9 months ago...

9 months ago I awoke in the middle of the night to persistent cramps. As sleep fell away I realized that the cramps came and went in a slow, tight rhythm.

41 hours later (!!!) our precious little one was born.

I hadn't bothered to do the math until this morning as I showered and thought back to those two days. I was at home for 24 hours before my nerves broke and we decided to go to the hospital to see how far I'd progressed. Aidan wasn't born until I had been in the hospital room for 16 hours. It happened quickly and felt like an eternity all at the same time. The overwhelming feeling surrounding my memory of those 41 hours is an intense peace - not a passive, swing-in-a-hammock-on-a-sunny-day peace, but a peace that permeates the whole room and your whole being that feels (and is) like God incarnate. I don't remember the pain. I do remember the peace.