Brand New!

It's my absolute pleasure to introduce a brand new addition to our family...a 6 pound 13 oz. baby boy! He was born on March 27, 2007 at 2 PM.

His name is Graydon Lee H__ . He has his sister's inquisitive, heartbreakingly beautiful gaze. Just after a long birth, during which he had breathing difficulties and was taken by Cesarean section, Graydon was introduced to his family.

Wide-eyed and astonished, he met my eyes for a long moment, thereby imprinting his energy into my deepest being for eternity.

His birth ended a long, hard delivery. My daughter was taken to hospital at 2 AM. Gray and I traveled from Qualicum Beach to be with her and the rest of the family.

I am in awe of my daughter. She endured an excruciating time, with focus, determination and strength. When she was almost fully dilated, it became apparent that her baby was in trouble, yet she never faltered, helping the nurses and doctors do all sorts of invasive procedures to her body, while she was contracting. She earned the respect of the medical staff with how she dealt with her son's birth.

At first, there was no operating room available. Incredible as it seems, this was indeed the case. The baby was without oxygen, and it was our Doctor who knew how to keep him alive, during what seemed like an excruciatingly long time.

Then, suddenly the room was ready, operating staff were ready to go, and she was whisked away...with her husband left behind, with the rest of us.

There are no words to write, perhaps no words yet thought of, that can describe the next half hour or so.

And then the doors banged open, staff shouted, It's a boy!...and he's fine! And so is his mother!

I only finally saw my daughter for a few minutes after she came out of the recovery room, at 5 PM. Drowsy and spent, she remembered to thank me for my help during the labour. All I could whisper to her was that I loved her...other words left me.

I spent the remainder of the evening with tears running down my face, total joy and awe and thankfulness in my heart.

For awhile, during the latter part of the delivery, when mother and son were in distress, I kept a running litany with Creator...this time, as once before, I went straight to the top. This time, my prayers for a happy beginning were answered...with a well mother and little Graydon Lee.

He is still doing extremely well, as is my daughter.

A brand new baby has arrived amongst our family. Every time I've seen him, he has the most amazingly smug look on his face...he's congratulating himself for a job well done!