The Story of Us

The only thing more incredible in life than watching the delivery of my son, was watching my wife in labor and delivery. This is our story.



6 days past zero-hour and anxiously counting, I walked in the door the evening of Tuesday September 11 to see Hannah deep into the process of making Bierocks for supper and to freeze. Part of the way through supper, around 6:30PM, she began having her first mild contractions. (Note: this kid's going to be a great friend of mine, as he went into pre-term labor in July after a meal of Jimmy Johns subs, and into real labor after Bierocks!). By 7:53 we were on a short walk around our building, when 1/2 way through we decided it was go time! We arrived at Goshen General Hospital (after only one reference to my driving from Hannah that "This is not a race.") at 8:30PM and checked into room 301. The next 8 1/2 hours were some of the most inspiring moments I've experienced, as I watched Hannah journey from peak to peak, hour on end with no pain meds. Each time centering herself for the task at hand. As for my part I felt like Sam to Hannah's Frodo in the Lord of the Rings, a secondary character watching and supporting, but not able to get in there and do the work myself. I restrained from quoting Shakespeare to her, "Once more into the breach dear friends..." But I did hum nearly every hymn I could remember with her, which turned out to be a deeply meaningful connection for me.
5:16AM was the moment of the completion of Mordor and the intense joy of our wedding day all mixed into one: and then there was Malakai!



I have to admit, everything at that moment sped up; so much so that I feel I missed nearly everything that was going on around me. Save one thing: The singularity of the child. I was so enthralled with him, so mesmerized by the light in Hannah's eyes, that I missed all the work the nurses and midwife were doing. In one mythic gesture, he was swooped onto Hannah's chest, where he stayed for over an hour. Every birth cliche, every praise song, every sports cheer welled up inside me as his little eyes strained to focus on this new undiscovered country. And the 3 years of waiting; and the 9 months of waiting; suddenly all made perfect sense.

And there we were. The 3 of us. Me. My wife and hero. And Malakai, our son.