New Baby Day!

The day started early.

We had a hard time getting The Baby Girl (17 months old) to sleep. She had been down for an hour when she woke up at 12:01 AM, crying and fussing in bed. The Wife needed her rest, so I got up and got The Baby Girl out of bed. She didn't want to eat. She didn't want to drink. She didn't want to sleep. She was okay with watching some television.

So, I took her downstairs and I started to watch a couple of the late night talk shows. The screams and tears told me she was not interested in Seth Meyers or James Corden. So, I put on some Super Why. The reading adventures of Super Why and his cartoon cohorts appeased her, and after a half an hour of their antics, I took her back up to bed.

That's when she barfed and peed on me.

When I attempted to put her in her bed, she barfed on herself and on my hands. Enough of the barf got in her hair to merit a trip to the bathtub to wash it out. When I took her diaper off to put her in the tub, she urinated on my feet.

It wasn't the best way to start the day.

I got her cleaned off, then changed the sheets on her bed, put her in clean pajamas, and threw everything that had been touched by the barf and/or the urine in the washing machine. I put The Baby Girl back in bed. There was no more barf, and she managed to sleep through the rest of the night.

I got back to bed at 2:02 AM and eventually went to sleep, too. The Wife's alarm woke me up at 6:00 AM, and I slowly rolled out of bed and got moving. After a shower, I started getting the big kids ready for school. They both were pretty well behaved. They knew the importance of the day.

The Girl (eight years old) furrowed her brow and said, "I'm worried that the baby might not be healthy. I hope he's going to be okay."

The Boy (six years old) was much more enthusiastic. "I love babies!" he shouted. "I love getting babies here! I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so excited!"

We managed to calm the kids down to somewhere on the scale between sadness and euphoria, then sent them off for school. We spent the next hour and a half getting ready and packing the mini-van. We had to wake up The Baby Girl. She hadn't wanted to sleep at night, so she was trying to sleep all day instead. We dropped her off with the fantastic Auntie K, then took off for the hospital.

We arrived right on time, two hours before the scheduled surgery. We prepped and waited. (And by that I mean The Wife prepped and we both waited.) Just as The Wife was leaving the room to get her spinal, Auntie K and Grammy arrived with The Girl and The Boy. (The Baby Girl stayed away from the hospital because of her cough and barfing. PopPop tended her.)

As they gave the numbing pain meds to The Wife, I put on my medical garb and waited. For my first child I was given a white jump-suit and told I looked like either Elvis or a fat Ghostbuster. This time my coveralls were a light shade of blue. The Girl, a big fan of Frozen, said I looked like Elsa. (I wonder how many dads-to-be have been compared to a Disney ice princess?)

The fattest, ugliest Elsa ever!

They signaled for me, and I went to the operating room where they were working on my wife. Everything went well, and soon we had a beautiful baby boy! He was born at seven pounds and eleven ounces, which is a bit ironic considering all the runs I've made to 7-Eleven recently to satisfy Slurpee cravings for The Wife.

They brought The Baby Boy back to the room, where he met his older brother and oldest sister. The Boy, so hyper and excited in the morning, was exhausted, and after a quick look could barely keep his eyes open. Now it was big sister's turn to be hyper, as The Girl hopped around the room in hopes of getting a better view of The Baby Boy.

After a flurry of photos and phone calls, things settled down a bit. Auntie K took The Girl and The Boy home. Soon, all that was left were me, The Wife, and The Baby Boy.

Ten years ago I was a 40 year-old virgin. Now, I'm a father of four. Fantastic!!!

And that's when it hit home. Here is this tiny little human who is going to have such an impact on our lives. He wasn't here yesterday. He's here today. And now,  he's going to be one of the most important and influential people in my life for the rest of my days.

There'll be ballgames and bus stops. There'll be Playplaces and proms. He'll laugh at my silly jokes. He'll roll his eyes at me and tell me I'm lame. I'll kiss his boo-boos better. He'll make me smile in ways he'll never understand.

And yes, just like with his sister, there might be a night he refuses to sleep and instead decides to barf and pee on me. And that's okay. He's worth it.