The Eldest Child

On this day 24 years ago my husband and I entered the world of parenthood. Looking back on that day, I can only marvel that we managed to get him through his first year of life. We were so unprepared to meet even his most basic needs. Other than financial, which we were plus/minus on, we had no other skills that seemed to truely apply to the situation. We had falsely assumed that because we were both physicians that we would be able to care for an infant. But what escaped us completely is that in the hospital, nurses are the people who take care of patients. Doctors merely sail in, assess patient needs within the parameters of their disease state, and make appropriate changes. The nurses are the ones who actually manage the patients. So what we really needed was a nurse.

Instead, that baby was stuck with us. People who really didn't even know how to support his head, much less intuit what his needs were from the cues he was giving us. We really struggled those first few weeks, and while I am sure such struggles are inevitable, they are also quite memorable. So when I think of him as a newly married, very much grown up man, I cannot help but think of who he was that very first day that we met him, and feel profound relief that we managed somehow not to irreparably harm him in his first few weeks of life. Joyeux Anniversaire, mon fils!