In the beginning

Looking over my blog I noticed that the majority of my posts are about my son, Zack so I'm changing the name of the blog.

In this post I'll discuss the first time someone called me Zack's dad and why it brought tears to my eyes.

I'm married to a beautiful woman named Debbie. We met at work. She had two daughters from a previous marriage and so we decided, going in, not to have any additional children. We were too old, we thought, and there were enough folks in the world.

Note that this isn't the first time we've changed our mind on important subjects. When we began dating we both stated we weren't looking for a relationship and were happy being single. Within a month I knew she was the lady I wanted to marry and I think she'd decided I'd be a good husband as well. We were married nine months later.

Things were going along well when the world changed. 9/11, for some reason, made us decide it was a good idea to bring another person into the world. I know there was a minor population boom in the USA after the event. I don't know if more people is society's way of handling stress or if its something more basic in human nature that causes us to have children when angry or unsure. But whatever the reason, Zack was born in February of 2003.

His mom was in her late thirties at the time so carrying a large baby boy (9.8 lbs at birth) was an ordeal. She had the flu. She threw up a lot at the end. This caused Zack to get distressed which caused problems. She entered the hospital dehydrated and sick. This caused Zack to breath in meconium in the amniotic fluid while still in his mom's tummy. Meconium is poop. Breathing it in causes bad things to happen inside a baby's lungs.

To make a long story short, after one joy filled day with my son, he entered ICU as fever struck from pneumonia. I went from the happiest person on the planet to the saddest. The doctors assured me everything would be fine but that did nothing to comfort me.




After Zack entered ICU I was allowed to visit. There as a nurse at the front desk who asked who I was. She said, "Oh, you belong to the hairy baby." Remember that most babies in ICU are premature. Zack went full term. In fact he went a little beyond full term. He liked it in there.

She called to the nurse in the back. "Zack's Dad is here." It was four simple words On the face of them they were nothing special but it was like a lightening bolt hit me in the chest. It was my first time being called "Zack's Dad." I don't know why the impact was so great but a big smile came to my face as tears of joy rolled down my face. The nurse asked, "Are you ok?" I said "Yes, I think I am." I was Zack's dad and, God willing, I always would be.

I pulled out of my funk just in time for Debbie to enter her's. Odd how things work out that way. There are few things sadder than a mother leaving her new born in the hospital. Debbie stayed at her mother's, which was near the hospital, while I went back to an empty house. It wasn't a pleasant week.

Of course, as the doctors predicted, Zack was fine and the pain of leaving him in the hospital soon vanished. I have many titles: Architect, Husband, Son, and Brother but the one I'm proudest of is being Zack's Dad.