Austin Richard Brady (Feb 4 1:16pm GMT)
8lbs 12 oz
23 inches
Everything went smooth (for the most part). Having a baby in Ireland was different, but not that bad. There are set visiting hours, even for fathers. Most mothers get placed in a shared room, we got lucky and got a private one. In the US there are all kinds of tests done before and after, but we had hardly any apart from pulse checking and blood pressure. The philosophy here is ‘nature knows what it’s doing, things will happen as they will’. We arrived at the hospital at 1am Wed morning. Went into the labor delivery room at noon that day. Tried to get an epidural but didn’t make it in time (the midwives were pretty slow and cautious). This was my first natural birth, I was able to use nitric oxide and it really helped with the pain. The birth was beautiful and wonderful. It was fun to be surprised about the sex. Parents rarely find out the sex in Ireland. I didn’t actually mind not having the epidural and in some ways it was better without it. The biggest annoyance was that Pat couldn’t be with me at certain times of the day. He wasn’t supposed to be with me after 8:30pm last night, but he snuck in and supported/helped me all night, he got scolded in the morning. . .Oh well. This morning, the doctor visited us and gave the okay to leave anytime and so we packed up and left for home at noon today (36 hrs in the hospital). We’re all doing great. The last time one of Pat's family members was born in Ireland was in 1840. It feels good to have an Irish baby.
