A Special Delivery

My wife and I had a wonderful surprise last week. Our baby girl decided she was ready to enter the world – 5 weeks early.  Baby Emma was just over 5lbs. She was born early, but the doctors and nurses gave her a clean bill of health. It has been an amazing experience to watch her grow and change over the last week. Time has passed so quickly!

Timing. The Friday before our daughter was born was my wife’s last day of work. We wanted to give my wife a month or more away from work to prepare for the transition to motherhood and becoming a stay at home mom. We spent that weekend cleaning the house and preparing for our girl. At the end of the weekend we asked ourselves what we still needed to do if our daughter came the next day. The only thing remaining on our list was packing the bags for the hospital and installing the car seat. We decided those could wait. It turns out you can pack an overnight bag in about 2 minutes when the baby is coming and an ambulance is on the way!

The labor experience. Late last Wednesday night my wife went into what she and the doctors thought was a false labor. They examined her and ran some labs, and decided she should go home and take it easy. 4 hours later my wife was in full blown labor. It happened so quickly that I needed to call an ambulance to pick her up for the 10 mile ride to the hospital. The guys from the fire department were the first responders and they were wonderful.

The same doctor was on call at the hospital. He took one look at my wife and said “you are going to deliver this baby tonight,” and Emma was born within the hour. We are still amazed at how quickly the labor went and how unexpected the timing was.

Babies are a lot of work. I know that is an understatement! To be honest, I have no idea where my time has gone. Over the last few days my wife and I have made a few trips to the hospital and clinic for checkups and made a couple trips to the grocery store and Babies R Us to pick up some last minute supplies. The rest of the time has been spent getting to know our daughter and trying to get caught up on sleep. Baby Emma has her days and nights mixed up and likes to play at night and sleep all day. Hopefully we can get her on a normal schedule in the near future.

A few random thoughts about being a new parent:

• I have an amazing amount of love, respect, and admiration for my wife.
• Having a baby is like falling in love all over again.
• I have a new found respect for my parents and grandparents.
• My life has been forever changed, and I love it.
• I understand how every new parent can state his/her child is the most beautiful and precious thing ever – and mean it.
• I can look at my baby girl all day and not notice time going by.
• My Mom says my daughter looks like me, my mother-in-law says she looks like my wife, and I don’t know who she looks like. But she is beautiful.
• We are thankful for our friends, family, and church members, who have been very supportive with phone calls, visits, and bringing meals.
• My baby girl has 423 nicknames already – the most commonly used are Baby Pants, Baby Goat (she makes a little goat sound), and Eagle Eye Emma (she often looks at us and the world around her with one eye open and one eye closed).
• The best recipe for a nap is a baseball game, a warm baby on your chest, and a recliner.
• I’m constantly singing made up songs to my baby girl. I even find myself humming the tunes when she is away from me or sleeping.
• I haven’t seen the hospital bill or ambulance bill, and right now I don’t care.
• The book Baby Bargains has been invaluable for product ratings and suggestions.
• I love our Boppy… and the Diaper Geenie.

This past week has been a whirlwind of emotions and new feelings, but it has been worth every moment. Thanks for all the kind e-mails and well wishes sent our way.