New Life

Life is full of firsts. I have a great nephew! He was born yesterday. What a beautiful baby! What an awesome miracle the birth of a baby. Having babies has changed so much in the past 30 years. Makes me sad in some ways. I was all alone having my babies. Yes, the father was around somewhere, but I went through the experience alone. Both times the doctor wasn't even there. I had nurses dealing with me, and I don't even remember any nice nurses! And yet, I will never ever forget either experience, and they are uniquely my own. Admittedly, I know me. When I am hurting, I don't want anybody around anyway. But there were no family members waiting out in the waiting rooms, and no friends standing by.

That was then, and this is now. The mother, father, and maternal grandmother were in the labor and delivery room. One grandfather on the phone the whole time out in the hall. The waiting room was filled with the other grandfather, a grandmother, a step-grandmother, aunts, and friends. The grandmother gradually worked her way down to the delivery room. When the rest of us were summoned, we came flying out of the waiting room and down the hall to stand outside the room. The baby had already tried out his lungs by the time we got there. The nurse opened the door, and let us come in partially to a curtain shielding the mother, and watch as the baby got cleaned up and weighed. We all stood stretching and peering to see if all fingers and toes were there. Only some blood still left on baby's head gave sign that THIS was a newborn! And we were there in the midst of the birth of new life. A photographer hired by a grandmother fortunately was a tall man able to capture the scene from a distance. The paternal grandmother just stood at the door and cried, as she saw that the baby looked as her son did some 26 years before. How could anyone in such a moment not believe in the creation of God?