On Friday, July 31st at 8:00 am my wife gave birth to our third daughter in five years. Feeling overwhelmed with emotions I sat next to my wife and admired our tiny bundle of joy. She kept her eyes closed as she encountered light for the first time. Her little cry signaling her healthy arrival. I couldn’t help but be grateful. The clock seemed to slow down as I lived in that moment. Worries that had been dragging me down the past couple of weeks ceased to exist. All my mind could do was focus on the now. If only I could always live like that. Savoring every moment I couldn’t help but wonder if she was physically and mentally healthy.

In the beginning stages of the pregnancy, we were floored by the possibility that our child may have Down Syndrome. We had never thought it could happen to us and we wondered if we’d be able to care for this child especially financially. Personally I also didn’t know how I’d live with losing my child at a young age. I really want all my children to out live me.

Our emotions were fragile as we went through the testing but as we talked and thought about it we had come to the conclusion that if we were blessed to have a child with Down Syndrome we’d make sure he or she would get the best of us. We would find a way. After a few tests we learned that our child was no longer at risk. Relieved we also knew that the test may still be a false negative. So we moved forward with the thought that our daughter may have some development issues.

I kept that in mind when the doctor looked over our baby girl and reported that she looked healthy. I exhaled as I realized I was holding my breath. We would have been lucky either way. In fact it’s always a blessing to give birth. I have countless friends and family members who have experienced miscarriages or have been unable to get pregnant.

I am lucky to not only have a healthy girl but a wife that was able to give birth with little complications or interference.

You see my wife has given birth to our last two children without any induction or pain medication. She was hoping to the do the same again however our doctor recommended we have this baby induced since she was almost a week overdue. Disappointed we agreed to go into the hospital the next day and have baby induced. Luckily my wife started having intermittent contractions around 2:00 am on Friday. This would come and go until we were supposed to check in to the hospital. Once we were settled in our private room (lucky again) the contractions started coming more often and we were excited to find out that she didn’t have to be induced. Instead the doctor would only break her water bag. After that was done the birthing process commenced immediately and probably 2 hours later if not less she was pushing out our daughter, Welina.

Overall the experience was what we hoped for. Our nurses were polite and helpful. The doctor did minimal and my wife was able to rest between contractions.

Lucky us.