Adam’s Arrival

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from having babies, it’s that there’s no rhyme or reason to when or how I’ll have them. Sometimes they come early, most of the time they’re late. They might be planned, but are often unexpected. I’ve had spinal blocks, epidurals, have had my water break, and have gone au naturale. So, when it came time to “plan” for another birth, I just laughed.

Luckily, the one thing we were able to plan on was my parents being around to help. For every other birth, we’ve had to rely on the generosity and kindness of our friends to come help with the older siblings. That’s no small ask when it started getting up to 4+ kids and my generally unpredictable labors of 12 to 18+ hour labors! In order to cover ALL our bases, my mother came out a few days before my official due date and stayed for several weeks after (can I say again how much I love that remote working has become a reality for a lot of people?). Not only was it awesome to have my parents’ help with getting things taken care of around the home (I don’t think I had to touch a dirty dish for almost a month!), it’s a huge relief to not be worried about what the kids are up to at home while I’m preoccupie in the hospital.

Knowing that my mom was going to be there made it so much easier to try and have a birthing plan, namely when we were going to call it and coax the baby out. 😉 In talking with my midwife, we discovered she happened to be working the weekend after my parents would arrive. We scheduled an induction after my due date and kind of held our breath that I’d make it to that day–the week before the induction was full of activities and important dates for the other kids that I didn’t want them to miss.

Our prayers were mercifully answered and other than the usual discomfort of being hugely pregnant, there wasn’t any sign of impending labor. I am pretty certain few of my babies have come on their own because I am entirely too comfortable to want to leave.

Welcoming a new soul into our family is always an incredible experience. It’s hard and messy and a lot of work on my part, but the short sacrifice is worth it when they put the baby in my arms. There’s something sweet about being there when a new person enters the world. They’re full of potential and the hope for the future. It’s also empowering–I just made the next generation of life. That is pretty darn incredible.

Because of Covid restrictions, there were some changes to the way things happened in the hospital. Thankfully, my midwife didn’t ask me to wear a mask, because I would have politely refused. Jack and I both received our vaccination before I gave birth and though I’m usually very compliant and meek when in labor, there was no way I was going to pant and push with a mask on my face. Also, the nursery was closed to taking babies. Not a big deal since Jack was able to stay and help because he didn’t have to run home and watch the rest of the children. Good thing he was there, too–Adam is a naturally very laid-back baby who got the hang of sleeping very quickly, but the first night, I don’t think we got a wink between him needing to eat and then pooping what seemed like every fifteen minutes. Only two visitors total were allowed and though they were supposed to be over eighteen, Jack managed to smuggle Evelyn in (not that it was difficult–the security desk didn’t even ask) Evelyn and Jack were up north the day after the baby was born and stopped by to pick me up from the hospital on their way home. It was just a matter of saving gas and time, not an outright attempt to be obstinant to the rules.

We always get questions about how the family does welcoming a new baby into the family. I think the pictures, smiles, and squabbles they get into over who’s going to hold, feed, burp, bathe, or play with the baby say it all.

What’s his name, you wonder? For whatever reason, girl names have come easily and we have always had them chosen before our daughters have been born. Boys? That’s another story. Whatever the reason, it’s been a challenge for us to name our sons. Not that there aren’t plenty of good, strong, traditional boy names that we liked, but we never felt particularly attached to any of them. When we turn to the older children for suggestions, we got things like “Clark Kent” and “Salomi” (yes…sliced lunch meat and it wasn’t even spelled right). Henry has been petitioning for two brothers to name one of them Spiderman. So, even though Jack and I kept a list and debated dispassionately (because there were none we REALLY liked, just several we didn’t), we ended up naming our son something that wasn’t even on the list to begin with: Adam.

The running joke is that we started with Eve (“EVE”lyn) and are ending with Adam. Zoey’s the only one who had a hard time accepting his name–she was a staunch proponent of Owen. I like the name, and Jack didn’t have anything against it, but when we polled our oldest girls who are in school, they knew no Adams but between them knew twelve Owens. Still, Zoey told everyone who asked her that Adam’s name was Owen and to this day, still insists Owen would have been better. She seems content when I tell her she can name her own baby Owen someday. 😂

Some days, it’s tiresome, all that we have to do, but we’re managing. That’s one of the best parts of having a family–being able to share the load. It has increased our ability to get things done and creates time for us all to take breaks and rest when needed.

Like every baby, life has felt more complete with each subsequent one. It seems like Adam has always been a part of our clan. We can’t wait to see what life brings for him and how he’ll shape the world, but we do know the joy and happiness he’s brought us already is immeasurable. Yes, it is an extremely busy time of life, but it has continued to be so blessed and Adam’s arrival has only added to it. We love him and he’s already growing so fast, so we’re trying our best to cherish it, chaos and sleepless nights, noise and all.