Trying to view the world Biblically and to follow Christ at any cost.
Say hello to Luke Thomas Law–born last night at 11:47 pm. We had no idea it would come so fast, we were expecting it to take a lot longer and not take place till very late at night, but Sarah did so amazing and after only 45 minutes of pushing, I watched as a new life slid out into the doctor’s hands and my beautiful wife laying there sweating and prettier than ever! I was tired, over stimulated, and so happy but I did not feel squeamish or like I was going to pass out. I cut the cord with precision and wonder. I tried my best to talk to Sarah and help her but I always felt like the words that came out of my mouth were kind of lame as soon as I said them! I didn’t know what to say a lot of the time so I just kept on saying “great job! good girl! I love you Sarah you are doing so great!”
The baby is perfect. 7 pounds, 8 ounces and 21.5 inches long, and the cutest baby boy in the world! He actually didn’t come out looking like an alien to me–he wasn’t all white or purple, he wasn’t red like a lobster, he seemed pretty close to normal as soon as he came out. There wasn’t a lot of goop or blood all over him, and he didn’t look like a tiny little fetus, but a real baby! Bigger than I thought! I got to spend the first 20 minutes of his life holding him while they were stitching up Sarah, then Sarah got to hold him and everyone left the room and gave us some time for just us.
We were taken to a different room and we settled in for the night before they brought Luke to us. We were thinking we would just let him stay in the nursery and be brought to Sarah just for feeding, but the nurse just told us that it’s standard for the baby to stay in the room if the mother is going to breastfeed. So even though we were terribly exhausted (Sarah especially!) we pretty much looked after the baby all night long. I got no sleep at all because Sarah couldn’t get the baby out of the bassinet so every time he cried or needed something I had to get up just to pick him up and give him to his mommy Sarah. That’s ok though! Even during the middle of the night, as we were so exhausted we were delirious and the baby crying and soiling himself–we just kept saying over and over “wow, I am so very happy.”
We have a new member of our family and the Church of God, the Father of Christ has a new covenant member. Our baby is part of the covenant community by grace and through the faith of his believing parents. Praise the Lord!
I am at this moment by my dear wife’s hospital bed at WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh as she is resting before what is sure to be a long night of delivering our baby!
Sarah was not due until October 30, but today at 9:30 am she noticed a leak in her umm… “radiator” and tried to call her mom. Her mom didn’t answer. She tried to call the place where she’s been going for prenatal care, but they did not answer either. She tried calling me 3 times, but I did not answer. I was at work at my school and was actually taking a run around the track and then showering in the locker room. I finally picked up the phone as I was dressing myself and lacing up my boots (I’ve been wearing my army boots around to break them in) and I had that thing going on where you work out then get out of the shower and try to get dressed but it’s all steamy and you’re still sweating and it’s really annoying so when Sarah called I was like “hold on a second! geez!” and kept on lacing my last boot! Then I felt stupid when she told me she thinks her water broke, and she might need to go to the hospital. Well there was nothing to do but leave work early, go on home and bring her over to the hospital! When your water breaks, it breaks and it’s kind of the “point of no return” for having your baby. If the baby doesn’t come soon, it has a great risk of infection.
So I came home and Sarah was coming out of the shower. We started packing what we needed and getting ready to go (the baby’s bag was already packed but mine and Sarah’s wasn’t). There was such a feeling of excitement and nervousness as we packed–it felt like we were packing for a great trip we just won and the plane was leaving in an hour or something. We arrived at the hospital at about 12:50 pm and they took Sarah right up to triage. They confirmed her water was broken and told us Sarah was going to be put on this medication that induces contractions and labor and that we would probably have the baby very late tonight or early next morning!
It is now 10:00 pm and we are patiently waiting. Sarah’s contractions were growing more and more painful throughout the day and so we decided to get her an epidural. We had planned for her to have it anyway and we are very glad so far we elected to have it. Sarah was such a brave girl to get it and we are proud of her! Our families have come and visited Sarah, 3 at a time, but now they have all left. We don’t need them to spend the long night in the hospital–we are fine with it being just the 2 of us when the baby possibly comes at 2 or 3 am and we can just call them and tell them the news.
Everything looks good. The baby has come down and they say the head is right up there and pushing up on the cervix. Sarah’s labor is progressing at a good rate and she is reasonably comfortable. There has been a great many phone calls buzzing out across the world and now it seems like everyone including people in Europe and in China are now praying and awaiting the news of the delivery. We are blessed with so many caring friends and family members! Sarah and I have prayed together as well as Sarah and her family. She looks so beautiful on that bed in that hospital gown, about to have my baby.
Praise the Lord for his blessings and pray that we make it through the night with no complications. Joy comes with the morning.
One of my students is on the computer looking at a video game preview that has virtual bumper cars (my students are autistic) and this 12 year old boy says:
“Mr. Law? Have you ever seen this before? This is a game of old-fashioned bumper cars.”
I say “Oh yeah–I love bumper cars! Have you ever been on them before?”
And he says, “Yeah! Oh, do you mean a real life one? No…”
