Cesarean Hospital Birth in Los Angeles - The Birth of Benjamin

Cesarean Hospital Birth in Los Angeles // The Birth of Benjamin

When I first met Sara, something about her gave away the fact that she wasn’t from Los Angeles; she was so incredibly nice and warm and unassuming. Before the birth of her second child, we met up a couple more times and every interaction left me feeling like I had just hung out with one of my girlfriends. She would ask me how the births were going that I was on call for or if I had any updates out of curiosity. It was no surprise to me at all that when I finally met her husband Rich, on the day of the birth, that he was his own kind of wonderful.

Rich kept Sara and me so entertained all morning long with instagram videos, silliness, and making fun of the fact that he couldn’t sit still at all. The longer we waited the more restless Rich became, hence him breathing into the puke-bag intended for Sara. When they took Sara back to the OR first, Rich and I waited behind for our cue. While waiting with Rich, he told me how Sara and him first met and their first kiss in Chicago. We talked about children, relationships, careers, and time. And before we knew it, it was time for us to go to the OR.

Walking into the OR, the doctor’s instructed us to sit behind Sara. Sara was a sweet combination of nervous and excited; she and Rich decided to wait until the baby was born to learn of its sex. To help get her mind off of the procedure, Sara asked Rich to tell her a story. So Rich began to recount how they first met. And in the middle of his story, the doctors said, “dad, you can stand up now!” Rich and I stood up together, both of us with our cameras in hand. It all happened so quickly, it felt like the entire OR was saying it together, “it’s a boy! You have a son.”