Enduring childbirth

I've been on this journey for nine months. Standing in the hospital, my mind is spinning. Should I choose an epidural or go for natural birth? What about a C-section? Was it safer for my baby? These questions kept bouncing around in my head.

I heard so many stories about how tough labor could be, like enduring the breaking of bones. I couldn't even begin to understand what that would feel like, but I knew it mattered so much for the baby's safety.

Doctors and nurses move with purpose, their faces calm and composed. Test after test, the beeping of machines measured vital signs - each number, each metric holding a clue to my baby’s future.

I keep thinking about all the tough times I had been through - the sickness, the pain, and the endless waiting. I just couldn't wait for it all to end, to hear my baby's first cry, to know that everything I went through was worth it.

Then again, all these anxieties, these fears, and dilemmas – they were never really mine to bear. I was just standing there, watching as they prepared my wife for delivery.