Three Days is a Lifetime

Page 7

Finally, James has a turn to speak.

So there I was. Standing outside of the operating room, still a little dazed. My wife was having an cesarean operation.

This was not the way it was supposed to be. The seven children before this all started with labor. You know labor.

Timing contractions, “Is that 3 minutes or four minutes between contractions?” Should we head to the hospital?

Breathing. Waiting until after midnight to get that extra day for insurance.

But April 11th, the Tuesday of Holy Week, it was not to be. I was not able to hold Stef’s hand. I was just standing outside looking in through a window. Right after delivery, I did not know our child wasn’t breathing. I had not seen him yet. I saw nurses attending to him, very much like they would any newborn. At some point a very kind nurse came out with the announcement,

“ You have a baby boy. Do you have a name for him?”

My reply, “ I need to see him first before I know what name to give him.”

She said cautiously, “ Ok, but you must know that he is small and will need some special care.