I’m an aunt again! Thatcher Andrew was born today at 9:23 am, weighing in at a whopping 8 lb. 12 oz. (what Lydia weighed at 2 mo. old, mind you). My parents, my older sister and her hubby and two girls, and Lydia and I all went to see the baby (and, of course, his mother and father and big brother and big sister). It was fun to celebrate new life and watch the first moments of the siblings meeting their new baby.
As I sat in that hospital room, watching Lydia toddle around and watching my sister and brother-in-law (as well as the whole family) dote on their new baby (“make sure you use that antibacterial stuff,” “Stay close to him in case he starts to cough,” “Oh, look how dry his little skin is,” etc.), I couldn’t help but think about what Lydia’s birth may have been like. I wonder if she was born in a hospital or at home. I wonder who was there when my daughter was born. I wonder if they celebrated her birth joyfully or stayed awake all night, knowing they had few options. I wonder if they knew about her heart condition right away or learned about it later as the sound of her murmur became obvious. I had thought about all this before. But, being with a family and a child only hours old, it all came up for me again. It made me hurt for her that she won’t know much about her first year of life and nothing at all about her first two weeks of life. Perhaps that is why I’m so motivated to take so many pictures now and preserve all I can for her.
How thankful I am that we were able to celebrate the birth of my sister’s third child with joy today. We have much to be grateful for.
