I have just returned from the very intense experience of supporting my little sister, Betsy, through an extremely grueling 24 hour labor and the birth of my beautiful new nephew, McLean. He was actually born under the water in a waterbirth tub, and it was a really amazing sight to watch him literally float out of my sister's body and into her arms.

During the night hours, before her contractions were too intense, Betsy hung out in her waterbirth tub and we watched cheesy 70s sitcoms on TV Land while my brother in law tried to sleep a little. You can imagine the weird conversations two sisters have at 3 in the morning while one breathes through contractions in a hot tub and the other presses on the other's lower back, using her little sister's tattoo as a point of reference. CHiPS and Charlie's Angels led to long discussions of the 8 family party line we had on our phone as kids in Bell Buckle, TN and other, similar subjects.

Betsy had a *really* long and difficult birth without any pain medication, which she didn't want. I know I would have been begging for the epidural, but she concentrated on hollering curse words at anyone who irritated her (which was anyone who looked at her wrong at the height of labor). I felt really sorry for the unsuspecting window washer who happened to land on the window of Betsy's hospital room just as she was hitting the hardest part of her labor. Suffice it to say that Betsy threatened serious bodily harm to the guy if he didn't disappear from her environment immediately.

McLean was born at 37 weeks weighing 8 lbs and 2 ozs. He is really plump and delicious-looking and he is nursing like a pro. Betsy says that she would never have another baby any other way than in the water. She loved it.