Ain't Bein' a Dad Great

I mentioned a while ago that we were expecting our second child soon and it has finally happened. Here is what it's all about. Aren't kids great. I love being a dad!



Our estimated due date was on September 21st and we were bracing ourselves to go long since Ben had been born 11 days past his estimated due date. Mindy had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions off and on for two weeks or more before the due date, so I foolishly got my hopes up. The due date came and went with no change in the contractions, but I kept thinking today's the day...

Finally on Sunday afternoon they started to get different. Not very regular yet, but stronger. We tried not to get to excited, but we did finally call our midwife and let her know what was happening. Joy, one of the apprentices, came over around 7 and checked the baby's heartbeat and talked with Mindy about how things were feeling. We still weren't certain, but we called our parents as well, to give them the heads up that it might be happening.

After Joy left, we took a walk and then put Ben to bed. We got ready for bed ourselves and then hung out for a while watching some TV and reading. The contractions seemed to be getting more regular and Mindy was pretty sure she couldn't sleep through them anymore, so we called the midwife again. This was about 10:00 Sunday night the 25th. After we called the midwife I started filling the birthing tub and making calls to our parents letting them know that it was happening. My parents are across town and were coming to help during the labor and Mindy's parents were coming from Idaho so we wanted to give them plenty of time to leave as soon as they could.

About 10:45 the midwife and the apprentices started showing up and by 11:45 my parents had shown up as well. Mindy's contractions were getting harder and she was looking forward to getting in the tub. The tub was ready about 12:30 and Mindy got in it and her contraction pain was eased greatly. She says it's so freeing to be able to just float through the contractions. About 1:30 or so I joined her in the tub and we got down to business. Esme, our midwife had checked her just before we got into the tub and she was 5cm dilated and 100% effaced, so she was just getting down to the hard work. Mindy labored on through the night with the midwife or one of the apprentices coming in every once in a while to check on us and check the baby's heart tones etc.

About 4:45 or so, Mindy all of the sudden said that she felt the urge to push, so we called the midwife and everyone came scurrying in for the final stage. Mindy got onto her hands and knees in the tub to push. Esme and Joy stayed close to check heartbeat and progress, while Ondra was documenting the process. My parents were woken up and my mom came down and held the video camera for a while.

It was all progressing quite well, and we didn't really have a concept of time, but I suddenly realized that we were feeling the top of the head and it was going to happen really soon.

Then at 5:15 am on September 26, 2005, with one push, his head came out and one push later his body came out.

We spent some time in the tub just bonding a little and then my mom and dad brought Ben in and we introduced him to his little brother: Kyle Warren Isom. He was 8lb 2oz and 21 inches long.

After we got out of the tub and cleaned up we went up to our bedroom to rest and have Kyle checked out. My dad fixed us breakfast and then Esme, Joy and Ondra left and we tried to get some rest. Ben got to spend the day with his grandparents and we mostly recovered. Mindy's parents arrived about 3 o'clock that afternoon and we all had dinner together. It was such a great experience.

I am so amazed at the whole process. My wife is simply amazing. The midwives kepts saying that she looked so mellow; they couldn't believe that she was having hard contractions because she just relaxed right through them and let her body do what needed to be done.

Becoming a father again has made me realize what an awesome gift from God children really are and what an amazing miracle the process of birth is. Not just the physical birth of this new child in our family, but the birth of new relationships. My relationship with Mindy is so much richer for going through this birth together and embarking on raising a new child. My relationship with Ben is better because it's now at a different level. I knew that I wouldn't love him less because I had another child to love, but what I didn't know was that when Kyle was born, I'd love him more. Praise the Lord for blessing me with fatherhood!!