kiwords

My friend Heather called me this morning shortly before 7 AM. I’ve been waiting for her to have her baby, so every time she calls I answer with, “Are you in labor?” This time it was morning, and I wasn’t on the ball, so I just said, “Hello?”
“I’m not in labor,” she responded. It was morning, so I found that statement to be impenetrably puzzling.
“But I WAS!” she continued.
The penny dropped.
“YOU HAD THE BABY!”
“Yes!” She started telling me the details of the delivery, and I interrupted to ask,
“Well, is it a boy or girl?”
Ready for this?
She wouldn’t tell me.
“You have to come see us to find out,” she replied smugly.
Now, I had gone on record WEEKS before with my assertion that Heather was having a girl. She was pretty sure it was a boy. I just had this feeling, though. When I told the boys that Heather had had her baby, Max responded, “It’s a girl, I bet.”
That settled it for me. Off to buy pink!
Well, OF COURSE I went to see them, along with our friend Amy. We went to the hospital after we dropped our kids off at vacation Bible school.
When we got off the elevator (Amy, Raphael, and I), the first thing we saw was the nursery. And there was Jim, Heather’s husband, hovering over a baby. We peered through the glass and spotted the card attached to the bassinette. It was PINK! I was RIGHT, it was a GIRL!! We waved at Jim, then trotted down the hall to see Heather and to gloat about being right.
This makes four kids for Heather and Jim. They were all there for a while, before Jim took the older three to McDonald’s. They now have two boys and two girls. Heather’s gotten a lot of comments during this pregnancy about how brave/crazy/amazing she is to be having another, and that drives her nuts. She didn’t feel like adding another child to their family was such a wild thing. Until recently in human history, having four kids was pretty normal. But looking at their family, milling about in that hospital room today, I thought that it WAS a huge thing.
They seem so complete.
It’s not like there was this great gaping hole before, but today the five of them circled around the newest member, and to me they looked complete. Heather watched from her bed, a serene (if tired) matriarch. And none of them could stop stealing glances at their new baby.
Her name is Rowyn, and she’s just lovely. 9lb, 10oz, and perfect. Her oldest brother, Wyatt, sat in a chair next to his mom’s bed, watching TV. Heather said she was surprised that it was a girl, and Wyatt looked up.
“I’m glad. I wanted another sister.”
“Really?” I said, surprised that he had such a strong opinion. He smiled shyly and nodded.
“I really wanted another sister.” Then he ducked his head, embarrassed, and went back to watching TV.
I don’t know if Jim and Heather will have any more kids. I’m sure the world at large has many many opinions about that. But I do know this: it is a fine thing that this newest person in their family is here.
Welcome, little Rowyn.