Bringing Home Beau

Last week my Bride and I welcomed our first child into the world.  It was an experience I will always remember.  After putting on my white, full body, painters/haz-mat suit I entered the operating room to sit next to Katy and hold her hand.  She was more alert than I expected her to be so we were able to talk normally, or as normal as you can considering what is about to transpire.  It was similar to the feeling of sitting on a roller coaster when it is slowly going up the hill for the first big drop.  We knew what was about to happen but there is really know way to prepare for it. 

I was only in there for about 10 or 15 minutes and the next thing we know we hear the cry from our sweet son.  I'm a little biased but I'd say it was a pretty strong cry. :)  The doctor cleaned him off pretty good since she knows I don't do very well with blood (I've been known to pass out) and held him up for us to see.  They took him over to give him the APGAR test and he scored an 8.9 which they said was good.  We had been studying with him for quite some time.  I mean less than a minute after entering the world and he's already taking a test.  Just preparing him for the EOI Exams, ACT, and SAT I suppose.  :)

Then, the craziest thing happened.  The nurses wrapped him up and handed him to me.  As if I was trained to know what to do with a baby boy that was minutes old.  Naturally I took him to Katy and we just stared at him for a minute or so.  Then they told me to take him into the nursery where there was a gallery of paparazzi consisting of family and friends standing outside the glass.  They told me to open the door and hold him so I could show him off.  I was speechless.

I placed him back in his super warm nursery bed until Katy came out of the OR.  In the meantime I walked out of the nursery and was greeted by huge bear hugs from my parents.  Again, I was speechless so I didn't have much to say other than 'God is Good.'  After Katy was released from the OR she came out to see people before they went off to lunch together and then just the three of us went down to our room and had 2 precious hours of family time before people came into visit.  It was absolutely amazing!  We talked to him, held him, hugged him, read to him, prayed for him, thanked God for he and Katy's health, fed him for the first time, and named him.  We had a few names picked out ahead of time but wanted to see him before officially naming him.  

As an only child, this was my parents first grandchild so we made sure to invite them to the room first.  I went to the hallway and invited them to come in and meet their grandson, Beau Stewart Bradley.  There wasn't any hesitation on their part.  We were blessed to have so many friends and family members come visit, bring snacks, meals, and drinks, take pictures, give words of encouragement, and pray with us.  It was an unforgettable 3 days.  

We are home now and things are going well.  Katy is healing well, Beau is getting stronger, and I am finding all of the ways I can help, hold, protect, and love our Son.  We are officially new parents that are slowly trying to figure out how to best care for a week old baby boy.  It's quite the adventure and I must say we are loving every minute of it.

The Bradley Family

Thanks for all of your continued prayers and support for our family.  God is Good.

All Photos by Industry405