The Baby Place

This is "The Baby Place" at the Bayfront Medical Center in Saint Petersburg, Florida. I've been spending some time here lately and have gotten to know the place fairly well over the past week.

Because "Mary" had a little baby boy there last night a little after 9 o'clock.

I took this picture about a half hour after the little man was born into this world.

Now, this blog post is not about me...it's about mom, and perhaps even more so, it's about that little baby "wrapped in swaddlin' clothes", but I do want to share this...

I helped deliver the baby.

I had a bunch of really deep stuff to write about last night after I got home from the hospital, but honestly, I was too exhausted to write anything and I had to be up early to go back to the hospital this morning. But I do have a few observations to make:

First off...WOMEN ARE AMAZING!!!

Secondly, I was not just some guy in the room, given some silly thing to do to keep me occupied and out of the way. I actually held her right leg and arm, while a nurse held her left and I helped with the delivery. 

I watched him come out of his mom, encouraging and helping her the whole time.

So I want to say this again...WOMEN ARE AMAZING!!!

A few more comments:

I was present and involved when my daughter was born and without question, hers was the most amazing, important, and awesome birth I have ever been a part of. I was touched with so many memories of the evening, nearly 20 years ago. This morning, as I held this little newborn baby, I thought back to holding my daughter. I wasn't around for much of her upbringing. But so many memories came flooding back this morning.

I love you, Sara. Let's work things out. We had a great start again last year and I admit I screwed it up. Bipolar off the meds is a real bitch. I'm getting much better now. Please forgive me, even as I forgive you. And yes, we both have things to forgive.

I love you.

The reason I was holding him this morning is because I was given a baby ID bracelet last night. The father was nowhere around. So, in a sense, I have become the primary male figure in his young life. 

I was not expecting that to happen. Not at all.

You see, I was a crappy dad, and I had an even crappier dad.

Not my dad who adopted me, I couldn't have been blessed with a better man and role model in my life...

I mean the worthless piece of crap who donated some sperm, knocked up my mom, and split the scene, so many years ago.

I have no earthly clue about my biological father. None. His name isn't even on my original birth certificate. In fact, there isn't even a blank space, because near as I can tell, illegitimate babies in Germany in 1963 didn't have birth certificates that included a space for the father's name.

I am a bastard son.

But enough of all that.

The sad truth is this..."Mary" most likely will not be able to keep the baby. I won't go into any of the details, because I am all about confidentiality, thus her name change to the mother of Jesus...

Because all babies are born holy. Screw your original sin...sorry, I ain't buyin' it, especially after looking in that young man's eyes last night.

He has been birthed into a world of brokenness, with a couple strikes already against him. The world will break him, as it has all of us.

But God...

God is that young man's daddy. God is gonna raise him up. God is gonna make a man out of him.

Just like God is making a better man out of me, each and every day, if I just listen, learn, and walk in God's ways.

Which is something I don't do so well...like I said...I'm a real bastard...sometimes more so than others.

But God has put me in this child's life.

Maybe because I know what it's like to be given away at birth.

And God has put me in this woman's life.

Maybe because I know what it's like to lose a child.

And maybe God put me in all this to help me to live and learn...

To be a better minister, a better Christian, and a better, more loving human being...

Maybe.

Here's a blessing:

God bless you, Mr. Little Man, whose name I cannot share right now. God is your daddy. And you got a really good daddy. And your daddy has a special, secret name for you, and one day, he's gonna reveal it to you and it's gonna blow your mind...

Just like you blew mine...last night.

P.S. - Hey Little Buddy, your daddy has a pretty good record of taking care of babies who wind up in the bulrushes or get born in towns where there is no room at the inn.

I love you, Little Man.

Do well, be blessed...God is with you and will go before you, and loves you more than you will ever know.

Amen.