Our Nine Month Wait Is Over

My husband and I are very excited. We are nearly floating off the ground with happiness. We have just become grandparents for the very first time. We have an addition to our family, a beautiful new baby girl. My husband's daughter and her husband who were married in Cuba last year, another exciting event and a trip we very much enjoyed presented us with our wee treasure this past Monday in late afternoon. That tremendous news put a sparkle into our dreary winter day.

It's been a long time since I've held such a precious bundle in my arms. I have two nephews who live quite a few miles from us that have had babies in recent years but I wasn't able to hold them after birth. My neighbours next door have had three new grandchildren and I've watched envious at times, the fun they have had with their new babies also now growing up and running around. So when my husband decided we would venture down to the hospital an hour's drive from our home that very same evening it didn't take me long to get organized.

I had to turn off the stove where I was cooking potatoes and turnips for supper. Have him carve up one of the two chickens I had just finished roasting and delve into making sandwiches. I even made a couple for the new father as we had talked to him on his cell phone and he was quite pleased to know food was on it's way. We drove as quickly as was safe and arrived at the hospital around seven-thirty p.m. Up we went in the elevator to the fourth floor and pushed the buzzer to be let into the maternity area. Down the winding hall we walked, getting more excited by the minute. Which room was hers?

We heard some babies weak little cries but our baby was sleeping soundly. What a beauty she is. Such a lovely pink complexion, the tiniest eye lashes laying on rosy cheeks, even a lovely head of hair. Maybe not enough for a bow yet, but it will grow..I thought as I saw her for the first time of the miracle of life, how as I did over forty years ago carry a baby for nine months, then this wonder, this miracle appears with ten fingers and ten toes all so perfect.

I thought of the word "swaddling" as I saw how our little princess was all wrapped up like a package in white cotton blankets. Underneath all that wrapping was a pink outfit, the color suiting her perfectly. She yawned, she blew a few bubbles, once we thought we were in for a sympathy cry as the babies around her were stretching their lungs, but our dear one just twisted up her face a bit and blithely slept on.

What a treat to hold her close to my chest, kiss her tiny head and wonder at all the great times that lay ahead. How we will grin and giggle over her every expression, taking picture after picture, filling an album before she reaches her first birthday. I've already pictured her in my mind feeding the fish in our pond. We are waiting on a name, several have been mentioned as we are also anxious to see her open her eyes and let us see another side of her personality.

Wonderous times lay ahead, being a grandparent is a joy I didn't know I'd get to experience and now that it's here I know what my friends were talking about when they said: "you'll just love it, there's nothing like it!" My husband is so looking forward to the day we can have her here for a whole day, just to ourselves. Today the snow is swirling down, the wind is howling, making the snow fly around in blizzard conditions. But I'm inside, warm and comfortable, dreaming of this new blessing which has grown our family. Anticipating the moment I can kiss those little hands and hold her once again, perhaps telling her stories of my garden and letting her know I won't get upset if she picks all the heads off my tulips so she can give "mommy" a pretty bouquet next spring. Lots of fun and adventures ahead, we can hardly wait!