DINK Woman Walking and other musings

I felt like Sean Penn in the movie, "Dead Man Walking," except I wasn't headed to a lethal injection.

I was headed to a c-section. For whatever reason, the hospital staff makes you walk to your surgery. I found that funny, as they insist you ride out of the hospital in a wheelchair. I was told at 12 noon on March 5th that I would be needing a c-section, so I had 5 hours to sit and think about my last few moments as a DINK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DINKY).

When my sister and I arrived at the hospital room, we flicked on the television. She began to channel surf--but the first channel we came to had Little House on the Prairie. A staple in my television viewing, I insisted no further surfing was necessary--this was the channel to view. As it turned out, the plot line centered on Mary Ingalls giving birth. My sister and I found this pretty entertaining. Mary's water broke and she summoned Adam to get a doctor. 2 minutes later they cut to her holding the baby. They didn't even have the labor scenes....maybe those were not allowed in the 70's....

It was strange to sit there and know that there was a known time-line to this big transition in my life. I had not expected to know the "day and hour." I had been prepared for a natural birth and thought that it would happen at any moment. But, God is perfect and His timing is perfect. And so, as 5 o'clock neared, I tried to embrace the last moments of my old self-centered life and looked forward to the new (who are we kidding, the new life will still involves self-centeredness, but there is a huge chunk of myself that will be dedicated to another person).

I trudged into the surgery room, where they make you lie down on a table very similar to the one that Sean Penn spreads his arms on in the movie (at least that is how my dramatic mind remembers it). Your arms are spread wide, the blue sheet comes up, and the doctors go to work.


It feels strange as the drugs do their thing and you try to remain as alert as possible so that you can try to enjoy as much as possible the arrival of the baby. Looking back on the experience, this was the hardest part for me. My hands were numb so when they put our son on my chest, I couldn't feel his body. I do remember thinking, "he is cute." I am not sure what I was expecting--I just remember thinking that he was pretty good looking for a newborn. I wonder if all moms think this?


I watched my husband and my mom look at him and take pictures. And then they whisked him away to give baby P a bath and the other stuff.

It is great to be out of the hospital now and transition into our new phase of life. Baby P is the model baby thus far. He cries, sleeps, and eats when he is supposed to. We are so blessed. I don't deserve such a perfect baby. I am so thankful for God's protective hand on Baby P in the womb.

We have been having a great time studying God's handiwork. M was very excited to see that their hands had the same unusual line on their palms.

I'm already enjoyed my new job even more than I could have imagined. It can be challenging, but I am finally understanding everyone's comments about parenthood.

I feel honored to be Baby P's mother and I hope that I can do all that God has called me to do in raising him.

Speaking of which, today we baptized him at church. It was a wonderful and energy-depleting day all rolled into one. I was so nervous as to how things would go--the feedings, the changing, getting into and out of the car. I tried to enjoy the actual event as much as possible.

It was also really nice to have some of the same people that were at our wedding attend the baptism. They are all such special friends to us.

So, I will try to be more faithful in posting.