Baby X Has Arrived

Hi All,

I’ve been MIA the last few days, and a lot of you have likely guessed why.

My wife and I woke up the morning of January 6^th to find her water had broken.  Regardless of what thirty years of sitcoms had me imagining this moment would look like, we operated like a highly trained team of Navy Seals with 9 months mission prep.

But… as every Navy Seal might tell…

“No Battle Birthing Plan Survives Contact With the Enemy Delivery.”

Okay, maybe zero Navy Seals ever said that, but here is the short version of what followed:

Our plan had been that, unless mom or baby were in danger, we wanted to try for an natural (intervention-less) birth. Unfortunately, two days of labor passed and Amanda was only dilated to 3 cms. Those who have gone through labor may already know, once the water breaks, there is an increased chance of infection for mom and baby with every cervical inspection as the clock ticks. We held out two days before trying to induce. In the end, we waited 4 days before allowing the doctors to perform a cesarean. Amanda, warrior that she is, refused and drugs up until that point.

Both mom and baby came through healthy and happy!  Xander was born Jan 9th.

Now, some of you know, I have a step-son, Luke, who was nine when I met his mother. Fewer of you know, that this last year I adopted another son, Tyler. Tyler has been a friend of Luke’s since third grade, and his mother passed away last year. I bring up all this because I cannot say that I have never been a father, but I have never been present for the birth of one of my sons. It was nice for me to find out that all that talk one hears about what they will feel in that moment isn’t some myth. What strikes me now, is that I feel as though I love everyone in my family more than I did before… a thing I’d be hard pressed to explain and wary to dissect.

Now, I promised myself I wouldn’t be like some ‘other’ parents and take a thousand pictures, each with a slightly different angle and facial expression, that no one but my wife and I would really see a difference between. Of course I failed to live up to that promise, but I have done my best to pick only a few favorites for the sake if this blog post.