just being christian

It’s official.  Zachary is here and we are thrilled.  Mommy and baby are doing well, and Elli is proving herself to be an awesome big sister.

I’m sure some of you are wondering why it’s taking so long for the first Zachary entry to hit the site.  Or why there were exactly zero tweets during labor and immediately following Zachary’s birth.  Clearly, I have no aversion to posting thoughts and events on the world wide interweb.

Stacy, on the other hand, is a tad more introverted.  When she realized how much I’ve been tweeting, she quickly informed me that she didn’t want Zachary’s birth liveblogged.  I thought it was a fair request.  In my mind, the person who carries the baby and gives birth to the baby gets to call the shots.  So I made like a reporter at the Beijing Olympics and was good with the fact that my online presence would be quieter than usual.

But now it’s time for some thoughts.  My mom asked me a really good question as I was talking to her on the phone right after Zachary arrived.  She wanted to know what surprised me most about the event.  It was interesting to ponder, because the build up to Zachary’s birth had been filled with so many expectations while at the same time being a huge unknown.

My initial reaction was that Stacy’s level of calm was unreal.  She’s always a very gracious and dignified woman, but childbirth is intense.  I was willing to give her a pass on anything she said or did from the time she got to 37 weeks, to the time Zachary was out.  But she was totally cool the entire time.  She never yelled at anyone.  She never told me to not touch her ever again.  She was amazingly brave and amazingly gracious under pressure.

The other thing that stood out to me was the pace of the night/morning.  It’s one of the things that is completely out of your control, so you have to just rock with what your dealt.  It just so happened we were dealt with somewhat of a stroll through labor.  It was a reasonable 12 hours from start to finish.  We never had to rush anywhere.  All things considered, it was nice.  Admittedly, Stacy was a little disappointed she didn’t get one of those 4 hour labors that her mother and grandmother had.  But that was probably asking a lot.

Thanks for your prayers.  I’m sure this site will turn somewhat into a parenting site over the next two weeks as I take some paternity leave.
Renew and Restore