Yet a Stranger in the World

and just because her siblings have been left out, I love this picture…

Yesterday’s Birthday Girl (She’s FOUR now!) = Fancy Nancy
The boy = Curious George
The Baby = ???

Barenaked Ladies’
When You Dream
Words by Steven Page
& Ed Robertson

With life just begun, my sleeping new son
has eyes that roll back in his head
They flutter and dart, he slows down his heart
and pictures a world past his bed
It’s hard to believe
As I watch you breathe
Your mind drifts and weaves

When you dream,
what do you dream about?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?
Do you dream about
music or mathematics
or planets too far for the eye?
Do you dream about
Jesus or quantum mechanics
or angels who sing lullabies?

His fontanelle pulses with lives that he’s lived
With memories he’ll learn to ignore
And when it is closed, he already knows
he’s forgotten all he knew before
But when sleep sets in
History begins
But the future will win

When you dream,
what do you dream about?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?
Are they colour or black and white,
Yiddish or English
or languages not yet conceived?
Are they silent or boisterous?
Do you hear noises just
loud enough to be perceived?
Do you hear Del Shannon’s “Runaway” playing
on transistor radio waves?
With so little experience,
your mind not yet cognizant
Are you wise beyond your few days?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?
When you dream,
what do you dream about?

Fizzgig has a belly button! Meatwad is fascinated. Boober remains suspicious.

Saturday March 14, 2009 (Pi Day!) at about 5:25 in the morning, Mater, without the assistance of any longed-for drugs, brought forth our third child:

Tekla Rose

8 pounds 3.6 ounces

20 inches

Mater’s contractions started around midnight, but at their closest were only ten minutes apart.  While quite anxious to have the baby, she was already five days late and the contractions began to slip to twenty, even thirty minutes apart, so I called it a night around 1:30.  About two hours later I was shaken awake, and informed that we might need to be getting to the hospital.  Mater was frantically trying to pack.  Minor details.  Contractions were now down to five minutes apart and regular, but also intense, doubling Mater over on impact.  We left the house about quarter after four.  Fortunately, that time of night, there wasn’t any traffic.  With every contraction, the gas pedal crept a little bit closer to the floor.  By my observation, contractions were down to about two and a half minutes apart.  Faster! Faster!  I was instructed not to stop if a cop tried to pull us over, just put on the flashers and keep going.  I think I was part of a hostage situation.

By the time we made it into our room at the birthing center, it was about quarter to five.  Mater was fully dilated, well past the time to have an intrathecal, and practically ready to push.  Within 45 minutes I was pulling Tekla out and cutting her cord.  Then the doctor arrived.  Fortunately, another midwife was around for the actual delivery.  Tekla cried once, initially, and then was content to survey her new surroundings with wide, dark eyes.

Bit o’ trivia 1: The umbilical cord was wrapped around Tekla.  Mater had to stop pushing so the midwife could loop it back over Tekla’s head.  Bit o’ trivia 2: The umbilical cord was found to have a natural knot it in.  Of all the kids, Tekla’s was the easiest, worry-free pregnancy, but apparently it could have been pretty scary.

After almost a week, Tekla is wonderful.  She’s very quiet, content to snuggle or look around, only crying when hungry or in need of a diaper.  She’s been letting her exhausted parents sleep in three-hour blocks at night.  The kids have been taking to her well, though Trip sometimes casts odd looks at her when she’s crying or being held when he wants to be held.  Truly a blessing from God.  Please keep us in your prayers, because – in the words of all of the nurses and doctors at the hospital – we’re going to be busy.

Okay, enough words, I have waxed on too long.  Time for what you really want – PICTURES!!

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