Belonging

It's self evident that creating a baby requires two people. However, after delivery it feels like the effort of birthing said baby is a one person project. I assume that I am not alone when I say that those on the female side of the equation sometimes have a somewhat self-satisfied feeling of superiority, as it pertains to feeling that you alone sacrificed the most towards the gestation and birthing processes. In fact, I wonder if while we are wallowing in our maternal fecundity we realize that our paternal collaborator is feeling a little...irrelevant.

Although I was exhausted after giving birth, I knew that I had accomplished something profound. I would not assume to say how He felt. I only know what He did.

After everyone was cleaned up, after all our family had left, after we asked the nurse to leave our new little miracle in my room for the night, and after she was changed and fed, He climbed in the hospital bed beside me. He felt part of our little production and He wasn't going home to sleep in our big comfy, quiet bed. Instead He slept beside me, on about 12" of mattress, on top of the covers, with a bar in his back, and not moving so as not to disturb me (this alone qualifies Him for man of the year). He did not want to be an adjunct. He intended to be a part of the whole.

He slept beside me...

...one more reason I love him.