Ps 150: 1-2 Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
WOW, we're parents. It's pretty unreal when I sit back and think about what's happened in the last 72 hours. Sunday morning is when it all started (around 3:45 pm central time for you guys in the states) Teresa told me in these words, "ok, we need to go", that Caleb was close to arriving. We arived at the hospital at 0800, the nurses checked both Mom and baby hearteats and congratulated Mom on being 5 cm dltd and now worthy of the infamous epidural! Teresa said, "gimme the drugs!" (which I later found were well worth it) She would go from not so happy to all smiles, conversational and very chipper in a short amount of time. 2 and a half hours later, she was 9cm dltd and the doctor was ready to have T start pushing. She was amazing...1.5 hours of pushing in 10 second increments, 3 sets at a time every 2 minutes or so (sounds rough, huh?) I did it with her for the first 40 minutes or so and then felt a little lightheaded so I gave up, now being confident that I wouldn't pass out. So at 1712, a son was born and the nurses gave him a 10 rating after 15-20 minutes of cleansing. His head was a little out of shape, but we liked him anyway. The next 48 hours were another experience as we shared a small room and went through the stages of being new parents with 2 different couples. If Caleb wasn't awake and screaming then the other little peanut was sure to be up and at 'em. I felt so bad for Teresa because she couldn't get good sleep even though she was well deserving of it. We were released from the hospital 10 hours ago and are now back on the north side of Guam. Gail cooked a wonderful meal for us, my buddy Josh helped me out and mowed the yard, Caleb is in his bassonet (sp?) and has just been fed, Teresa is asleep in bed and I'm not sure there's much more I could ask for. Right now I'm just thankful for what's been given to me this week and for the prayers that I've seen answered with my own eyes.
(UPDATE) It's now 0700 and we all just got out of bed for feeding time. Caleb was great, he slowly opened his eyes, wiped some crust off and just kinda looked at me as if to say, "What are you doing waking me up?" He's happy now, close to Mama and staying warm.
Things are going well so far. Caleb is almost a week old and while lacking in sleep, we are enjoying the perks of being new parents. We love to watch the little one rest and look up at us while he feeds, I get a kick out of him grabbing onto my finger and his facial expressions keep me always attentive to his little face. Teresa is also doing fine though still experiencing the fatigue and some pains from the birth. I'm very proud of her persistence through it all, she's one heck of a trooper! We visited a lactation consultant yesterday and she was very kind and helpful. I find myself asking a lot of questions that begin with, "Is it ok if..., Am I hurting him when I..., Is this right?", etc, etc. Grandpa Butch arrives this evening and will get to see his first granchild. We're all looking forward to family coming to visit! Until next time, adios.
