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Back The Surrogate
Chapters (65)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. Part One
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Part Two
  39. Thirty-Four
  40. Thirty-Five
  41. Thirty-Six
  42. Thirty-Seven
  43. Thirty-Eight
  44. Thirty-Nine
  45. Forty
  46. Forty-One
  47. Forty-Two
  48. Forty-Three
  49. Forty-Four
  50. Forty-Five
  51. Forty-Six
  52. Forty-Seven
  53. Forty-Eight
  54. Forty-Nine
  55. Fifty
  56. Fifty-One
  57. Part Three
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Acknowledgments
  64. About the Author
  65. About the Publisher

I found Cally’s room. Ruth was sitting in the side chair, holding a crumpled copy of the birth plan. She was clutching that paper so hard, I thought it might disintegrate. The birth plan indicated that, to the extent possible, the parties preferred a natural delivery, with as little medication as possible. This was Ruth’s idea. If it’d been up to me, I would’ve deferred to Cally and the doctors, but this was Ruth’s baby, possibly her only child, and I wanted her to have everything she wanted. The prevalent factors guiding medication decisions were to be (in this order): health and safety of the baby, health and safety of the birth mother, comfort of the birth mother, and desires of the intended parents. Ruth wanted me to cut the umbilical cord, which I’d done with both of my boys. That was fine. A tradition of sorts. And it gives the father something to do. The plan then instructed that Ruth would be the first to hold the infant, to facilitate bonding.

However, that didn’t happen. That got lost in the heat of the moment. In the shocking way that a baby’s birth seems to make time stand still, we forgot. Suddenly, there was a new person in the room and nothing else mattered. So what happened was the doctor placed the baby on Cally’s chest, and Cally put her hand on the wiggling little creature. The nurses wiped her off a bit and then prepared for me to cut the cord, which I did. It was a minute or two before Ruth got to hold her. And those two minutes probably felt like hours to Ruth.

But later, after Ruth had recovered from her disappointment, she was floating on air, completely taken with the new child, and she described that moment in her signature poetic manner. She said it was as if a galaxy had landed in the room. And it was true.

The birth was a marvel, and I wished my boys could have been there. Cally had asked that we keep the group of witnesses small and discreet, and who could blame her. And I don’t actually think Jake and Caleb would have wanted to see a live birth even if they’d had the chance. They’re great guys, and of course I love them to death, but they aren’t always as mature as I might like. Even so, this was a family event and I wanted them there. To meet their sister. Well, their half sister.

After the nurses washed and wrapped the newborn, we took turns holding our little bundle, passing her back and forth like a good-luck charm. We were, all three of us, in awe of her.