Artesia News

Birth Announcement

Name: Isis Alanna Perry
Born: July 13, 2005 7:15 p.m.

 

Someone once told me, "Once you set your eyes on your daughter, you'll fall in love with her almost instantly." I'd like to acknowledge the truth in that statement, as that is exactly what happened.

 

It was the beginning of a regular, warm July day. I had arrived at work and only 30 minutes later I received a call from my fiancee Stephanie, that her water broke and the doctor told her to come to the hospital.
Calmly, I told the city clerk and she said, "Go! What're you waiting for?" And so I left.

 

In fact, I remained calm the rest of the time except the moment the baby was born. Naturally, I called friends and family only to be greeted with some variation of, "What!?! I'll be right there!"

 

Later on, at about 6:30 p.m., I got my first peek at my daughter as she was sliding slowly down the birth canal. A nurse checked on Steph and said, "Oh! I can see the baby! Where's the doctor?" Sure enough, I saw the top of the baby's head inside Steph's womb, slowly inching her way to the end.


The doctor, Hyuk Lee, who said later, "I've been in this business a long time," accurately predicted the baby won't be born until after 7 p.m. Sure enough, at about 7:05 p.m., Dr. Lee arrived. He only gave me one job, to hold Steph's knee and leg up toward her abdomen (she held the other leg).

 

Fortunately for Steph, it only took her three pushes for Isis to suddenly pop out.

 

Because fetuses being born have that soft spot at the top of their head, I noticed a little cone sticking out just before Isis began to crown. Thinking that this little cone was the baby's head, I began to worry because, judging from the size of the little cone, the baby would only be six inches long! My perception was suddenly proven wrong when suddenly this little (compared to the cone ... large) head popped out and suddenly there was a little human head poking out. Shortly afterward, her shoulders came through, her little limbs kind of flopped about, and she let out her first cry. It was about this time that all sense of serenity and calmness left me, and it was about this time that all four sets of grandparents in the other room let loose cries of excitement hearing (for many of them) their first grandchild's first cries.


I paid very little attention to the cries outside the room, though I was aware of them, and watched in amazement as they carried the child to the little bed where the nurses check out the baby. It's an amazing thing, yet at the same time natural, and judging by the population of the Earth, it happens all the time. None the less, the experience of witnessing one's own child being born is so far the most amazing thing I've ever seen or felt.


In conclusion, I want to say that many add religious meaning to childbirth, that it is somehow proof of God's existence. I think of it as something much more profound, it is proof of the continuance of humanity. One dies, and yet another takes his place. Plato, via Socrates, said childbirth was the first of only two ways that humans can achieve immortality. Perhaps he was correct about both.


In case you are wondering about the second path to immortality, it involves talking to each other and generating ideas (or becoming “pregnant” with ideas). Thus, the term platonic is a reference to “mind sex”.


Andrew Perry


Isis Alanna Perry

Isis and Dad (Andrew)


Isis with her grandfather's hand

Isis with Grandma and Mom

Isis with Grandpa

Isis with Mom

Isis and another Grandpa

Isis and Mom (Stephanie)

Isis with Mom and More Grandmas!

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TOP OF PAGE