Howefitz Blog

Wow.

I am blogging to you live from a post-partum room at Valley View Hospital. My wife sleeps beside me, and so does my newborn son.

World, I am pleased to present Tristin Hero Howe. He was born at 1:45am on August 15, 2009. He weighed 6lbs. 14.5oz and was 21.5in long. And might I say he is one handsome little devil.

The first ever picture taken featuring Tristin!

My head is on fire with so many emotions. I am so proud of my son, whose middle name started as a joke, and wound up being so entirely appropriate.

The past couple of years have been a roller coaster for this family. In the past two years we’ve moved 4 times, dealt with financial crises, a miscarriage, stress galore… Everybody has problems and issues and I don’t claim to have the worst of them. But I’ve found myself saying ‘Eventually, something has to go our way, right?’ This morning, at 1:45am, it did.

'Dad, put the camera down and get me off this cold thing!'

I’ll spare you the details of my wife’s horribly painful labor and eventual C-Section delivery. Suffice it to say that had it been me, I’d have passed into a state of lunacy from which I would never recover.

All I really know what to relate to you are the thoughts that passed through my own mind as we went through this ordeal. These thoughts didn’t seem to be constructive whatsoever.

It’s funny how the mind works. The slightest tactile feeling, smell, or sound can trigger memories that you thought long dead and buried.

As they were preparing my wife for surgery, I put on the paper suit, shoes, and hat. I started to tie on the mask and the smell reminded me of the year that I was a Ninja Turtle for Halloween. My dad had brought home a mask from work (he’s a firefighter and EMT) and we painted it green with the figure-8 mouth. I kept thinking about that as they wheeled my wife away. Was this some kind of defense mechanism to protect me from what was really happening? Am I that much of a geek that I can’t let it go, even in a crisis situation?

Earlier, they kept playing with the IV feed and the baby monitor. I wanted to ask them to just bring out the machine that goes ‘ping!’, cause they seemed just as useful.

I thought of a comic from Hijinx Ensue.‘Who’s going to feed the tiny mouth?’ Ah, hahahahaha!

No, seriously, what’s wrong with me?

Then, a bundle of raw nerves, atom bomb going off in my chest, I’m called in to the OR. I had been told I could be there, but things had gone too quickly. In a grey haze of adrenaline, I crossed the threshold and was told by a man in another ninja turtle mask that ‘He’s doing great!’

I turned and there was the most amazing creature I had ever met. Well, at least in the past three years!

My boy was laying there, being inspected. He didn’t fuss. He didn’t cry. He looked around as if to say, ‘Huh. So this is the world, eh? Yep, I guess it’ll do.’

My wife was awake through the operation, and I was allowed to carry my son and hold him up to her. Even her arms were numb, and she couldn’t hold him, so she told me to make sure he was held all the time.

While he was on the warmer, I stood constant vigil, massaging his perfect little feet and hands, which were slightly blue, which I was told was normal. Daddy can’t just watch and see if they’d return to normal, though. So I gave them as much help as I could think of.

The doctor stood and asked to see the ‘mark’, I guess for his paperwork. Sure enough, he has a birthmark just above his little bottom, just like me. My wife has a similar birthmark on the opposite side. His eyes are shaped like my wife’s, he makes the same expressions as Calli, and he has one slightly pointed ear, just like Kat. As I saw all those details, the tears began to slide down my cheeks. Dust cloud, or something.

We’ve talked long and hard about this being our last child. I can’t say for certain that that is our final answer, but Tristin seems like the perfect finale. The culmination of all that is right in our pairing.

After all the pain, after all the ordeal, a Hero has been given to me and my family.

We will do everything to be worthy of the honor.

Calli is already off to a great start: all she talks about is holding Baby Brother. Every moment she can, she oos and aahs over him.

I can’t wait to watch them grow up together.

What a precious honor that I get to be a part of this.

We went in to the hospital on Friday, fully expecting the magic to happen then, so I’m still counting this as a Fatherhood Friday post, and invite everyone to click the icon to the left and read all the other Moms and Pops that love sharing their families with the world as much as I do!

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