The Grenable Blog

Witnessing a new life emerge into the world is nothing short of humbling. The enormity of what I was witnessing didn’t even hit me until I heard my boy’s first screams of life. It’s awe-inspiring: here is this new person experiencing the entire world anew. And what’s he thinking? “What is this place, and whose big rubber hands yanked me out of that swimming pool?”

(Just a little bit of vitals: Zachary was born by Cesarean at 9:00am on Wednesday, April 4th, 2007. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces. He’s 20 inches long. He’s got dark brown hair — just like his mother — and is very rolley-polley and fat — like his dad)

I was very reluctant to actually watch Zack being born, but the anesthesiologist kept peeking over the curtain, until he turned to me and said, “the head’s coming out soon,  get your camera. Look! Before you miss it.” I didn’t even have a second thought, as his tone said, “how many times do you think you’ll get a chance to see this?”

So I looked, camera in hand, with my digital audio recorder hanging from my neck.

Those first few pictures are not for the faint-of-heart, so I won’t post them here, but to me, they are some of the most beautiful pictures I’ve ever seen. My son being born!

But I will share a few of the photos here, as well as a snippet of audio of the moment Zachary took his first breath and cried. You have to listen carefully, as there’s plenty of noise in the ER: doctors, crying parents, machines that go “ping.” (Every time I listen to that audio, I tear up, as I’m hearing one of the two happiest moments of my life — wish I’d had that recorder when Allegra was born.)

Here’s the file of Zack’s birth.

On to the glam shots:

Here is the very first picture of Zack without a dozen people standing around him. We’re still in the operating room. He has not been weighed or measured yet. And yes, I did cut the cord.

Here is Zack finally bundled up in the recovery room, waiting for mommy to be wheeled in so she can hold him. Apart from doctors and nurses, Heather was the first person to hold him, and he instantly stopped crying when she did.

This is my very favorite picture.  Mother and child: it’s magical.

There’s Zack with Grandma.

And Grandpa.

And here’s Zack finally bundled up and sleeping in our hospital room.

And finally, here’s Allie meeting her little brother for the first time. She used words like, “baby” and “cute” to describe him. When she realizes the “cute baby” is coming home with us (and more importantly, sharing mom and dad’s attention) I imagine she’ll be a little less generous with her descriptives.

That’s it for now.