I haven't written in about a month... but now things are getting exciting- so I have something to write about! I know Ben has posted his sentiments about Archie, now it is my turn. He is amazing, he makes me feel elated when I see him, he also makes me weepy and overwhelmed with love- I want to give him everything he needs, protect him from anything that is harmful, cuddle with him every time he cries. He doesn't cry that much, he squeaks and whimpers more-- it is too adorable to be upset with.
I just don't know how to fully articulate the range of emotions that go along with caring for, being responsible for and loving this little boy. It is scary at times, but I think that is why God gives us such an unexplainable ability to instantly love these little people, they need us, we need them, and life just wouldn't feel right without him, now that he is here.
My mom has been here, thank goodness, to help and lend support. Ben and I are very thankful for her and her time-- she is a genius too. We needed to run some errands, and Ben was home with Archie, but he was upstairs and Archie's room is downstairs, and I just wasn't ready to leave him on his own in a room, so my mom put together a makeshift bed in our laundry basket and we brought Arch to Ben! He didn't move the entire hour and a half that we were gone, he was just cuddled in his basket- perfect solution.
I can't wait to introduce little Arch to all of you, and I can't wait for all of you to be a part of his life. Thank you for all the support and encouragement, and your love.

Arch is Archie and Archie might be a Sarch

Ben here,

I feel I have to qualify all my posts so that Kate isn't held liable for any of my idiosyncratic blunders. Today's qualification: Ben loves Arch, Kate, and blogging on the weekends. Okay, so probably this weekend more than most. The news is out and at least thirty to forty of the most informed members of the Manker-Brady tribe have been notified. Arch came and Kate couldn't be happier. I am happy too, but in a certain way, I am thinking that as Kate's pregnancy is ending, and mine is just beginning. So, I am still working on making sense of the happiness I am feeling.

I know, announcing my pregnancy is a bit weird. Just follow me for a minute. After managing all the the life adjustments Kate has undergone as Arch gradually took up more and more space in her mid-region, as well as the myriad other emotional, unseen changes she underwent, Arch's arrival has brought her a flood of emotional satisfaction, almost rewarding her for all the sacrifice and acute labor pains she experienced. As for me, most of my discomfort came in the form of having less of a share of the pillows in bed, less kissing (the moment Kate became pregnant, my breath became death stench 85), and a few more minutes of back rubbing and feet rubbing for Kate. Needless to say, I haven't born the elephants share of Arch's development. But he is here now, and I am learning what it is now to not only be a dad, but to be pregnant. Everything has changed. Less sleep might be an easy target of identifying the change, but what I am trying to communicate is much more than a few less hours of sleep at night. I am responsible in a way that is humbling. I am pregnant in a non-abortive, rest of my life relationship with this child. Arch needs a dad and these past few days, I have felt that being his pa means something I hadn't considered before. Maybe it is for this reason that I look at my experience as being identifiably different than Kate's. Arch has already been in need of her. He, only now, seems to present himself to me such that I recognize him needing me too.

I suppose at the bottom of this idea I am attempting to communicate is a reversal of perception I have had. It is not so much that WE get him, but HE gets us. Arch's birth is a moment of recognizing how vulnerable and dependent he is on us. One moment of looking at him and I recognized that he is infinitely more than I could describe. He is him. He is a complete everything, more than simply a son, a boy and a baby. He is a life of infinite potential. Feeling this has altered my perception from what he means to me, to what I mean to him, to the role he depends on me filling in his life, as his father. Not only does he get us, but he will need us for the next while. Physically, emotionally, even socially, he will learn from the type of environment which WE choose to provide for him. His initial world reality will be that which Kate and I have a large stake in presenting. We are an addition to Arch's family as much as he is an addition to our family. Jokingly, I want to exclaim, Good luck pal, I know you didn't ask for us! But I cannot believe that his arrival to us was the 'card' he drew, or solely reducible to biological explanations. He is here and he is with us. No matter how much I can try to describe it, I am overwhelmed with the greater, more eternal experience of birth, mortality and death. These all seem such false divides in the face of Arch. He is HIM, and he is here with us for now. I am happy and grateful to have him.

We are in the hospital still and Kate's lunch just arrived, I am going to go vulture it before she eats all the good stuff.

Love you all and thank you for your support.

Benjamin

Archie Bernard Brady!

