The birth of Harlow

The birth of Harlow was quite unique. We had planned a home birth but as it turned out we would never have made it to a hospital in time any way. My wife gave birth a week before Christmas, in the bath, in less than an hour, while 70 people partied in our house! No joke - it was our annual Christmas party and friends started arriving around the same time as contractions so Lucy just disappeared into the bedroom for a while. Our son had taken 24 hours to arrive so she thought she's have hours to go. At one point, between contractions she said to me "someone needs to start the sausage sizzle!". She was probably dilated about 8cm by then.

It all happened really fast and I didn't actually believe this was it when Harlow's head crowned! She didn't look fantastic at first glance but Lucy was really calm and told me I needed to get ready to catch our baby. On the next push, she was out and I caught her. Bowled Mum, caught Dad!

Then I went out into the party with vernix all over my T shirt and said "I just delivered our baby daughter!". There was stunned silence, and I don't think anyone really believed me - 15 minutes before, I had been standing in the back yard having a beer. Only when I came back a few minutes later, looking for a bowl to put the placenta in, did anyone believe me. The crowd went wild!

Lucy eventually got her party outfit back on (minus huge belly) and went out with Harlow for some champagne with all our friends and family. What a fantastic birth - so calm and loving and unexpected. I don't think we will ever top that party trick!

The following year, our party guests wore name tags that said "I was there when Harlow was born". Lots of people ask us what her name means and we say it's Hebrew for PARTY CRASHER!

Bruce Perry