He's Here! He's Here!

Stephanie and I would like to introduce our son Tobiah William Schwarz. He arrived this morning at 5:21, weighed in at 7lbs 5oz and was 18 inches long. Both Toby and Steph are doing well. He is doing great during his first seven hours of life. Steph and I are both humbled, thankful and honestly a loss for words over how blessed we truly feel right now.

As I wrote last night we were in the hospital hoping that we would be parents by late morning/early afternoon. Little Tob had different plans. I sent last night's post out at around midnight and I stayed awake with Steph until about 1:15. Honestly I was a little excited/nervous about greeting my son into the world, but before I fell a sleep I told Steph to wake me if she needed me. At about 1:30 Steph started moaning a little bit, but it wasn't anything to unusual from what I've heard at home. Since she didn't say anything I fell back asleep. At 3:15 I awoke to a few loud and painful moans. From 1:45-3:15 Steph and the nurse were very active. They walked around the room, spend a few minutes on the birthing ball, filled and spent about 30 minutes in the tub. (This once again confirms that I could sleep through a marching band). At about 3:30 we moved Steph back to the bed and she began having sharp contractions. At 4:27 she began pushing and by 5:21 he was born. I got a little emotional seeing how much discomfort Steph was in and there was nothing I could do about it. I kept telling her how great she was doing and let her squeeze my hand to relieve some of the pressure.

I would like to make the disclaimer now that I know very little about children and all these experiences are new to me. Give me a little latitude as I share just how naive I really am.

After Tobiah was born he came out just a screaming. I was amazed on how quickly the got him into Steph's arms. While she was bonding with him they were cleaning him off and making him look more human. When asked, I passionately declined the option of cutting the cord. To be honest I was constantly checking for the nearest chair just in case I started getting a little light headed. So cutting the cord was a little to much for me. In the mean time they weighed, measured and administered his first shot and eye drops.

They dressed and swaddled him and I got to hold him for the first time. His eyes were open and I kind of introduced myself to him. I told him "You are going to be great, you are going to do great things." I started welling up with tears as I said "God saved you for this special time and you will do great things for him". I still get emotional thinking about that and I'm not an overly emotional guy. Maybe it was the first connection that we had, or a realization of what is to come. All I know is that I now have a human life that is completely dependant upon me (well...at this time Steph) to provide, raise and instill values that will uphold the nature of his name.

There is so much more to share, but I think some of that is for another time and maybe more things will come back to me as time passes and Steph and I relive our versions of this morning.

For those of you who are wondering the meaning of Tobiah: God is good!

God has definitely blessed us today with a miracle and I can't quantify the gratitute that I have and I honestly think the best way to summarize it is "God is good", he is SO VERY GOOD!