Esprit Canada
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1998
Profile
Age: 0-12 months Canadas’ Most Wanted
January: born in Laurinburg, NC March: smiles and coos May:
plays with toys June: goes incognito July: visits relatives in Indiana Updated June
20, 2002 |
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Esprit
Nueva Canada put her parents on top of the world—and turned it upside
down—when she arrived in January of this year.
Canadas’ Most Wanted
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January 1998
Born: 7:52 a.m., January 18, 1998 Name: "Esprit" (pronounced es-PREE) is a French word that means many special things, including "spirit," "soul," "mind," "wit," "humor," and "character." "Nueva" (pronounced nue-AE-vah) is the Spanish word for "new." Updated May
20, 2002 |
Esprit arrives
After months of anticipation, a few weeks of false labor pains, and a whole day of strong but irregular contractions, Lisa experienced a series of regular contractions about 10 minutes apart--the first signs that the baby girl who had been residing in our imagination was ready to make her appearance on earth. By 1:30 a.m., we were at the hospital. At 7:52 Sunday morning, the world--especially ours--took on a new, pinkish, beautiful hue. All 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and 21 inches of Esprit Canada had arrived. It's nearly 12 hours later now, and I'm sitting here in a dim hospital room in Laurinburg, North Carolina, with two people who have changed my life. As I sit here watching both of them sleep, I realize that trying to explain what the newest one means to me would be as fruitless as trying to describe the boundless, transcendent love I have for her mother. All I can do with any precision is to recount a few of the rich moments that accompanied her arrival. I remember pain--the awful pain that I saw on Lisa's face as we walked down the empty hospital halls, trying to ease and advance her labor, and as I stood by her bed for hours, helping her to breathe through the contractions. I remember relief--the relief I sensed in Lisa when a wonderful nurse named Paula Edwards gently stroked her and comforted her in the early stages of her labor, but even more my own relief when our midwife, Alma Kay Woolard, came into the delivery room at 5 a.m. By that time, I knew that Lisa desperately needed more than what I could give her; she needed the additional comfort and confidence that Alma Kay, who has supported her since the early months of her pregnancy, could provide. Alma Kay came through splendidly with a combination of sensitivity and aplomb that I will never forget. Finally, and greatest of all, I remember joy--the joy born of pain, relief, and love as I saw for the first time Esprit's tiny face and knew that she was our child. I have heard that the love that parents have for their children is even greater than the love they feel for each other. I find it hard to imagine any love greater than my love for Lisa, who is more to me than I am to myself. I do know, though, that the love I felt for Esprit the first time I saw her was the most immediate I have ever known, for, while every other person I have known in my adult life has come to me as a stranger, this little person was someone I already knew and deeply loved. |
January
18, 1998: With one exception, this weekend was a typically uneventful one
for us. On Saturday, Lisa and I drove up to Aberdeen to do our grocery
shopping at Super Kmart and had lunch at the Lone Star Steakhouse. At home,
we took a nap, I horsed around on the Internet, and Lisa talked to her sister
Jessica on the phone. That evening, on a lark, we watched television's answer
to the B movie, "Walker: Texas Ranger," and went to bed at 11. It
was about that time that things started becoming exceptional.
March 1998
Age: 2 months Updated May
20, 2002 |
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May 1998
Age: 4 months Updated May
20, 2002 |
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June 1998
Age: 5 months Updated May
20, 2002 |
Wanted for: Giving her parents the raspberry
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July 1998
Age: 7 months Updated May
20, 2002 |
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