I discovered my son is the smartest, strongest and most capable kid every (totally unbiased) and other highlights

I have always laughed about the stories one tells of an infant. "he lifted his head," or some other activity that would be small is considered a miracle. Having said that, I now realize how biased one can be and that when you are a parent so much about what your child is and does is observed through rose coloured glasses that change the tint and make everything brighter.

People asked me about how things have changed now that I am a father...I never know how to answer that. I am still me, but I just have this knew person in my heart. I love him more than anything and I would throw myself in front of a bus if it meant saving him. Azariah has been observed over a microscope for the past 3 weeks and Doris and I have watched every single little thing he has done with great shock and amazement. It is baffling what a new child does to the people in your life and how all of a sudden everyone has a vested interest in this beautiful tiny bundle (cant say I blame them).

The relationship between husband and wife doesnt really change as much as it adds a new element. You want to be amazing all the time as a parent and when you see your partner success where you would fail you think how much better the partner is at being a parent than you. Doris can calm Azariah at the drop of a hat, and I apparently can bath my son like theirs no tomorrow.

Another highlight was visiting his Oma and his grandma's house. Two women who are very excited to have Azariah in their life. I take a great deal of comfort in knowing my son has these two women who have such a vested interest in his success and overall well-being.

Finally, we visited two of my best friends. They have had their children grow up before me. Delightful little glowing stars that have lit up my universe for many years. It was wonderful to spend time with such a lovely tender group of people and to introduce them to my son. As life becomes fuller, the beauty of God's life and light becomes more and more evident to me. I count the grace of God to me and those I love this season and am blessed that he has shown his love and compassion to me and those I care about in such a plane way.

Profiles in House Guests

I wanted to profile some of the people who have and will be an influence in my child's life. It is my belief that we need help to raise him, not because we are needy, but because a healthy child has many different people to provide them different perspectives. I was blessed to have uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, and mentors who provided this function and it is my deepest wish that my child would have these same blessings.

Willy Thiessen

Willy is my wife's oldest brother. My wife's family is intense. They are all opinionated and passionate and more than anything they are intense. Willy has the distinction of being the oldest in a family of mostly boys. Naturally being the oldest he has the personality of an oldest child; very strong. In addition to this he is a construction worker by his trade which adds to his strong persona. Willy has kids, but I only got to know them quite a bit later. Willy came to visit us in the hospital and at our house. I was struck by how tenderly he looked at my son. How he smiled and played with him. It was a blessing to see him be so interested in my son. I hope he and my son can know each other. I hope Uncle Willy can take him fishing and hunting. Willy is a great guy and I hope my son can be a blessing to him as well.

Khrista Vogt (honorary guest)

My sister. Also the oldest, also passionate and also intense. She is in my heart because I know what it must be like. My sister lives in Alberta and has lived there for the better part of the last 20 years. When my nephew was born she lived there and my nephew has grown up far from my reach. I only got to see him on a couple of occasions. I did my best to pray for him and let him know I cared, but it just isnt the same. Being an uncle is special and an honor I didnt take lightly. I know my sister doesn't take it lightly either. I know she thinks about us and wants to be near us as I have wanted to be with them. Paul wrote of a thorn in the flesh and I suppose our family has always known about their thorns. One of thorns has been the knowledge that my nephew is growing up without me and I would imagine my sister has a thorn. Despite this fact I have always held her son in my heart as I know she holds mine. I know that no one will treasure him in quite the way my sister will. My sister is a wonderful person and I hope Azariah gets all excited when he finds out aunty Khrista and Cole are coming to visit. I hope he will be a blessing to her as well.

