Birth

Carrie gave birth to Micah Indy Dyer this past Wednesday, and it was a particularly emotional birth for me. He was a big fat 9lb 2oz baby, and Carrie was a rockstar. What mom having a baby isn't? Here's the big fella, and doesn't he look like a Wonnacott? (Sorry, Dyers, but you got the first three babies.)

I was really awestruck by the astounding feat it is to have a baby. I feel, when I give birth, that what I have done is the most awesome thing anyone has ever done, and that no one else could possibly ever do it. Which is funny, since every mother does it, and since there were five other women in the same hospital doing it at the same moment I was. Still. Paige kept saying that Carrie popped it out of her belly, and then (picture the light behind her eyes shining at you as she says this part)-- it turned into a baby! And it kind of feels like that.

His feet were poking out as Carrie was nursing him, and his little body all the way down to his toes shows how much effort he was putting into this whole living business. And how gracefully he does it!

There's just no apt metaphor for the miracle of birthing. It's creation, for crying out loud! It's so essential. But here goes: pregnancy is like the universe walking around on two legs, and birth is all that possibilty condensed into a moment. And like anything that beautiful, you look away and it's over.

Fortunately, Carrie's sister-in-law Minna (who's a pretty incredible photographer) spent the day at the hospital documenting the birth. I can't wait to see her photos, and I highly recommend you check them out here. I think she's making a slideshow and won't post them until Carrie and Jeromy have seen them, but there's at least one there now. Way to go, Carrie.