Last Wednesday, my wife’s contractions reached about 3-4 minutes apart. We proceeded to go to the hospital where we were told that she was only three centimeters dilated and that she needed to walk around for an hour. We did and was still only about three centimeters dilated. So we went home. I went to bed in order to get some sleep. It didn’t last long.
After four hours, my wife woke me crying saying that the contractions were more intense. I didn’t waste any time in getting ready to go to the hospital. My wife felt the pressure to push just before we left and was crying about not wanting to have the baby in our home. Fortunately, the hospital was only a few minutes away.
I decided to just simply use the main entrance since the ER would just move her to Labor and Delivery after doing some BS tests in order to justify billing my insurance company. Also, it seemed wholly unnecessary since we were just there a few hours ago. So I dropped my wife off at the door, parked, and ran as fast as I could to the main entrance and onto the elevator just as my wife got on.
We got to the labor and delivery office and one look at my wife’s cries of pain was all they needed to spring into action. Immediately we were in the delivery room with my wife ready to go. She fully dilated by then, so no epidermal to ease the pain. She would later tell me that she secretly wanted a natural birth, although she was too afraid of the pain.
And so, just 35 minutes later, my son came out. He was a little guy, barely five pounds. The OB/GYN had to take my wife to the OR in order to remove the placenta, as it wasn’t coming out naturally. He came and told me later that it was about 1/3 the size it should have been and that he’s surprised my son came out alive and weighing five pounds.
Despite having to stay in the NICU for a few days due to problems with maintaining his blood sugar (a problem largely due to his weight), my son is now home with us. He has shown almost no problems with anything that newborns normally do and he has already gained a half of a pound. He has what I call a surfers head of hair where he has brown hair with specs of blonde hair mixed in.
He is a miracle. My wife has suffered through five miscarriages before him. Hopefully, the OB/GYN will have some betters ideas for us in the future so we can avoid some of the problems we have now. Or maybe he will be our only naturally born child. Either way, I am glad he is here now.
My grandfather passed away last night. He was the father of my mother and he spent most of his life as a pig farmer. But after he received bypass surgery, his life began to gradually deteriorate. Now, I don’t blame the heart surgery itself, as for all I know it may have been necessary, but I do know that he lost a lot of his energy following it.
In the past few years, he was slowly dying. My mother was sure he would pass away last year, but somehow he made it. Until last night.
I am saddened by his passing, but in a sense I am happy for him. He lived a pretty long life, got to see his three daughters grow up and marry three fine men, got to see seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren before he passed on. His life was not wasted and even though he never did anything significant by the world’s standards, he still led a fairly simple life.
I think that is the greatest gift a man can have though. To live their own life on their own accord. Fame and fortune may be great, and I won’t deny my own desire to have both, yet I also desire just a quiet, simple life with my own family. Perhaps God will grant me that.
Everything has a season, as King Solomon once wrote. Just as my son’s life outside of his mother began last week, my grandfather’s ended last night. I had heard that before he passed away peacefully in his sleep, he was shown pictures of my son on Facebook.
And so, the cycle of this life continues. Corny, I know, but sometimes it bears meaning.