LMA Update

This morning, Leilani was sleeping on my chest belly down, facing one way. She proceeded to lift her head and turn it to face the other way.

LMA Update

This afternoon as I was sitting on the couch having a ministry meeting in my living room with Micah, Leilani was resting on my lap. She started fussing a bit, and then proceeded to lift up her head straight up, her belly down, for about two and a half seconds. Way to work that neck.

She's here!

After an intense period of 28 hours, my daughter was born! It was the best cry I've ever heard. Full story to come soon, but here are the vitals:

Leilani Mikayla
March 20, 2010
8:49 a.m.
7 pounds, 6 ounces
20.5 inches
Black hair. Plenty.

Give me the test!

So here we are, three days passed the "due date" of child #1.  We are at week 40, and I learned recently that up to 42 weeks is considered "normal." So, yeah. Really doesn't do much for my patience levels, or lack thereof.

I do know many other things, though. 

For example, I know that "Life will be forever changed... in a good way." Check.  I also know, "You will be grateful for this additional time you had before the baby was born because your new life will be different than it is now." Check.  "You have sleepless nights ahead." Check.

A friend asked me today how I was doing, and I came up with another illustration of my state of mind.  I told him it was like when you know you have to take an extremely important test in life.  You walk into the exam room and see the test booklets sitting, ready to be passed out.  The instructor picks up the tests, and you are ready. Anticipating what is going to be on there, with a vague sense of what it might be.  The test begins the moment the booklet is placed in your hand, but the professor simply walks around the room. And walks. And walks, looking around. Not getting to the point where you can actually start the test by giving you yours.

Is NOT taking the exam great? Sure.  Is not having to confront the reality of what is contained in the exam for a few extra moments giving of a sense of peace? Maybe. Can you actually relax in that situation? No.

I get it. Parenting is going to be a challenge. I am just ready for the test now. Not in the indefinite state of surprise.

I don't want my children to be happy

So in my check-on-blogs-I-save-links-to-but-don't-visit-often-enough whirlwind tour this morning, I found a post that linked to this one. It is brilliant, and kind of puts words to things that I had been thinking about in this buildup to parenthood. So I heard about it from another blogger, who linked it which is why you are reading it.  It's like 4th hand information, but actually accurate.

Here it is.

After

Ready, Set...

So our daughter's due date is tomorrow, March 13. As every day, hour, and minute passes, the anticipation continues to build. I have talked to many people, specifically regarding the birth of their first children and it seemed to me (seemed) that all of them came well before their due dates. Several days to a couple weeks (to more for some, as well). I was born two weeks in advance of my scheduled arrival date. However, this is certainly not the case here.

Sure, there were people and articles that informed me that for the first born child, going right up to or beyond the due date is quite normal. However, these sources I immediately held at low regard... do they even know what they are talking about?! Hello, I know exactly what I want to hear, and you are certainly not saying it!

This period of waiting I liken to the moments an athlete waits for before starting a run. Those seconds that a speed skater waits crouched upon the ice, ready for the gun to fire. When a skier is standing at the top of the hill anticipating the beeps to let them know the clock has started ticking. An ice skater skating to the middle of the rink stalling until the melody they have listened to hundreds of times before start playing through the crackling speakers up above.

For each, a million things could be going through their head, all rushing through in just a few seconds. "I really should have not skipped practice that one time," "Maybe that cheeseburger was a bad idea last week," "I'm ready for this!," "This is the moment I've spent all this time preparing for," "This is it!"

Typically, this all takes place in about five seconds. However, what if these moments of waiting took 10 seconds? What if they took a minute? What if it took 10 minutes for them to get rolling? Can you imagine how eager they would be to finally start the experience they had been building up to for seemingly forever?

This is where I am. Ready to start but still waiting for the gun, the beep, the music. It reminded me of a moment from a movie I watched in childhood many times, captured by YouTube, linked below:



I'm ready. I'm set. Just waiting.