Oh, Maggie!

The wind blew the clouds and rain away, giving her the sun’s heat upon her back, and showing her the first snowfall on the mountains.

We stood, with the tourists, at the Queen Elizabeth Park viewpoint. She stood, leaning over the bench, pointing out the dried candle wax, the other pregnant woman, the babies, not really looking like a woman in labour.

But she was…

Oh, Maggie! She’d been through so much pain in this pregnancy, and many labour “warm-ups” (let’s not call it false labour any more!) and she was still unconvinced that this was the real thing.

But it was…

At lunch time, she’d been feeling well enough to grab a Subway sandwich, challenging the sandwich artist over the ins and outs of the 2-for-1 deal. Now, on the hill, only an hour later, it felt like we should at least call the hospital and put them on alert.

By two o’clock, we were at the hospital – “doozies in the car.” By 2:30 she was “in the zone.” And just before three o’clock, we were upstairs by the elevators, working through another contraction.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOO,” she called, head buried into her husband’s chest, as a little boy walked past. She must have seen his feet, because she quickly said, “OOOOOO, I’m a ghost!!” Her need to reassure the boy was stronger than the power of the enormous contraction.

Everyone in the hallway laughed! That’s Maggie – so strong, so great, so quick to lighten the mood for everyone else.

She was only in the birthing room an hour before her beautiful son came into the world.
Smiles! Such joy!

“Jacquie, that wasn’t bad!”

“Whaaa!!” says baby.

Mum and dad talk with baby…
“It’s so bright!”
“I’m glad you decided to join us!”
“Your chin is so cute!”

What a wonderful day to be born, Benjamin!