Caution: you are about to read some super sappy stuff. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Maggie and Adam had a baby today. Maggie actually HAD her, and Adam muttered jokes and held her hand — and smiled and frowned about as much as I have ever seen him do either thing. Maggie was a champ, a charming good sport and all-around athlete. Their daughter's name is Susan Lane Stephens. We will call her Laney (or Lane or "Lame" or "Pain" or any number of other nicknames we haven't thought of because we don't know her...yet). Suddenly she is not an idea or a bump or an inscrutable picture. She is a person. Made by two people I like a whole lot.
And it's a FREAKING MIRACLE. Yes, babies are born every day. I had one, I know how they are made, I know how they come out. But Laney is a tiny, Maggie-lipped miracle, even if she is one of 500,000 babies born on this planet today. They're ALL miracles, it's just that their mother is not my sister (in every way except parentage). So Laney is the most important baby today.
I just can't believe it. Well, I can on a few levels. As in, I have seen Laney with my own eyes, I was in the room right before Maggie started pushing her out, I know she is not imaginary. But that makes her no less magical to me. Laney was sleeping when I saw her, furiously sucking her finger and thumb, resting because being born is hard work. Laney makes me proud to be a person, part of this human race of people who are BORN.
So I warned you, didn't I?
For those who are only reading for the snarky commentary about Lu, here's today's tidbit: I went to get her out of bed this morning, shortly after getting off the phone with a freshly-checked-into-the-hospital-and-having-a-contraction Maggie, and the first thing I said to Lucy was, "Pie is having her baby today." And Lu said quit sucking her thumb and said, "Baby!" And we both smiled a lot.