Fruits of Miracles

A week ago yesterday, my pregnant wife's water broke. 24 hours later, a week ago today, our first daughter was born, three weeks early, @ 6 lbs. 15.5 oz.; 19.75"

To me, birth is a miraculous thing, but reflecting back on this particular birth it seems there were additional miracles encompassing the miracle of birth itself. Why did the water break break so early? Why did we have to wait an extra day before official labor commenced? How did all of that timing coincide with the particular people who helped us?

I feel that all of those things were actual answers to prayers and fulfillment of blessings and comfort. And that’s not to mention the miracle of having a girl after a trend of five boys!

I saw God’s hand in all of this and I saw the same hero in my wife that I saw with all our babies.

After spending all day Thursday in the hospital, bored to death, while my wife was slowly drained physically and emotionally by the unproductive contractions forced on her by the Pitocin, we were pretty discouraged. The only comfort was being able to hear the baby's heartbeat on the monitor and know both she and Heather were still healthy and safe. By dinner we turned off the Pitocin, said more prayers, and tried to enjoy a relaxing evening in our hospital dungeon.

In answer to our prayers, with no more help than some previous cervix softening medications, my wife started contracting on her own around 1am. I was unaware of her contractions until 2am when I recognized that she was in true labor. I folded up my bed and geared-up for the part I hate the most-- watching helplessly as she suffers inconceivable pain and agony.

After a few hours of intense torture, my wife was only at 3cm. Laboring so painfully long, so early in the morning (after a full day of forced contractions), with very little progress overwhelmed us and we decided to try our first-ever epidural.

I've always been nervous about it and had reservations about epidurals partially because my wife is generally sensitive to medication. When the anesthesiologist came moments later he resolved most of my concerns and started preparing for the epidural.

Suddenly I noticed a different reaction during the next contraction--my wife was pushing! In just about 20 minutes, my wife went from a 3 to an 8! This prompted the anesthesiologist to move faster, but almost in a blink, my wife was pushing again and the head crowned.


The anesthesiologist ended up delivering the baby about 10 minutes before our doctor arrived at the hospital. The whole labor was about four hours. As surprised and somewhat unprepared for the baby to come three weeks early as we were, if we weren't already in the hospital when the labor started, its possible we might not have made it to the hospital in time--let alone to get settled and prepared.

Although we had competent nurses helping, if we hadn't asked for an epidural, there would have been no doctor to deliver the baby...and we still didn't have to go through with the epidural. [Note: I say 'we' knowing full-well that it really means Heather.] We found out later that the anesthesiologist who delivered our baby used to teach OB classes--what are the odds.

This was a unique experience for us, but the whole process was a witness to me that God is mindful of our needs and, although He allows us to learn through some difficult challenges, He is always nearby to offer comfort and support. I know God loves His Children.

My youngest son's expression is a good representation of how all my boys feel about their new baby sister.

Our New World of Photography

We've always dreamed of having a decent camera to satiate our appetite for developing our photography skills. Thanks to Uncle Sam, we received our Economic Stimulus gift and that dream came true. I can't guarantee our skills will improve, but the pictures will certainly improve over those of past camera's we've owned.

We didn't get the fanciest, highest featured camera, but we got one that seems to be just right for our amateur needs. We bought a Nikkon D40 6.1 mega pixel, Digital SLR Camera with a bonus zoom lens with vibration reduction for under $600 from Costco.com. It has more features and options than any camera we've ever owned.

So the past few days we've been experimenting with the camera. Although I still do some post-shoot editing, most of it is cropping and a little brightening in some cases. Anyway, here are a few results from our new camera (click on picture to see detail better):

Spring is the perfect time for testing colors and close-ups. I love the depth of field this new camera provides. And it has some nice vivid pictures...its not washed out like the point-and-shoot tended to be. And the focus is tons clearer than our point and shoot.

How about moving targets? I was stunned when I saw how clear this seagull turned out in mid-flight. On top of that the blurred background makes it stand out.

Friday night the beach had an eerie orange haze as the sun set giving a fitting backdrop to the skeletal remains of Peter Iredale.

One of the best tests is the moon. I was quite pleased with how well the zoom lens took shots of the moon. This picture was cropped and still has a lot of detail without the grain--a testimonial to the value of increasing mega pixels.

This is one of my favorites. Not only does this cropped shot say a lot about the capability of the camera, I was also fascinated with the unique opportunity of snapping wild life in action in my own backyard. I was fascinated at the scope of this scene. It's like a single snapshot of this mortal life: start of new life (the specks of pollen came out so clear I was surprised), our reliance on each other, and death completes the circle.