Check it out–I’m a dad!
After contractions started at 4:30 a.m., Madeleine Alexis Hendricks joined the world at 11:57 a.m. this morning. She weighed 8 lbs. 2 oz. and was 21-3/4 inches long. Mom and Lexi (our preferred nickname) are doing great. As you can see they’re clean and glowing, while I’m just glowing.
Nope, no baby. Still no baby. No, I’m not a dad yet.
That’s what it’s like to be me. Say that over and over again to every person you know and you might start to understand. But you won’t.
I’ve come to realize that waiting for a baby to be born sucks. There’s no way around that. It’s the only event that will completely change your life upside down that you prepare for and know is coming but you have no idea when it will actually happen.
There have been very few occasions in my life when everything comes to a halt. When suddenly you don’t care about the dishes, or the responsibilities at work, or the color of the sky. Your life is about to change in an unexpected, dramatic and painful way, and you hardly know what to do.
That happened yesterday for about an hour when we sat in the doctor’s office and then made a harried ride to the hospital at speeds exceeding the posted limits. The baby’s fine. Everything’s OK. But she’s in so much trouble. When she’s finally born she is so grounded.
Technically the countdown is down to 10 days, but c’mon. Seriously. We’re all waiting for you kiddo. I know it’s still technically early, but we like to be punctual around here. Early is good.
Anywho, a baby is coming. That means we need a name. Of course we have one, but we’re being obnoxious and not sharing the name with anybody. So let’s have some suggestions. And it is a girl (we think), so you can minimize the Tony Hendricks suggestions. Personally, I’m still partial to Swanhilda Himalaya.
And for the love of all things holy, we’re not naming a child Jimi. So don’t even go there.
We went for the ultrasound today and the verdict is in: It’s a girl! We think. Ultrasounds aren’t certain, and we didn’t get a great look. Apparently our girl is modest and likes to stay curled up in the fetal position. Appropriate, huh? But we did get one solid look and the nurse thought it was pretty clearly a girl. So we’ll go with it (and if it turns out to be a boy he’ll now have something to blame any lifetime failures on).
I’m already starting to freak my way through the various duties that having a daughter will imply. At least Speak is used to being dressed up. In pink no less.
We’ve just passed one of the first tests of parenthood: assembling the baby’s crib. Of course that test should really come before you’re pregnant so as to weed out those who are uncapable.
On the plus side we accomplished the difficult task without any instructions. On the downside, we have leftover parts. It’s a hand-me-down crib (the one Abby slept in as a baby), thus no instructions, but it’s also possible the extra parts don’t actually belong to the crib.
We’re waiting for the father-in-law who assembled the crib in the first place to come home and confirm whether or not the parts are extra. I’m betting extra–the crib is fully assembled and works fine. I can’t imagine where the extra parts would go. The extra parts are three thin wires that are hooked on the end, and one is possibly missing. But of the three, one of them is longer than the other two. Again, I think they belong to something else.
As milestones go, this one’s pretty cool. It pales in comparison to hearing the heartbeat, but an expectant father has to go with what he’s got. The only downside is the crib makes the room seem really small. When it was my office it felt huge. Now it feels cramped. Oh well: small child, small room.
Update: The spare parts don’t go with the crib.
Even before my wife and I started trying to have kids everyone around us was having kids. I didn’t think much of it, since most of them were older. I think at one time last fall I knew 8 couples who either just had a baby or were pregnant.
Since announcing our own pregnancy we’ve heard from at least 10 other couples who either just had babies or were pregnant (and I think the overlap in those two groups is only two). That’s a lot of babies!
But I think the coolest story comes from a former coworker. Him and his wife are trying to adopt two children from Russia. They even set up an adoption blog to share the experience, though it’s not updated frequently. What a cool story.
I heard my baby’s heartbeat today.
Woo!
They use this old 1970s style microphone thingie, which seems so technologically backward, but I heard that fast, loud beat. So cool. The expectant father doesn’t get much actual evidence in the first trimester of a pregnancy. Unless you call nausea and heartburn evidence. But those aren’t exactly joyful.
But that beat. Thumpa-thumpa-thumpa. Yeah, baby!
What happens when you tell teenage girls you’re going to have a baby? Squealing. Lots and lots of squealing.
One girl even heard the squealing, ran over and exclaimed, “That’s the sound that someone’s going to have a baby!”
What happens when you tell teenage guys you’re going to have a baby? Grunts, nods, blank stares. If you’re lucky they might muster a congratulations, but for most of them it doesn’t register. What does register? “You should name the baby Jimi.”
Haven’t heard that one before.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. When I was a teenager my youth pastor announced to the youth group that his wife was pregnant by saying they’d be needing babysitting help in about nine months. Every girl in the room started squealing. I turned to the guy next to me with a puzzled look. I didn’t get it.
A person’s moral and spiritual foundations are solidified as children, according to a study by George Barna. By age 9 a person’s moral foundation is in place, though some views may shift or be refined. By age 12 the majority of Americans make a decision about the importance of Christ’s death and resurrection in their life. By age 13 a number of core spiritual beliefs are irrevocably formed, including beliefs on the nature of God, the existence of Satan, and the reliability of the Bible.
The research also showed that 4 out of 5 church leaders were consistently involved in a children’s ministry when they were young.
This research backs up stories I’ve often heard that most people accept Christ before the age of 18, all of which places incredible importance on ministering to kids.
A lot of it I don’t even think of as sharing the Gospel with kids, so much as giving kids a solid moral and spiritual foundation. What kind of attitudes are we modeling for kids about justice and racism and charity?
And this isn’t just about what’s happening in Sunday School or in classrooms (though it’s certainly a challenge for more Christian teachers to make their stand in the public schools), but what parents are doing. 85 percent of parents think it’s their job to teach their kids about faith, but most parents don’t spend any time doing it in a typical week (source: Barna again).
Our beliefs and ideas can certainly change as adults — many people have had life-altering and belief-changing experiences. But for the most part, people make their decisions as kids. Barna’s latest book, Transforming Your Children Into Spiritual Champions, details the findings.
“And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'” (Matt. 18:3, NIV)
“Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'” (Matt. 19:14, NIV)
“But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David,’ they were indignant. ‘Do you hear what these children are saying?’ they asked him. ‘Yes,’ replied Jesus, ‘have you never read, “From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise”?'” (Matt. 21:15-16, NIV)