Thursday, October 19, 2006

I'm thinking it was aged comedian, George Burns who said, "Every morning I get out of bed and look in the obituaries. If I don't see my name there, I go and have breakfast."

But what do you do when you do find your name there?

In Tuesday's edition of the Fresno Bee, there was an obituary for one Jim Gardner.

Don't know if that has ever happened to you before, but when you see your own name emblazoned on the page with the obituary listings, it is just really, really weird.

------------------

Sure enough, my little sis went into labor yesterday during the pregame festivities of the Cardinals/Mets, Game Six.

We got a call yesterday afternoon that Ryan and Melissa were hospital-bound for the pending arrival of their daughter and son.

As we talked with Ryan and Mel last night following church, we learned that Melissa's doctor authorized her epidural during the seventh inning. The anesthesiologist, himself a huge Cardinals fan, arrived during the eighth inning. To hear Ryan tell it, it's a lucky break that Melissa's epidural even took, given the distracted conversation and television watching of the father-to-be and the anesthesiologist during the insertion of the epidural.

You can imagine the tinge of dismay that swept through the room when the Cardinals dropped Game Six, 4-2. I asked Ryan late last night, "Are you more excited (about the arrival of your kids) or disappointed (about the Cardinals loss)?" Given the pause before his answer, it probably wasn't the right question to ask. I'm just glad my little sis wasn't eves-dropping on our conversation!

Now, here's the really funny part, Ryan then said, "Our babies should come during the night so we can get some sleep before Game Seven."

As I daddy of two kiddos myself, I couldn't help but chuckle and think, "He doesn't realize yet how dramatic his life is about to change."

Mandy and I drifted off to sleep with the phone at our bedside awaiting a call in the night that our new niece and nephew had arrived.

But they still haven't.

As of this moment, Mel is dilated to nine centimeters and should deliver really soon.

I'm asking you this morning as you read this to steal a moment of your time and lift up my little sis and her babies before the Lord.

I'll come back later today once the little bundles of joy arrive and update my blog with all the vital statistics. In the meantime, thanks for your prayers.

-----------------

UPDATE (7:19 a.m. PST)

The babies are here! As you might expect, the little girl was born first. Her name is Elliot and she weighed 4 lbs. 11 oz. and is 17" long. She was born at 8:49 a.m. CST. The little fella, Keaton, was born five minutes later, weighing 4 lbs. 12 oz. and 18 1/4" long.