http://www.thepurplehouse.net/wedding/hands.html
Click on the link above. I just thought I would share this writing with everyone. It is called "The Hands of the Bride and Groom." I heard it for the first time just recently when we attended a wedding for some friends of ours (my husband graduated from college with the groom) on November 10th. If I had heard of the above writing when my husband and I got married back in 2000, I probably would have included it in our marriage ceremony as well.
I think it is beautiful, and the parts that hit me the most were:
"These are the hands you will place with expectant joy against your stomach, until he too, feels his child stir within your womb."
"These are the hands that look so large and clumsy, yet will be so gentle as he holds your baby for the first time."
When the priest recited those two verses during the ceremony, it really made me tear up as I thought of all the times that I held my husband's hands to my stomach while I was pregnant so that he could also feel our baby move within me. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.
And, it brings more tears of joy and happiness when I think of him holding Annabelle for the very first time. He waited so long to hold her as he wasn't able to hold her the day she was born. He had to wait until the next day because of her complications in the hospital. I was fortunate enough to hold her for 5 minutes or so shortly after she was born before they whisked her away quickly to the NICU. And, when we visited her in the NICU, and they offered to let us hold her again for the very first time after they had whisked her away, he never once asked to hold her before me. I know he must have been anxious to hold her, and I, obviously, was still overwhelmed after giving birth that I didn't even realize until later in the evening that he had yet to hold our baby that we created together. I hope that one day Annabelle will be as unselfish as her father.
Thank you God for such a beautiful miracle! And, thank you for blessing us with a little fighter!
3 years ago
3 comments:
That was a good saying about the hands. I was up early this morning and looked at it then. Have a good day.
Ooh, what was wrong with little Annabelle? I'm so glad she's OK now!
She had pnemothorax. Basically this means that she had a hole in her lungs. Apparently, it was caused when she was born because she breathed in too much air and actually popped a hole in her lungs. She was in NICU the entire time we were in the hospital, and we didn't get to bring her home the day that they sent me home. Fortunately though, we were able to bring her home the very next day. She was a very lucky girl though! They did have to stick a needle into her lungs to pull out the fluid, but at one point, they were talking about having to do a chest tube. Apparently, that procedure can cause a lot of other problems, and I've heard of babies' lungs collapsing after the procedure. Of course, I didn't hear about that until much later (after Annabelle was much older).
It is amazing how easy it is to take things for granted in life sometimes. I had a wonderful pregnancy, fairly easy, right on target with her growth, etc. My labor and delivery was "perfect" in my eyes up until the moment she was delivered, and they took her away. She didn't cry at birth, and I honestly didn't think anything of it...don't know why. I really should have. My body was in complete shock from the delivery though (I guess, who's isn't?), so I obviously wasn't thinking properly.
I had always envisioned holding my baby right after birth, but that didn't happen right away. Fortunately, I did get to hold her for a few minutes before they took her away. They assured me she was fine though, so I trusted them wholeheartedly (maybe more than I should have). I was a bit naive about it. She just grunted when I held her. She couldn't cry, and she was having trouble breathing.
But, we thank God that she is doing wonderfully now, and the pnemothorax is completely cured, so she'll have no more problems with it again (according to the doctors).
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