Micah arrives

First off, this is Amy, Micah's mom. I'll fill in until Micah is of an age where he can not only recognize his own name but also has the motor skills to update his own blog.

Where to begin...I expect at the beginning, which would be at Micah's birth, June 9th 2006 at 12:25 in the afternoon (I'll spare you all the details of his 11 hour passage into this world, except to say it was both the most physically difficult and rewarding experience of my life and I did it all without an epidural).

When they placed him on my belly, I actually had to ask, "What is it?" as in this era of ultrasounds and "sexing" your baby (there's a new term I learned and no, Megan's Law does not apply) there was no jubilant cry from the doctor, "It's a boy!" He was beautiful. I realize I was slightly biased and though they could have been lying to my face, the nurses all agreed too (yes, I asked them to confirm his cuteness). Before we were even discharged to the post-partum room, Micah was surrounded by so much love. Zack, my mom and Ann, our friend and doula, had all attended the birth. My dad and brother soon joined us from the waiting room and shortly after our friends, Rachael, Rodrigo, Becca, Forrest and Erin were all there too--having skived off the rest of their work day for this momentous occasion.

I was on a high and sleep evaded me for hours. Who knew it was possible to stare at a sleeping baby blob for as long as we did. What struck me most about those first couple of nights in the hospital was the cacophony coming from Micah's bassinet. Whoever thought up the expression, "sleeping like a baby" clearly had never heard a newborn. He sort of snorted and wheezed all through the night--scaring me half to death because I thought for sure he couldn't breathe at times.

Soon enough it was time for the three of us to leave the womb of Alta Bates Hospital and go back to our former lives. It is a weird thing entering a hospital pregnant, spending three days there in which time your former life as you know it changes irrevocably under one roof, and then you leave said hospital to return to the streets and home you knew before, only with a babe in arms. Not to mention they just let you leave...with a BABY...with nothing but a quick check of the car seat and loaded up with a nasal aspirator and some cheesy stuffed bear with "Food Service" written across the belly (a gift from none other than the Alta Bates Meal Service Team). I mean, there is no parenting test you have to go through--no Diaper Changing 101, no certification of infant CPR...they just let you leave...with a baby.

So we did. We packed our proverbial bundle of joy up in the car and headed home--driving about 10 miles under the speed limit the whole way.