childbirth
I stood by Amy‘s bedside as her husband brought their newborn baby and placed her ever-so-gently into her arms. I couldn’t keep my eyes from welling with tears as I looked into her perfect eyes. She is beautiful. Peaceful. Nine pounds, six ounces, of pure heaven. And she has the most amazing head of hair.
When the first person asked, “Have you decided on a name yet?”, I braced myself for the answer. I breathed in deeply and held my breath. “Alece Sophia,” Amy replied with a tired but vibrant smile. I closed my eyes tight, exhaled long and slow, and caught myself smiling.
Later, alone in the room with Mom and Baby, Amy asked me to pray a blessing over my namesake. I instantly choked up. Although my heart was overflowing with desires for her and her life, I struggled to find words. Good thing God hears hearts.
When Amy called me months ago to tell me about their name choice, I felt overwhelmed. Humbled. Honored. Speechless. Loved. Meeting my beautiful “Junior” today, holding her in my arms, looking into her eyes, I felt all those things again. Just 9,000 times stronger.
The weight of her bearing my name began sinking in. I don’t want her to be like me. I want her to be all that I am not. All that I always hope to be.
And with every moment, every opportunity, that I have, I will lavish her with love, teach her what I can, show her what I know. Together we’ll explore, discover, delight, grow, learn, laugh, love.
I experienced the joys of childbirth today. But without the pains of childbirth.
Sharing your moment … my heart is brimming too.
Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. That brought tears to my eyes. Oh, how loverly. Thank you for sharing.
Enjoy that baby…without having to worry about taking stool softeners :)
@20BOLD11 says:
She is beautiful Alece. Praise God! I know He will use you to help her parents train her up in the way she should go. She is blessed to be named after you. Love you :)
@cassgirl says:
I hope she’s just like her namesake.
She’s pretty spectacular as much as I have seen so far.
Beautiful baby Alece… You’re gorgeous!!!
Wow this is amazing..I have so many emotions about this. Thank you for sharing..Alece jr is beautiful…They picked a perfect name she will be a great women that is there for all…hmm that name means alot to alot of people. Wow..i really can’t put my feelings into words… :-)
@danielleH says:
I’m so glad you are there with them. She is beautiful. Newborns are just amazing…and pretty sleepy too! Wow.
(And Cindy, nice. You made me chuckle. But you kinda gotta love thinking back to the newborn days…stool softeners, heel pricked blood tests, hosptials and all. Amazing).
AWWWW.
Baby.
baby is here.
She is beautiful. I’d like to see her incredible hair someday soon.
This made me beam.
What a great looking baby. There must be something wrong because she looks quiet. I didn’t think baby’s were ever quiet. :)
What a great honor to have such a beautiful child named after you. You are the kind of role model we need more of.
Okay, this may sound really silly, but you know what came immediately to mind after reading your words about wishing everything that’s good and best for this sweet, beautiful baby? When Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story proclaims, “To infinity and beyond!” 8-D Ah, so much promise, so many possibilities lay ahead for this precious one.
Congratulations to all! What a gift to have been there for this.
After reading that post I want a namesake now! :) My maid just asked me, “you okay?” because I was wiping some tears. Beautiful! You did get to experience “that moment”……just imagine when it’s your own little kitty! :) Enjoy every moment with her and give her a sweet kiss on her head for me!
YAY! She’s so beautiful. Please send my regards to Amy and Dave. Was amazing wasn’t it? Anything newborn makes me want to cry. I just love bubbies. ;)
@moweezle says:
That is the best kind of childbirth! Sooo precious. I’m glad that you got to be a part of it all…what a great moment!
What an awesome privilege to be part of the birth of Alece Sophia!
@mandythompson says:
:)
whew – its a girl!
i’m so excited – proud – that you shared this time with them…
amazing.
@atangie says:
tears – yeah – very good.
It is such and amazing, beautiful, emotional event. Isn’t it a privilege to be such an important part of a child’s life. Parents must surround their children with people who can guide them and give them sound advice, trustworthy, compassionate people. It does take a village and usually the child would rather listen to the village than mom and dad. Congratulations and enjoy your new responsibility.
Oh honey, just you wait until you have babies of your own. It’s all this multiplied by a million. I’m all teary right now b/c you got to capture a glimpse of how it feels when you have a whole person that is all yours that is depending on you and your example. No one warns you about that kind of love. It’s the most powerful thing in the world. Don’t be surprised if you don’t leave there with the baby bug. ;-) heehee
And to think God loves us more than that…. WOW. Baffles me everytime.
OH! And I’m SO EXCITED she is finally here. I was actually wondering about that this morning when I got up!
Beautiful!
and as a mommy of three…it’s just as beautiful to have people like you in our children’s lives to walk beside them & the fill the love-spots that we sometimes miss!
Hugs n’ kisses to mommy & baby & even you! *wink*
…danielle
HOORAY!!! YIPPPEEE!!! WOO-HOOOO!!! and a WOOOT-A-WOOT!!!!!
I’m all for vicariously experiencing the wonders of child birth! You get the joys, they get the pain, you get the smiles, they get the drugs, you get the camera, they get the barf pan…couldn’t be better than that!
All kidding aside, my friend, Alece Sophia is a miracle, a beauty, a gift and a glorious reflection of our Amazing Creator!!! They could do no better than to name her “Alece”!
CONGRATS!!!
I have a feeling SOMEONE’s gonna make a wonderful mother one day!
Don’t leave it too late! ;-)
Little Al looks beautiful!
Promise me one thing tho????