Aim it down and other life lessons having an infant son teaches you

Azariah is 12 days old. Seems like its been a really long twelve days. I sincerely thought that things would go faster when we got him home, but its just the opposite. They move very slowly. I think part of the reason is that we observe him so intently. Both Doris and I feel like someone is going to burst into the room and go "great job guys, fabulous, now lets take this baby back to its real parents." I have been struck at how different the experience of parenting is than I imagined. I suppose all I had to go on was what I saw on tv and the war stories people would tell me. In the hospital the medical people would tell you, "every pregnancy is different," and when I asked them if that was medical code for "I have no idea" they would generally agree with that statement. Even after you get out you are told that every baby is different. This experience has reaffirmed my joy in faith because I think with such mysteries that even science shakes it head at, how can we really believe that its all at random. I just cant believe there is no purpose in the things in our life happening the way they are.

On a lighter note, my son has shown me who is boss. I cannot wake him if he is determined to sleep. I can push, poke and do my best. He just complains and then goes right back to sleeping. I have also observed the need that when changing a boys diaper, placement of his genitals is crucial to not have a surprise later. Its also true what they say that the poop and pee of your child is not as bad.

I have observed my wife in this experience and I also must say the job of a woman is quite something. Men I think grow up putting legos together and as they get bigger so do the blocks, but its still just lego to most men. It all fits together. Women have to deal with a great deal more then lego...either that or their lego pieces are all crazy shapes that dont fit together....not really sure....gonna go play with my he-man

And now we are home

So we are home now. On the drive home apparently Azariah passed the time by pooping in his diaper for what I can only assume was a constant hour. Some other things I have discovered about fatherhood.
1. When he is relaxed and cool he enjoys going to the washroom, discovered by being peed on many times when attempting to change him. 2. He is happiest when cuddled. 3. Not as emotional as motherhood. 4. Dogs dont like babies

The Hospital stay

So after delivery we got shipped off to the postpartum room. We got a private room, which was very nice. I called my mother-in-law, my mother, my sister and brother. Best reaction goes to my brother

Jay- What, what, whats going on?
Tig-We are at the hospital.
Jay- Are you having a baby?
Tig- We had a baby
Jay-Tig....oh that's awesome....we * expletive meaning really really* love you guys. What hospital are you at?
Tig- Saint Boniface.
Jay- Lets go to Saint Boniface (to april).
Tig- You cant come to St B, they wont let you visit, its 12:30 am.
Jay- Those *analogy used to compare them with people he thinks are mean*

Made me smile. The next day was basically full of visitors. We were very grateful for everyone. ernst, hildy, jim, irma, willy, amy, jay, april, rob, jacki, denley, brad, veronika.

I was struck by the fact that there are nurses that work in the postpartum area that do not have kids themselves. Great nurses dont get me wrong, but it just seemed strange to me. At any rate. Daddy continues his assault of pictures.

I got a river of life flowing out of me

I enjoyed the pun involved there. At about 1:30 in the morning Doris' water broke and we high tailed it to Winnipeg. Apparently we were considered to be low risk so we were told to go to Health Science Centre because St B was closed to low risk until later in the day. We decided to go to McDonalds and wait it out. Fun fact, McDonalds doesnt serve breakfast until 5 am. So Doris had a salad and I had a burger and we sat in the car listening to adel and essentially just killing time. Eventually we got a call from St B saying we should come in for an assessment and then they would decide whether to send us to the Health Science Center. We went to St B and they admitted us pretty promptly and by 10:42am they applied the drug to induce Doris. I would describe Doris' mood at this point as quite amiable and positive overall. After an hour or two I started seeing a consistent pattern in her contractions. We had a nice nurse named Collete. Doris had had prelabour a week earlier and she had been dialated about 2 cm. She probably dialated at roughly 1 cm an hour. Pretty text book. About midway through it became pretty difficult and she and I decided we should put her on fentynol, which is a lighter version of morphine. Doris was almost completley dialated at about 7pm, but there was a small amount that had not gone and that was a bit of a struggle. During the contractions there was a shift change and an older nurse named betty was there. She was helpful during the contractions, but was not very helpful during pushing. A shift change happened and the next nurse was very blunt and to the point and this helped Doris a lot more. While she was laboring Doris would grab my hand and try and push and pull me around. I essentially arm wrestled my wife for the better part of 5 hours. My wife is strong, just fyi. Doris pushed for about 3 hours and during this time the babies heart beat dropped and they determined that they would need to do an intervention. They opted to use suction and if that failed they would c-section the baby. They took Doris to the room and I was brought in later. I was very scared. Seeing your wife in agony for hours is tough, combine that with being exhausted and it can be down right terrifying. Add into this mix that your baby might be at risk....wow....birthing can be very emotional across the board. I came in. They stated "I can see the head." I was shocked at the speed of this process. I looked down to see a small circle coming out and then eventually the whole body of my baby. They told us, "you have a boy." They cut the chrod and brought him to the table to get him fixed up and suctioned.

