0 Comments
Wednesday night, April 12th, 2011, Tabitha and I talked for the first time on the phone for our 16:42. It was the night that changed my life for good. Fitting, then, that it was the same night two years later that would send it all spinning again. At that time, during our commemorational date-night, we rested our heads against one another in "The Life of Pi" after going out to eat a gift-card sponsored Costa Vida meal. We ended up getting home at around midnight, and I got the feeling that I would not need to worry about serving in the temple the next morning. After wrestling with that feeling for a while, I turned off my alarm. Instead of my regular and sluggish rising at 5:00 am, however, an ecstatic Christmas-morning flurry to get going took its place. The rush hit us with force when reality came into focus:
Tabitha: "Erik could you hand me the phone?" Erik: "Um... why? Oh! Wait... Yeah!!!" Tabitha: "Yeah, I need to time my contractions." [hearts begging to rush up into throats] Erik: "... So... What are you at?" Tabitha: "Hold on, wait a second... okay, 4 minutes." Erik: "Four minutes? How are you at four minutes? How long have you been having contractions? Why haven't you told me? Tabitha: "I didn't know... I was asleep. Sorry! I think they were a part of my dreams though!" Anya Mathilde Wells, born that afternoon at 3:14, 4/13/2013, at 7.5 lbs and 20", came into the world ready and determined. After about 10 hours of labor (bearable thanks to the nice anesthesiologist) she popped right out in only two contractions, for a total of about a minute and a half of pushing (Tabitha's broken tailbone is starting to heal). That was a lot better than the hour or two we were told to expect. Apparently Dr. Nance's patients have a tendency for quick delivery, so we have only improved the record. She was born "perfectly healthy", and has thus kindly spared inordinate anxiety for Daddy who would have been worried at the minutest hiccup at birth. After bonding time with Mom, she latched right on and has been eating like crazy ever since. She has great reflexes, seems curious when she looks around furiously with those cute, developing blue eyes, and is easy to please. Just don't tell her how to position her sleep; she will quickly show you how her arms and legs need to be stuck straight out at all sorts of funny angles. She knows what she likes and she wants it when she wants it, but she has been so pleasant at the same time (especially during bathtime). Since birth she has cooed and whined, but crying is not a normal part of the routine. I can't help but think that this will be her personality through life. Time will tell. Perhaps the hardest part is seeing her darling pouty bottom lip when she feels the newfound digestive and other pains. It has impacted me that we have given her mortality; thanks to Daddy and Mommy she has inhabited her very own tabernacle of clay. She clearly has my eyes and feet, Tabitha's hair and ears, and is about to inherit all the other pains that I and Tabitha have struggled with all our lives and more. How am I ever going to be able to watch her go through that? How can I be a witness to her growing up? She seems excited to be in this world, and we can already feel of her trusting and faithful spirit; in that regard I cannot express how much of an inspiration to us she already is. I only pray I can help create an atmosphere for her that supports her best as she supports me in my gradual coming to understand divine Fatherhood. |
Wells Family
Est. 08-11 Archives
June 2016
Categories |