"July 14, 2001 was truly the best day of our lives. Not only were we able to commit ourselves publically to one another, but our family and friends were there to share it with us. Their support and enthusiasm have nurtured and inspired us as we developed our relationship. We look forward to their continued presence".
"We know that we could not have made it to the altar without the endless compassion and love that our parents have given us. They have shaped us individually and will continue to guide us in our future together".
"On this memorable day we were surrounded by truly remarkable people". "That was the greatest gift we could have hoped to receive"!
EDY!
February 18, 2007
Betsy and Jeff have a new daughter Edith (“because we liked that name”) Day (because it’s Jeff’s mom’s name). She arrived on February 18th (two weeks early, as one would expect a relative of Betsy’s to do). Seven pounds, 11 ounces, 21 inches long, and, frankly, stunning.
Well, that's a pretty short story, so here, in Jeff's words, the main event...............
Betsy woke me up at about 2:00 in the morning of February 18th and said her water had broken. This was terrific news, of course, except for the 48 hours of work I had left to do for clients and on our mostly finished basement. But, as those of you who are already parents know, these things quickly seemed remarkably unimportant.
We got to the hospital by 3:00am (it’s less than a mile away – and no, I did not make Betsy walk). She was having mild contractions, so we walked around the empty corridors for a couple of hours and developed an initial understanding of what “sleepless nights” really means. At 6:00 I took a nap. Betsy lay there, patiently. It was all she could do. At 7:00 the doctor arrived. I woke up for this. Because Betsy was delivering early, this was out first meeting. Luckily, he seemed like a nice guy, and in the final estimation proved more than competent, which was obviously a relief. Betsy’s labor got increasingly more intense and just about the time she was ready to call for painkillers the nurse announced it was time to push. So push she did.
And at 12:28, Edy
emerged, gave a quick look around, hollered, glanced at Betsy when Betsy said something (she recognized her mom! relief!),
and was off to be weighed, footprinted, swaddled and cleaned. Perhaps the cleaning came first. My memory is a little shaky here. So Betsy
delivered without even an Advil (holy cow, I say – someone told me that running a marathon is harder than giving birth, but I don’t believe it,
since I’ve run a marathon, and I’ve paused in the middle…).We took her home on the 20th. Betsy wore her pre-maternity pants, ensuring jealousy from many quarters, starting with the nurses on staff. Edy’s eating well, sleeping well, and is generally consolable. We are smitten with just about every move she makes, including those moments (involving yelling and other unpleasant things that emerge from her) that we had thought would be irritating or even awful. She’s up to almost 10 pounds and watches everything we do with great interest, particularly those things that happen within 18 inches of her face. Which is where most things happen, because we like being close to her. Someone had told us that having a baby would be more entertaining than television. This is indeed the case. She’s also better than reading, which surprised me.
The basement is done, Edy’s room is painted, my books are in their new shelves, the new glider chair is in place, the crib is functional and mom and daughter are both happy. All in all, we’re feeling blessed, certainly with Edy, but also with friends and family, who have been wonderfully supportive. Between well-spaced phone calls, frequent meals, innumerable gifts from books to toys to clothes and even diapers, prayers at church and notes to home, I don’t know what else we could ever want.
Thanks to all of you – we hope we see you soon.