drum roll please…

adia may rico, 6 pounds 10 ounces, 20 1/2 inches, 9:18 pm october 10th, 2006; after 30 hours of labor and 2 hours of pushing, the kid finally decided to cut the suspense.

i kid, i kid.

right now she’s nursing and amy seems to like her alright. i took a nap with adia on my chest. she is almost too beautiful, and i will be hard to get ahold of these next couple of days.

thanks for all your prayers! we’re very grateful for them.

FINALLY

the baby is coming and the midwife is here!

of the unborn

our blessing is due soon, and amy is becoming aware of the pain that she will endure. it would be a good thing for y’all to pray for her whenever you think of it, that she is able to expect the pain but not fear it, and that the Lord will prepare her body to give birth in the best way possible. she knows that with the home birth, drugs are not an option, and that is one of the reasons she doubts her ability. do pray, but don’t act like it’s a big deal when you see her.

in related news, ms. magazine is running a story in its upcoming issue that turns my stomach. its goal is to bring “reproductive rights” to the forefront of political discussion of abortion laws by circulating a petition for women who have had abortions to sign. the magazine will print many of those names.

from the washington times:

The publication coincides with what the pro-choice movement considers a watershed moment for its cause. Abortion access in many states is being curtailed, activists are uncertain about the stance of the U.S. Supreme Court and South Dakotans vote Nov. 7 on a measure that would ban virtually all abortions in their state, even in cases of rape and incest.

“All this seems very dire,” said Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, which publishes Ms. “We have to get away from what the politicians are saying,” she said, “and get women’s lives back in the picture.”

what grieves me most is that there are thousands of abortions performed each year for women in the same situation as amy: mid-20′s, newly married. some do so because they’re not ready to be tied down yet. there are some doctors who would have counseled us to abort because we haven’t traveled as much as we want to yet. Lord, have mercy!

i can’t condemn people for doing what is right in their own eyes . . . scripture says enough about murder already. my heart is broken for the souls of the women who are proud enough of their abortions to sign a petition that lauds the deed, though.

ht: b2w

gift from God

this little child is loved. i felt her moving under amy’s skin this morning, and i know what she looks like, in a vague sort of way.

interesting thought: birth=death.

when we are born, we have been fearfully and wonderfully made. since conception, we have grown and been made suitable for life in the environment outside the womb. in a sense, we have been through a sanctification process. we are better suited to see and hear without impediment than a month-old fetus.

when we die, we are born into everlasting life and we see, hear, and know truly.

as a father, i think i’ve caught a glimpse of what it must be like for God as He eagerly awaits the homecoming of His children. He’s got it better than i do, though, because He knows everything about me, but i only know what adia feels like from the outside and what the shadowy figure on the ultrasound looked like.

i saw her arm move! she’s alive and i can’t wait to meet her.

it’s amy’s fault, right?

so last night i had a dream. i was pregnant and with isaac gould in some sort of warehouse that we were trying to escape from. at one point, adia’s leg (yes, i was pregnant with the same child amy is pregnant with) “fell out of me” and i had to push it back in so she wouldn’t be birthed too early.

i also know what adia looks like, now. whenever i was near a fluorescent light (and there just happened to be one at belly level when i was sitting on something) i could see through the skin & muscle into my uterus. adia normally was curled up with her eyes open. she looked at me and i could see that she has amy’s eyes.

that’s all the detail i remember, though i do remember having to concentrate on not letting her be born too early.

i am not psychotic.