New Life

In the recent weeks I have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of a very close friend’s first child.  I have handed down clothes, a car seat, and advice.  I have watched my children touch her belly and speak to their future playmate, all the while falling more in love with an old friend.  Yesterday, as I was preparing to leave on a short trip to Albuquerque, I kept hoping the baby wouldn’t come while I was gone.  Guess what...

This morning I was gathering all our things to load in the car for our trip when I received the happy text that the baby had ignored my wishes, and had arrived early this morning.    I was so excited that I couldn’t focus for several hours and found myself thinking about the baby all day. 

This evening Nick and I were sitting down to a kid-free dinner after leaving the kids with my mom when my phone rang.  I was about to silence it when I saw the caller ID.  It was my new-mom friend.  I quickly answered the phone and her tired voice replied.  She told me the short version of her birth story, even better than she had envisioned.  I had to wave off the server, with mouthed apologies, because at that moment nothing was more important than hearing about her new daughter. 

There is a kind of elated exhaustion that only comes after childbirth.  I can’t explain it and you cannot know it until you have lived it.  It is the perfect combination of heaven and hard work.  It is the moment you meet the human that you and your partner have created.  It is amazing.  I have been lucky enough to have two of these moments, and although they couldn’t have been more different, they both held the same weight.

That absolute happiness resonated tonight in my friend’s voice as she gave me the details of her daughter’s birth.  I sat in a booth in the restaurant, tearing up and completely oblivious to everything around me.  Although we were talking over a great distance, it felt like she was next to me, and I could feel her joy in her voice.  I cannot explain the beauty I felt tonight, I can only wish you will someday experience it too.