like you have to go to the bathroom!"

Now, my sister is an early sleeper, so all this pushing was way beyond her bedtime. She would later tell me that she was tired and sleepy at the time that when her contractions went away for a bit, she wanted to just doze off completely.

Around 3AM, she was making a huge progress. She was close to what they call "crowning," or when you can almost see the baby's head. When she reached that point, the nurse phoned the doctor to enter the room so she can formally deliver the baby.

What was funny during this time frame was that after all that laborious pushing, they told my sister to stop pushing so the baby won't come out before the doctor could properly set herself up with her tools and all. At this point, I could definitely see the crown of hair waiting to come out. The doctor quickly clothed herself in blue scrubs and settled in front of my sister.

When the baby's head came out, it was just a precious, life-changing sight to behold. I cried. I think I uttered, "OMG She's so pretty!"

And then her whole body came out. The doctor asked me where my camera was. I instantly remembered what I was there for. The doctor was so kind to direct me how to take the photos. "Take my picture holding the baby!" *Click*

"Uuuhaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

"Now here's baby meeting mommy for the first time!"  *Click, click*

It was my Nikita's shining moment.

Then I just started snapping away some more like the papparazzi aunt I've suddenly become.

Everything seemed to be a blur after that but I was mostly focused on the baby. The doctor saw my baby book and wrote a sweet message for the baby as well as the concluding notes on how successful the delivery went. She complimented my sister for being the "perfect patient": she stuck to her pregnancy diet so that the baby came out just the right size which didn't require any stitches. It was a normal delivery with no complications for both mother and child. "Minimal blood loss," she added. She had elegant cursive handwriting for a doctor!

You know what else was cool? The doctor took my DSLR and took our group photo. Not just one! First, she had us looking at her, then all of us towards the baby. That was just super-nice of her. Maybe she's a photography nut, too.


It's a new chapter for all of us. My sister is now a mother. I'm now an aunt. An aunt! My sister would no doubt take on more mature challenges such as breastfeeding and how to compare life insurance policies for her new family.Yes, their sleeping patterns will be screwed because baby's time zone is anything but Eastern Standard Time, but parenthood will be so rewarding for them, as will aunthood be for me!