One of the curious parts of birthing Noble was how long it took for him to come out after my water broke. Now I am very aware that his birth was a quick one. But I expected it would have been much shorter from the time my water broke (I was fully dilated on one side and just had a little bit of cervix left on the other side when this happened) till the time he came into the world.
I thought it would be a matter of minutes but it turned out to be just over 2 hours. Yet as I labored through the contractions waiting his arrival, one thought kept me filled with patience. I remember how hard it was for us to say goodbye to our sweet Camille. I felt distinctly that he was saying his goodbyes. That was not something I wanted to rush.
Later on in one of those quiet moments alone in my room with Noble, I laid him up on my bare skin just over my heart so he could hear it beating. As he was settling down and falling asleep he reached his little hand over and grabbed hold of my Camille necklace. I wished someone were there to photograph it.
A few minutes later Jonathan came in and I had him take a picture even though Noble by now was fully asleep and had lost his tight grip on the necklace.
I have no doubt that these last 11 months have been sweet for Camille and Noble to be together. I only hope I can help him know during this life a bit of this sister he knew so well before.