I watched this happened and he started crying. They brought him to Doris and set him on her chest. They asked us what would you like to name him. Doris asked me what I wanted to name him and I told her Azariah and she agreed whole heartdly. Azariah is a name of a number of characters in the Bible, one is from 2 chronicles 15. He was a priest and brought reform to Israel. We named him Azariah John Vogt. Azariah means God helped, John means God is generous. John was the name of my father and my grandfather. It has been the name given to the eldest male (my brothers name is also John), my brother kindly allowed me this honour. He weighed in at 8.6 lbs and was 20 in long. He was rated a 9 out of 10 by the dr, which is typically their highest rating.

I held him while they fixed Doris up and I prayed and commited him to the Lord and asked God to watch over my son and raise him.

He was quiet about a minute after I held him. We are grateful that, like the name of our son, God helped. Doris' labour was about 12 hours, which is pretty short by most standards. Our baby is healthy and, for the moment, mild mannered. God provided us a means to not pay a cent for parking. I had an excellent month at work, which meant I lost very little by missing work. The Lord helped us and was very generous. Azariah John Vogt was a generous gift to us, given to us by God, on November 19, 2011 at 10:42 pm; may his way be commited to the Lord and may compassion, trust and humility be the mark of his life. I love you more then my own life my son and though I am most of unworthy of such a great trust I will try as hard as I know how to be the best child of God, husband to your mother and father as I can be (and I know Doris would say ditto to this).

Scary questions

We found out recently that our child might have down-syndrome. This is a disease where a child receives an extra chromosome, it also happens to be a very apparent handicap. I went through a number of emotions when my wife first told me this might be possible (albeit 1 in 150 chance). At first I was resolute that it just wouldnt happen, I had faith and would believe God for it. Then I became a little bit sad at the prospect that my child might not become the person I imagined I would have. I have come to the point in the process where i have asked myself, "why do I deserve to have a 'normal' child." If you think of those people out there whose children are afflicted with cancer or who have addictions or who are born with burdens likely much bigger than my child will face, I have to ask myself if its fair that my son or daughter should live a life of complete liberty. Its easy in our little bubble to believe that our life should be text book story book. I'd be lying if I said I didnt want this, I do. But I dont deserve this life. No one is obliged to give it to me. I have faced the trials and tests in my life and they have made me who I am. I have to believe that if my child is faced with the daunting task of down-syndrome, then he or she will have to get up every day and make choices. A choice to follow God, a choice to be thankful, a choice to find beautiful things in this world-the same as me (the consequence of this choice will be much different however). It is easy to think that the more our lives resemble that perfect image of family the better people we are, but the truth is good people have handicapped children and good children can be born with handicaps. To summarize, with a heavy heart full of worship to God I ask for my child to be as free as it can to live life fully, but no matter what the case I welcome and open my heart to what the Lord God will give me because I have found that the more I look the more treasures I find in the simplest places.

Welcome

Welcome to our Blog. This is an opportunity for all of those who would like to take a peek into the lives of two reclusive people and their dog. Did I Vogt for this is a reflection on the challenges, blessings, encouragement and discouragement that comes with living the life of Doris and Tyler Vogt- both as individuals and as a family.