a journey of intensity

in the beginning patience and endurance was required.

bethany talking with her doula. i'm pretty sure luke's sister named her daughter doula on gilmore girls.  am i right?

 lots of waiting...

back rubs were one of ben's key responsibilities through all stages of intensity.

 long walks down corridors.

note the labour bracelet.

games of skip bo

 some labouring couples take their skip bo very seriously.

 and their life sized furry monsters.  look at ben working the sully-mike wazowski photo like a model.

 the birthing team:

ok wave, i say, and they do.

 this is day two when we were put into an actual room.

 biff a la wiff took this.  the night before ben went hungry and so this time ordered pizza as soon as he arrived.  i appreciated this.  i ended up being the pizza carrier as we moved from room to room.  i also ate some of said pizza.

 we were moved to a quiet maternity ward upstairs.  that's when things started getting tres intense.  doula counted through the contractions with a soft steady voice, ben rubbed and i timed.

 let's take a break from this intensity to see how i'm doing...

 pretty good.  now let's add some context.

 a little more...

my other jobs were going for the nurses when she threw up and when it was time to get her to delivery pronto.

 in the delivery room it happened pretty quick.