Birth of a child

It's been six months, but I can still remember the overwhelming emotion when our fourth child was born. One would think that with the fourth the process of labor and birth would be old hat. But with the first three my wife had an epidural and all the babies were born in a few hours (our first was born in 36 hours!). Our fourth was born in 28 minutes.

I was recently watching "The Nativity Story." I really enjoy the movie and like it despite some of the obvious cliches. At the end of the movie, when Baby Jesus is born, Joseph is delivering the baby. The baby is born Joseph holds him up and is laughing and crying simultaneously. Every time I watch that scene I am instantly taken back to that moment in the hospital; that moment immediately after the birth. The relief that the birthing process was over, that the baby was born, that my wife had survived. That the baby had survived. I was laughing and crying simultaneously. The flood of emotions was just so intense. I can honestly say that I had never experienced that level of emotion before.

And unless we have another child, I doubt that I will experience again. I am grateful that I was granted that experience.