Teach her to be ALL that you ARE (ok – minus the OCD thang) ;-) FIRST – then teach her to be all that you are not – if you think she could stand to be any more perfect after she’s like you! (with maybe just a little room for her Mom and Dad maybe?? :-)
<B
so beautiful! Were you in during the birth? So happy for you.
That’s so lovely! Such good news! :)
big smiles.. alece jr. you are so cute!
She is perfect. Fresh from God, and so beautiful. I hope and pray that she is like you Alece. Godly and fierce…because you are amazing and even though I know what you were “saying” in your prayer…you are a woman that we all can hope to be like.
@tamhodge says:
ok. im not a fan of newborns. most aren’t so cute right out the gates. but lil alece??? different story!!! she is stunningly beautiful! and the name fits her well ;)
congratulations to the blessed parents!
and alece…if she becomes only half the person you have become she will have succeeded quite well! you are a remarkable woman of God!
:) My first thoughts echoed some of the above… I wish I were many of the things Alece is. She’s amazing.
But… regardless, I entirely understand your thoughts. I’ve had similar thoughts about my mini-me younger brother. He’s so like me in so many ways… and it makes me want to show him all the lessons I wish I’d learned earlier on.
What gorgeous little girl! Congrats on having such a beautiful namesake. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story.
oh, tam…I’m so glad you said that! I think the same thing and figured that I was some horrid person to thing that a newborn looks like the cross between a turtle w/o a shell and ET! But you’re sooo right…little alece sophia truly IS STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL!
and I’m now finding that the “baby bug” [thanks brandy] can be caught via blogs now…oh drat!
* BRACE YOURSELVES. THIS IS GONNA BE A MOTHERLOAD CATCH-UP COMMENT! *
annie — thanks for sharing in my moment.
cindy — i “heard” your comment in my head as i passed amy her stool softener earlier this evening…
ayles — thank you for your oh-so-sweet words.
heidi — “just like her namesake” — i stared at that for a long while…
alex — hearing you say that my name means a lot to a lot of people was really, really special…
danielle — i am so glad, too. so, so, so glad…
andrew — man of many words. is baby-talk creepin’ you out?
becca — yeah, you’d like her hair. not sure if it’ll be pliable. but she sure has a lot of it. and it’s so amazingly soft. i love it.
edfromct — it IS an honor. one that humbles me greatly.
lisa — “to infinity and beyond” – ha! so true!
sarah — aww… i made you tear up. (sorry?) and i never thought i could feel this way about someone else’s child…
christen — she is perfectly beautiful. beautifully perfect!
moweezle — i still have to shake my head sometimes in disbelief…
ric — it is an amazing privilege. thank You Jesus!
mandy — phew, is right. you made me have some second-guessing moments there. goober.
@ngie — mmm… my eyes are well acquainted with them tears…
sarah — it *does* take a village, you’re right. and that’s the mindset in africa, which is wonderful. i’m so glad i get to be this involved in junior’s life (it’s still so weird to refer to her as “alece”), even if it’s from across the ocean.
brandy — “no one warns you about that kind of love” – i don’t think there’s anything that can prepare you for that. and for the first time, i can’t wait to experience what it’ll be like when i have my own.
danielle — it’s true. and amy and dave have both expressed that in a myriad of ways this week…
cathi — as always you made me smile really big and you touched my heart as well. i’m glad we’re friends.
bub — thanks for saying you think i’d make a good mom. most of the time i have my doubts; when i’m holding junior and she calms right down and just looks straight up into my face… in those moments, i believe you.
faith — because it was c-section, i wasn’t able to be in there for her birth. it was disappointing not to be with amy through all of that, but dave was a great strength to her.
birgit — headline news indeed!
hannah — i had to laugh that your comment said “big smiles” and your auto-generated picture looks like you’re frowning!
ApplePie — “Godly and fierce” – i’ve read that phrase at least a half-dozen times already. thank you. sincerely.
tam — i couldn’t agree more! she is the most beautiful newborn i’ve ever seen. (i’m not biased at all, i promise!) and thank you for your heart-strengthening words…
roo — mmm… thanks for understanding.
tara — welcome to the Grit! and thank you for your sweet-tea words.
cathi — water. lots of water. flushes it right out of your system.
that baby bug holds on and doesn’t let go…I’m tellin ya! I wouldn’t have Dylan if it did. ;-)
I used to do daycare on base but just for ONE little girl. Her whole first year she was with me the majority of the day. When she was 7 months old a lady I knew reached out to hold her and she CLUNG to me for dear life. In that instant, I KNEW. I cried, I knew it so much.
Three months later, I was pregnant. :D
I always tell her mom that if it wasn’t for her, I don’t think I’d have my kiddos b/c I was scared to have kids and be pregnant and that….you know…gross stuff. ;-)
ooohhhhh… that’s such a sweet story. so special!
She is beautiful.
indeed!
@atangie says:
Before I read your Motherload catch up – I had to say – nice! MOTHERload. :-) hee hee hee. You are so cool like that!
ha ha! yeah… pun intended. (i wish!)
What I can’t get over, as an old mother, you never forget how they were as tiny babies. No matter what they choose, contrary to what you would have liked, they’re still your babies. The love just grows deeper and deeper…it’s incredible.
OK – now i just have to work on all those ‘other’ moments and we’re sweet! :-)
<B
What a wonderful honor! Congratulations.
Love the cheeks on that pumpkin! Nine pounds….tell momma she’s the woman!
What a precious time and wonderful honor – new life!
i know, she has the best cheeks doesn’t she? i noticed in the car yesterday that they kept vibrating from all the bumps and movements as we drove. i kept watching them cause it was just too fun not to!