Archie Bernard Brady was born on November 7th around one o'clock pm. He weighs 7 lbs 1oz and is 19 inches long. He has lots of dark hair with a little curl, an adorable chubby face. His legs are long, skinny and wrinkly and his feet are exactly like his daddy's! They are long and skinny with really long toes! Basically he is adorable and is finally here whoo hoo!
-Posted by Lil' Arch's auntie, more will come from the parents!!!

Baby Arch is finally here!

36 Weeks!

Your baby is gaining about an ounce a day. He now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. He's shedding most of the downy hair that covered his body, as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that protected his skin during his nine-month amniotic bath. Next week, your baby will be considered full-term. Most likely he's in a head-down position, but if he isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an external cephalic version, where she'll try to turn your baby by manipulating him from the outside of your belly.

I really want him to get out of this melon stage, I don't really like melon, except for watermelon, and he had better not get that big. We had an exciting web-cam baby shower over the weekend. My mom put it on from Michigan and it was really great. She gave us a really wonderful and fantastic stroller, more or less a jogging stroller-- I love it. I want Archie to be here so I can take him on long walks, Ben thinks I should just fill the stroller up with the presents we received and push it around the block. I'll post a picture of it later. Thank you so much to all who were so generous.

PS

Archie is due one month from today!

Baby Experiences

I wrote a couple of experiences and thoughts about my pregnancy for the baby shower that my mom threw for us. I thought I would post them here too.
Finding out:
Back in February I suspected that I was pregnant, but I was so afraid to find out, just in case it wasn’t true. My body was definitely freaking out inside… my boobs hurt, my back hurt, and I wasn’t cramping up like I normally would. I was playing on an indoor soccer team at the time. I am pretty sure it was February 11th when I broke my wrist. I was running down the field with the ball, and was tripped, came down on my hand and heard a small snap…. my wrist was broken and my season over. Good thing too, because this is what inspired an in depth look as to whether or not I was pregnant.
I told Ben that something was going on and that I was almost sure I was going to miss my period. We had decided previously that we wanted to start trying for a baby, but this would have been like making that decision and the next day getting pregnant… which for all we know is what happened. So I think he was a bit skeptical. We had a tight budget, and I didn’t want to spend $20 on pregnancy tests that were just going to tell me I wasn’t pregnant- so not worth it. So we agreed, after I missed my period by 3 or 4 days, to go to the dollar store. I figured if we spent a buck and got a negative result then no big deal on the financial end; if we got a positive result then great! Now we know for next time that we don’t need to spend a ton of money for a test.
We got two tests and some candy, 5th Avenues were on sale, they are Ben’s favorite. I had heard or read somewhere that peeing on the little stick in the morning is the best time- it has the most hormones of some sort to determine a positive or negative. I mustered all of my patience and waited till morning. I think it was a two day process, at least a two stick process, I couldn’t make out the first test, it had one line for sure that was pink, and a faint pink line next to it, but did that really mean I was pregnant? So the next day I tried again, and the same results stared me in the face. I wasn’t satisfied. I decided to go to an office where someone else in a white coat, or at least brightly colored scrubs would let me know for sure. I found a free clinic and with my newly casted arm, somehow drove myself and managed to undo my pants, shimmy them down, hold the cup, pee into the cup and not all over my hand, write my name on the cup, because of course I forgot to do it before there was liquid in it, wash, and pull up and button my pants again. I am sure I was in there for about 20 minutes—
I went to the waiting room- and waited. It seemed like a long time, I watched a little girl play at a table and thought about what it would be like to have a child, to be a mom, for Ben to be a dad, and then they called me in and told me I was pregnant! I smiled and said thank you. The nurse made sure that this was a happy occasion by asking me if this was really what I wanted, and I resolutely said “yes, I am happy to be pregnant”.
I went home giddy, and waited for Ben to come home. He knew that I went to the clinic that day, and I cannot hide my emotions. When he walked in the door, he asked what had happened, what did I find out—he can’t really hide his emotions either, he had a smile on his face as soon as he saw the smile on my face. We were pregnant and we were thrilled.

Mommies, Daddies and Babies:
Ben has been to every appointment that I have been to. He hasn’t always been excited to be there, but he wanted to be with me because he knew it was important to me. Now as it gets closer to the due date he has stopped asking me if I want him to be there, and he has started negotiating appointment dates with the receptionist based on his class schedule. I think it is exciting for us to feel more and more like a mom and a dad. We are a part of that category now; parents. He moves and we can see it, I can certainly feel him inside me and we love him. Whether or not he makes it past this very day, Ben and I feel like parents and have experienced a tiny bit of what it is to be a mom and a dad.