Big Week at Sanford

Hazel Caroline Klumper
10 lbs. 11 oz.
March 11, 2014

It’s not everyday that you wake up to a life changing moment. On March 11th, Abby and I headed to Sanford to welcome our third child into this world. It was a scheduled C Section, due to size of the baby, so we knew that Tuesday was going to be the day. It’s a little odd having a scheduled C section, if you think about it. Normally, as the due date nears, anxiety and wondering grows as all involved anticipate and wait for the water to break or the contractions to start. However, with a scheduled C Section, it’s almost like you just wake up, get ready, and head to the store to pick up your baby. Easy as that. (Well, easy for me, maybe, being that I’m a guy.)  We checked in at the hospital and got situated. Surgery was scheduled for high noon, so as the minutes ticked by and the operating time neared, I got more and more nervous. I couldn’t sit still, knowing that we were just minutes away from opening up that enormous stomach and bringing a tiny alien-like human into the world.
I was shown into the operating room and found my seat next to Abby as the surgeon fired up the plasma cutter. Once the head had emerged from the stomach, I was allowed to stand up and watch the rest. My eyes opened and didn’t blink for minutes as I saw this grey, slimy creature flop out and instantly, I thought, “I just witnessed a miracle.” Soon, her pterodactyl-like screams filled the room and our eyes filled with tears. We loved her instantly.

As I stood there, holding her, just minutes into her life, the emotions were just NASCAR-ing through my body. I couldn’t help but think about the awesome responsibility of being a parent and raising a child in this world, being there at the beginning of the timeline of her life, thinking about what the future holds for her. What will she be like? What will she look like? Will she be a good student? Will she be nice? What will life through at her and how will she handle it?  It is all just very surreal holding a human on the day they were born.

Someday, this baby girl will get older and go to school, just like thousands of others. Parents will send their precious treasure to a building and hope they will be taken care of, protected, watched out for. We don’t just have a room full of students. We are responsible for taking care of peoples’ children and teaching them how to learn, create, and discover. Parents send us their most prized possessions and it is our job to build relationships with them, to be there for them, to care for them.  

What’s it like having a baby in the technology age? Well, thanks to the Internet, all who wanted could join us as I documented the day with Twitter, providing updates, news and pictures throughout the day. I think it was a cool way for people to be with us without actually being with us. I know my daughter enjoyed following the updates at her school as she waited for her baby sister to be born.  

The week has been a good one as we have been hanging out at Sanford with the baby, enjoying lazy afternoons and the delicious food of the Bistro. It is nice to slow down, enjoy the newness of life and regain perspective of what is truly important.