Saturday, November 3, 2012

Family Fables: Happy 4th Birthday Alexis! ? il capitano inquisitore

It was late in the evening of November 2, 2008, and I found myself pacing the hallway of James Paton Memorial Hospital in Gander NL. No longer was I stopping to read the signs on the walls, or the information on the bulletin boards of the maternity ward, I could probably repeat any one of them verbatim from memory, after all, I had been staring at these same walls, same pictures, and same boards for over twenty hours.

Eventually, my wife was brought to the delivery room, and again an extended period of one of my least favorite things to do took place ? WAITING! I remember standing by her side as her body began to do things that I will never fully understand. Occasionally, I would step outside of the room to give the eager grandparents an update on their youngest daughter. Luckily, one of the nurses attending to my wife and unborn child was a friend and she helped so much with keeping this nervous soon to be parent at ease.

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At one point, I remember leaving my wife?s side to sit in the corner of the delivery room in an old wooden rocking chair that I suspect was placed there strategically by some clever maternity ward nurse who observed one too many expectant parents succumb to the stress of those intense moments. As I sat there I remember the shock that I began to feel as the reality of what was about to take place began to sink in.

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I had left my home a couple of days prior as a family of two. Ashley and I had freedom to go wherever we wanted, anytime we wanted, and our only real concern had been our dog Oliver who really wasn?t much concern at all. If we wanted to jump in the car at 5am to drive to the capital city to catch an afternoon film, we could. If we wanted to go to a friend?s home and stay there until after midnight, we could. If I wanted to go play hockey with the guys and Ashley wanted to go have tea with her girlfriends, we could. But things would soon be different!

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The next time we would enter our home we would be parents, and a family of three. No longer could we go wherever we wanted, anytime we wanted, our lives were about to be consumed with baby bottles, feeding schedules, nap times, and yes of course those many, many, MANY dirty diapers that we were going to have to change. No longer could we just leave our home at any time we wanted, or stay out as late as we wanted, or hang out with our friends anytime we wanted. NO, there would be schedules to follow and demands of a crying baby that you truly cannot ever reason with.

As I sat there in that wooden rocking chair, a title that had somehow remained something of a myth in my life, finally came to fruition, and I was going to have to become a ????.. ?Responsible Adult!?

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Before I had time to think any further about the fear and trepidation of the moment, the nurses began to shout at me? ?Okay, here we go, it?s time!? I looked at my wife who was hovering in and out of reality thanks to the gas they were pouring out of mask and into her nostrils, and knew that these next few moments would provide me with the knowledge of a side of my wife that I had never been introduced to previously. As I glanced at the clock I realized that we had slipped past midnight and we were now into a new day, my baby was going to be born on November 3, a day that would forever hold new meaning, I repositioned myself next to her bed, and I was given one simple task by the nurses:

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?Sheldon, we want you to count to ten and then on ten Ashley will push, and then you start counting to ten again, okay??

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Sure, I can count to ten, I was a high school graduate, I was responsible for creating budgets for my ministry unit, I handled people?s money every single week, of course I can count to ten. And so I began?

?1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6??Oh man I can?t believe this is happening! Am I ready for this? Will I be a good Dad? Will I be able to meet the needs required of my baby?

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?Sheldon, you are supposed to be counting!?

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?Oh, yeah, sorry, 1, 2, 3, 4??. How will we manage, how do we balance ministry with a new baby??

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?Sheldon, Count!?

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?Sorry! 1,2?. Man I don?t know if I can handle th???.?

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And in that moment despite the gas mask, despite her pain and agony, my wife found the will power to reach up and grab me by the shirt and stare into my eyes with a force that I had previously never known and with a look that I would guess resembled very closely the look that was upon the face of Bruce Banner before he turns into the Incredible Hulk, and she says?

?Sheldon, COUNT!!!!!!!!!?

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As any obedient servant should, I finally got around to performing my correct duty and the next few moments became a blur?. I watched as my wife dug deeper than she ever had before and found strength that had to have come from a greater source, and showed power that i forever will pale in the shadow of, and finally at 12:20 am on Monday November 3, 2008 a slimy, bluish-pink, life form entered this world and made her first high pitched scream.

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Alexis Erika Bungay was the most perfect thing that my eyes had ever looked upon, and immediately my heart was figuratively ripped from my chest and tied neatly around her little finger.

When I think back to those hours four years ago, there are a few favorite images that I hold in my heart, but by far the most meaningful was when Alexis was placed in my arms and I looked down at her wrinkled face for the first time, and saw the person that I had helped to create, It was a feeling that has been matched only one other time since, a special moment in 2011 and I?m pretty certain you can all figure out what that occasion was.

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In the four years that have passed since that eventful night, much has taken place. We have observed sometimes hands-on and sometimes from the sidelines as Alexis grew and began to develop into the beautiful little girl that she is. She caused me many sleepless nights as I stood next to her crib at all hours of the morning just making sure that her chest was still rising and falling, she has caused us moments of laughter when she would make silly faces and gets certain words wrong like: ?excavalator? instead of ?escalator? or ?bissghetti? instead of ?spaghetti? or this morning when she declared that her ?Barbie?s boobies look like camel bumps!? She has caused us to experience fear when she has been sick and experienced moments when she could barely breath, she has made us proud when on halloween she said to people who wanted to give her treats: ?No Thanks, my bag is full,? Or when she can be heard in her room while playing and quietly singing: ?sing to the King, who is coming to reign?? She makes my heartache when she does things that make her seem 14 instead of 4 and she makes me happy when she runs and leaps into my arms when I have been away at a meeting or for an extended period of time for a conference or school.

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But the best moments are when she looks at me with her big grin and with a hug and a kiss says: ?I love you Daddy!?

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Those are the best words that a Father can hear, period!

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And so today, my little baby girl, my firstborn, turns a new chapter and enters the world of a 4 year old.

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Alexis thank you so much for being who you are and for always being your precious, hilarious, gentle, beautiful self. Daddy Loves you more than you will ever know, and I hope that today your birthday will be a very special one.

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Happy Birthday ?Lex!?

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I cannot close this post without two more important ?thank-you?s?

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To my wife, thank you for being an amazing mother to our children and for sharing this parenting journey with me, you?re the best.

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And to God, thank you for the privilege of allowing me to help raise two of your precious children, I alone am not worthy, but with your divine assistance you make it possible!

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Thank You!

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Source: http://ilcapitanoinquisitore.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/family-fables-happy-4th-birthday-alexis/

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