Special Delivery

Is there anything more precious than a newborn baby? I think not. The miracle of pregnancy, childbirth and the circle of life just knock me over every time I brush up against them. Just look at my new nephew and try to find one thing more awe inspiring than the arrival of a new life.
I can’t do it. I look at him and strains of Louie Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World go rolling through my head. I start thinking about the years that lie head for him and the milestones he’ll pass in just the first few years. And I wonder what he’ll be when he grows up. Oh, the places he will go, and he doesn’t even know it yet. His trip into the world was an adventure in itself.

Because the doctor suspected he was going to be a big baby, Mrs. Scrubs was scheduled for inducement. She arrived at the hospital Monday night for the preliminaries and was knee deep in the process by yesterday morning. The only problem was that someone forgot to tell Special D. he needed to move. The little stinker didn’t want to budge. Have I mentioned stubbornness runs in our family? Apparently, he takes after our side. He wedged himself in tight and hunkered down for a full day of pressure and coaxing. After hours of pitosin and two epidurals, Mrs. Scrubs was worn down, Special D. still wasn’t positioned right, and the doctor finally decided to do a c-section. Around 8:35pm he sprang into the world, kicking and screaming. Boy was he peeved! He was NOT happy to be out of that little hot tub he’d been floating around in the last nine months. No doubt about it, his lungs were fine. Of course, he was probably scared to see that big welcoming party that was waiting for him at the nursery window. Tell me we didn’t look as anxious as I think we did. Heh, I thought so. We didn’t even try to act cool about it. There were more camera flashes than a Paris Hilton movie premiere, and we resorted to taking desperate fuzzy pictures through a side door window until they put him in full view. But when he was finally scrubbed and measured and suctioned we got a good look at all eight pounds, eight ounces of him. He looks huge, like he should already have teeth.
Look at that hair. Don’t you just want to rub his head?And those pudgy like cheeks. Oh, those cheeks! And those feet. Lordy, he’s got some big feet. I love how Super Cop couldn’t take his eyes off of him. As I watched everything unfold, I kept thinking about those first few hours of being a parent and how overwhelming it is. How full your heart feels, and how you instantly fall in love with that little person who instinctively clings to you. How scared you are that you are responsible for turning this new life into a decent, productive citizen and how ill equipped you feel at doing that. There’s nothing like a newborn baby to make you feel stupid. Most of all I kept thinking about how Super Cop’s and Mrs. Scrubs’ lives have changed forever in ways they are only beginning to understand. They say a baby changes everything, and that is certainly true.

The Hula-gen’s are thrilled with this special delivery and can’t wait to get our hands on him this evening. We left the hospital last night around 10:30, before Mrs. Scrubs was ready for visitors because I had to get up at 5:30am for work, Teen Angel had to get up for school, and frankly, I thought the new parents had enough family in the way. You see, the grandmas had pretended to take a walk and then slipped right into the recovery room, oh yes they did. Tonight I’ll get my turn to rub his little head, smell that roly poly neck, wrap my finger around his finger and rub those big wrinkly feet. All of this just one week after I said goodbye to a friend who lost his battle with cancer. One life quietly ends, another loudly begins. What a wonderful world.