The Best Night Ever

As I told you on Wednesday, we had been at Arnold Palmer Hospital in Orlando for two full days before Marilyn was ever moved to a birthing room.  Even that move did little to make us feel like we were any closer to having a baby.  Marilyn's contractions were still far apart and the baby had not dropped.  She struggled with the stress all afternoon and into the evening hours.   Dr. Carducci stopped by to check on us, and she was not happy with the way things were going.  She told us that Elmo was "still in Seminole County."  In other words, he was still way north of where he ought to be!  Hearts rates and blood pressures were not what she wanted them to be, and with an urgency that frightened me a bit she announced that we were going to surgery.  My wife, after three days of waiting, was going to have a C-section. Just like I had begged for that morning...

The excitement was just beginning.  We let everyone know what was going on while they prepped Marilyn for surgery.  Then it was time to get me ready.  They tried to find scrubs big enough to fit me, but that wasn't happening, so we had to improvise.  By the time we finished I was wearing two gowns (one forward, one backwards) and some sort of combined footies covering my giant feet.  We called our dear friend Dr. Jill Painter (she was going to be Elmo's pediatrician), who was home preparing to take my youth group to Spanish Wells on our mission trip.  She said she was on her way.  They escorted me into the operating room, where Marilyn was waiting.  They sat me at her head, with a screen between me and the rest of her, so I wouldn't pass out during the delivery.  I held her hand and they started cutting.  A few moments passed, and then Dr. Carducci (with her big time New York accent) suddenly said, "OH MY GOD!"  I can tell you, this is NOT what you want to hear when people are cutting your wife open.  That outburst was followed by "DAD!  You have to look at this!"  This seemed like a bad idea to me.  After all, they were the ones who put me behind a screen so I wouldn't pass out.  But despite my reservations, I stood up and peeked over the screen.  And there it was.  A head was sticking out of my wife's tummy.  It looked like a scene from Alien (now one of Will's all-time favorite movies, ironically).  This not-quite-born baby was holding his head up.  Everyone was astonished.  I sat back down and the staff finished their work.  At 10:50 PM William Joshua Jones arrived in this world, a true gift from God.  They told us it was a boy, and that was a good thing- if it had been a girl we might still be fighting over the name.   Then they told us he was big enough to start kindergarten!  Dr. Jill had arrived to do his check-up, and they kept measuring him because they all thought someone got it wrong.  He was 10 pounds, 2 ounces, and 23 inches long.  The length was, at the time, a hospital record.  Marilyn was doing great as well.  My Mom, on the other hand, was so furious that Marilyn had been through three days of waiting only to have the C-section they could have given her much earlier that she had left the building!  We had to hunt her down so she could meet her first (and only) grandson.  It was a strange night, scary and stressful.  It was also my best night ever!  I was a daddy.

Today marks the 15th anniversary of that night, and a lot of water has passed under many bridges since then.  I am still thrilled to be Will's father.  He makes his mom and I proud every day.  He is a wonderful son, a great student, a creative personality and a fine human being.  Anyone who wants to argue that God is vengeful and brings misery upon people for their sins would have to be able to explain to me how I, often the chief of sinners, wound up with a son who is so clearly a blessing from above.  Today I give thanks for my wife and my son (the Alien!) and for all of the people (family, friends, youth, teachers, pastors) who have helped us care for and nurture him over the years.  All of them are simple reminders that God is good all the time.   And please, keep praying for us!  We still have a long way to go...

Because of Jesus,