Finally, our sweet angel, Milana Kaye Murphy, came into the world at a chunky 10 lbs 8 oz, on February 2 at 12:30 pm, after 12 long hard hours of labor. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. My heart can't contain the amount of love I have for this baby. Even though she makes sure we don't sleep by crying all night, I adore her deeply. It's still surreal for me that she's even mine. I hold her and talk to her and even change her, and I still can't believe that I'm her father. I still feel like that 18 year old kid making Jackass videos with grocery carts. And now, God feels that I'm fit enough to take care of one of His precious souls.
For the amount of love I have for my new daughter, the love I have for my wife is even greater. I never knew I could love Jessica more than I did the day we were married, but she has bumped that pedestal that I have her on up even more. Just to repeat, this baby weighed 10 pounds, 8 ounces and was delivered in our home with no drugs, no episiotomy, nothing. Just a bunch of towels and the strongest will I've ever seen anyone have. My wife is a Rockstar! The "false" labor contractions started about 11 am Wednesday (the 1st) and were highly irregular up until about midnight. They started becoming regular and about 5 minutes apart. We called our midwife, Kat, at about 1:30 am and she told us it was still too early to tell and to call her when things start changing. At about 6 am, the contractions got closer apart and a lot more intense. Kat came over at about 8 am, set up the tub and just watched Jess and monitored the baby's heart. By this time, Jess was completely exhausted. She hasn't had any sleep and has been dealing with hard contractions for a good 8 hours. Kat measured her dilated at a 5, which pissed Jessica off! Ha ha. She obviously wanted Kat to say the baby was on her way. After much effort and force, her water broke (it took a while for that to happen) and the baby finally moved down. Then, the pushing started. This whole time, my wife always kept a level head. She always breathed. She did exactly what Kat asked her to do. She hated it, but she did it. Writhing in agony, she still hung with it. She enjoyed every break in between each contraction, but with no sleep and pure exhaustion, she couldn't see how she could continue. The pushing part was the most intense thing I've ever seen in my life. She had no energy and yet, still found some. It's like she was climbing a rope with a promise she could rest when she got to the top of the rope, so she used all her energy to climb to the top, all to be told that as she got there, she needed to muster more energy to climb a different rope 2 times the length. With the power of God, the support of Kat and the other 2 midwives there, she did it! I've never been more proud. It reminded of the pure divinity of womanhood. How women truly are chosen of God, with the most amazing power in the world. I don't mean to sound feminist or anything, but seeing what I saw yesterday, I firmly believe that women truly are superior than men. I've seen women do everything that men can do. But they have this one true, real power that men will never do or experience. No wonder men have the Priesthood. We would feel completely useless without it! I will never forget the strength and courage exhibited by the woman I will always love more than anything else!
She is my hero!! I love you so much, Jess!!
I love you too, "Poppy"!
