Friday, July 24, 2009

Samuel

He's here! Samuel Martin Jenkins has finally come! And on pioneer day, nonetheless.





Where did I leave off? Ashton and I were chilling in the delivery room. Well, I was chilling, and she was enduring waves of contractions. Around 5:30 a.m. she got an epidural, and at 8:00 a.m. she was fully dilated. The doctor had her start pushing at 8:30. That's where the labor really became laborious. The nurse had me hold Ashton's right leg and count off the breaths, 1 to 10, three times every contraction. Deep breaths, lots of pushing. I was a good doula and Ashton got lots of stylie points for superb face contortions and occasional grunting sighs.

Progress was slow, but finally, around 10:20, we got a good look at Samuel's crown, or at least the small tip of his conical head. The doctor came in and got down to business, and by 10:30 Samuel had emerged completely from the womb, and what a charming devil he was!

The nurses cleaned him up and gave me a good photo op. I'm not a crying man (I think Ukraine replaced my tear ducts with scar tissue), but my eyes were wet and my lip was quivering. I watched this amazing little infant, the pinnacle of God's creations, and felt an overwhelming sensation of love and joy and hope. I watched his vulnerable, innocent body squirm on the bassinet while the nurse suctioned out fluids, and was struck by his unadulterated purity. This baby is pure intelligence, and he came straight down the cosmic pipeline.

Family and friends flooded the room, anxious to see the sparkling new addition to our family. Everyone commented on his beautiful blonde hair, his long fingers, and the little cleft in his chin. He has perfectly shaped lips that Meg Ryan would kill for, and I think he has a strong resemblance to my brother Seth when he was a baby. He definitely has the Thompson nose. And although I may be biased, he is not an ugly baby. Even with the slightly swollen head and the old-man-bitter-beer face, he is not hard to look at. He takes after his mother, I guess.

I am thoroughly exhausted. I can only imagine how Ashton feels. I think a good way to end the day will be to read Samuel his first story: Where the Wild Things Are.

4 comments:

  1. Samuel is a gorgeous baby. You and Ashton did amazing work. I think the more time you spend with Samuel, more of those Ukrainian scars will be healed and replaced with even greater outpouring of the spirit and tears. What do you mean you're not a crying man? I love you guys!

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  2. How cool. I'm so excited for you! Any chance you guys will be coming down for Daniel's homecoming? We'd all love to see you!!! If not, maybe he and I can swing up there to see you, the wife, and the baby =) Tell Ashton I love her--Samuel too!

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  3. Hooray, hooray! You two are parents. I love this post. Ashton looks gorgeous, like she didn't even break a sweat. I'm excited to meet little Samuel Martin Jenkins.

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