A new baby enters our lives

On Wednesday, my wife and I welcomed a new baby girl into our family. She is healthy and happy and sleeps about 20 hours per day...so far. We're still staying in the hospital today, but looking forward to finally returning home tomorrow. Our 18-month-old, meanwhile, is at home enjoying getting spoiled by her grandparents.

I feel very lucky to have gotten this second chance at experiencing the birth of a child. When my first daughter was born, it was less than two months into my ordeal with ME/CFS and I still had no idea what was happening to me (this was pre diagnosis).  I was in the middle of a heavy crash on the day of her birth and all throughout our stay in the hospital, but I tried to mask it so as not to detract from everyone else's joy. Obviously, it would have been selfish to make that day about me. It was still a joyful time for me as well, but there was also this lingering fear and uncertainty in the back of my mind.  Since all I knew at the time was that I had been extremely ill for 2 straight months, my thoughts sometimes wandered to the worst possibilities.

So I feel very fortunate for this second opportunity. I've been at my baseline or better the last three days. I'm trying to soak up every second of this experience because we're not planning on doing it again.  I must say, bringing a child into the world has a way of making me reflect deeply on the meaning of life, happiness, etc. (including my new life with ME).  This time, it was a fully positive trip.