on the outside

yesterday for the first time i took my turn on the outside.

i have the utmost sympathy and a whole new appreciation for my family and friends who spent hours waiting for me to deliver my babies in various unpleasant hospital waiting rooms. although it's not the rooms themselves, but the not knowing what's going on inside the delivery room, that makes it so difficult.
having gone through labor myself, i know that communication with those on the outside just stops being a priority. you are so utterly consumed by what is happening to you that you feel like anyone waiting - if you think about them at all - can just, well, wait. absolutely justifiably. understandably.
but on the outside, those two hours between updates seems a little, well, eternal. there is uncertainty and anticipation and worry and maybe even a little fear. in some ways it is as emotionally charged outside the delivery room as it is on the inside. . .

many, many congratulations to my sweetest friends leslie and nathan on the birth of their beautiful baby girl, linnea joyce.

i was honored and privileged to wait for you last night. i would do it again in a heartbeat.

i hope i won't have to do it again any time soon. :)