At 11:03 on the morning of April 14th, 1998, a boy was born into my waiting hands under the 104 degree water of a portable birthing pool in our bedroom at the back of our over 200 year old house on the day that the buds on the trees first began bursting into leaf on 37 Prospect Street, Newburyport, Massachusetts. His mother labored in the pool all morning, the steam rising off of her in the windows while she made herself and our child ready for the next big phase of life.
After two big pushes out he came, first his head and then a turn and his shoulders next and then all of him (and clearly a him), a perfect presentation. I supported him in the water and without consciously doing so noted that he had the right number of fingers and toes and he looked just perfectly wonderful as he stretched his legs and arms for the very first time. Such a soft and delicate feeling, holding him there under the water, the umbilical cord still pulsing and providing him with oxygen. He was under the water for a good two minutes, gently moving himself around, and then he straightened both of his legs, straightened his back and his neck, opened his arms like a pair of wings and for the very first time opened his eyes, looked at us and smiled.
He looked at all of us, me, his mother, his grandmother, our dear friends Michelle and Rory and his half sister. He made eye contact under the water with all of us. Then he motioned with his arms as though he wanted to come up into the air, so I raised him onto his mother's shoulder. He held his head up and looked around at all of us again, breathed perfectly right from the start, and started giggling.
My son Jake came into this world and forever changed everything for me. All the cliches people say about what happens to you when you become a parent became simple sense since the instant that I first saw the top of his head. His mother had worried before his birth if she would be able to love him as much as she loved her daughter but soon after told me that she needn't have worried, that rather than have to divide her love between two children that her capacity for love simply increased.
He's a lucky fellow, and a very kind and wonderful young man who is fourteen tomorrow. I am so impossibly proud of him and pleased for him beyond measure at what a fine fellow he is. Happy Birthday Jake, and many, many more.
After two big pushes out he came, first his head and then a turn and his shoulders next and then all of him (and clearly a him), a perfect presentation. I supported him in the water and without consciously doing so noted that he had the right number of fingers and toes and he looked just perfectly wonderful as he stretched his legs and arms for the very first time. Such a soft and delicate feeling, holding him there under the water, the umbilical cord still pulsing and providing him with oxygen. He was under the water for a good two minutes, gently moving himself around, and then he straightened both of his legs, straightened his back and his neck, opened his arms like a pair of wings and for the very first time opened his eyes, looked at us and smiled.
He looked at all of us, me, his mother, his grandmother, our dear friends Michelle and Rory and his half sister. He made eye contact under the water with all of us. Then he motioned with his arms as though he wanted to come up into the air, so I raised him onto his mother's shoulder. He held his head up and looked around at all of us again, breathed perfectly right from the start, and started giggling.
My son Jake came into this world and forever changed everything for me. All the cliches people say about what happens to you when you become a parent became simple sense since the instant that I first saw the top of his head. His mother had worried before his birth if she would be able to love him as much as she loved her daughter but soon after told me that she needn't have worried, that rather than have to divide her love between two children that her capacity for love simply increased.
He's a lucky fellow, and a very kind and wonderful young man who is fourteen tomorrow. I am so impossibly proud of him and pleased for him beyond measure at what a fine fellow he is. Happy Birthday Jake, and many, many more.
VIEW 23 of 23 COMMENTS
that was one of the greatest tributes ive heard from father to son.
he is truly blessed to have such a loving father.