A Family of Four

Well well well. What an amazing dichotomy it is to be emotionally drained and fulfilled at the very same moments. While Lorraine and I have been tired, we have not been exhausted due in large part to having a wonderful and supportive family. We are truly blessed and give many thanks.

So, how did it go, you ask? Well, I am not even going to pretend I will ever understand what a woman goes through during pregnancy, childbirth and recovery, but I can relate my own experience.

For the fellas, the process of childbirth is the mother of all spectator events. You arrive early, get set up, watch with eager anticipation as events begin to unfold and are just happy to be there. As things keep moving along, anticipation becomes concern, concern becomes worry, worry becomes fear and fear becomes prayer. And then, relief, sweet relief. Why, because you won. You won really big. Nine months of preparation, all of the nesting, the bottomless honey-do lists, everything you endured is totally worth it because you are taking home a 7 pound, 3.2 ounce trophy. There is simply no greater joy.

So for the backstory. Lorraine was scheduled for a 1:30 pm delivery. I remember waiting in the ob triage area when Dr. Lexine Hebets and her team showed up to wheel Lorraine down the hall to the surgical suite. It was Lorraine's job to get mentally and physically prepared, to get outfitted, to undergo a spinal tap, to have all of her vital signs monitored by any given number of machines that buzzed, blinked and beeped. It was her job to endure major abdominal surgery and strangely be happy about it.


Me? It was my job to wait in the hall. I wandered around and wondered to myself " Is this what Og went through standing outside his cave 10,ooo years ago? Have we as men simply just stood around while all of this is going on?" "Yes" I understatedly answered myself.

However, for me, I was no mere spectator, I had better than 1st row 50 yard line seats, I was almost on the field. I was rescued from my mental meanderings in said hallway and brought forth into the suite. I was seated next to my adorable wife's head, with the rest of her cordoned off behind the "blue wall" meant to keep germs and bacteria out and husbands with weak constitutions from seeing in. So there I sat, still a spectator but with a great seat, with a digital camera, waiting for things to happen.


Our little peanut Katherine was born at 2:27pm on January 23rd, 2008 at Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, AZ. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 3.2 ounces, 19 inches long, 13.25 inches of head circumfrence and had Apgar's of 9/9. When Andrew was born he was long, skinny and had a gigantic head with white blond hair, obviously taking after his father. Katherine on the other hand is small, petite with brunette hair. So now we each have our very own mini-me's.

Lorraine's first Kate kiss

I felt this tremendous sense of relief when she was born. Ok I thought, Katherine is safe. My second major sense of relief came when Lorraine was wheeled into the hospital room from her surgical recovery room after a quick stop by the transition nursery to pick Kate and I up. Seeing momma and baby come together gave me a tremendous sense of satisfaction. I felt like the whole world was ok and at peace.

Katherine Valerie Rhoads

Lorraine was a trooper and recovered well. We entered the hospital at around 10am on Wednesday and left just before 6pm on Friday. We were blessed to have so many family and friends stop by the hosptial room to see little peanut Kate.

Andrew meeting his little sister Katherine for the first time

I remember as I was loading Lorraine and Katherine into our hybrid to go home Friday evening, thinking two thoughts, two totally man thoughts. Thought one- "wouldn't it be cool if we had Big Black Truck here to load them into"...... Thought two- "wow, these hospital people are really going to allow us to leave with her"..... and then it hit me, much the same way as it did with Andrew. She is ours. She is our little peanut. She is the most precious little thing in the entire world. I began to think as we drove away from the hospital. I wondered where the marching band was, why weren't there people lining the streets? and where was that police escort I was expecting?????? Didn't they know that our little girl, our Katherine Valerie, was here?

And then it dawned on me, no one, no one on the entire planet will ever love her like I do, like Lorraine and I do. That is the marvelous thing about being a parent, regardless of how your child came into your life, by adoption, naturally, by ceaserian, you love them and think they are the most beautiful, wonderful thing that has ever happened. If someone asks me 50 years from now what I did best in my life, what my true accomplishments are, I will respond without hesitation that marrying Lorraine and having Andrew and Katherine as my children are undoubtedly the best decisions I ever made.



Now we are a family of four. Raini and I can now make reference to "the kids". We feel so blessed to have our family, our wonderful extended family all over the globe, friends, co-workers and everyone else that makes our lives so special.

More updates and pictures later. There are diapers that need to be changed.

Charlie