It's a girl!

Well, our next pregnancy was an interesting one. Joram was a few months from turning 2, and Nancy had been having abdominal pains for a few weeks. It became more intense a few days before Christmas when we were down in the Gila Valley visiting our families. On Christmas Eve my dad called the hospital and said that we were coming in (it helps to know someone with connections to get fast service!) and after an ultrasound we found out that it was an ectopic pregnancy near rupture, and Nan had to be helicoptered to Tucson for emergency surgery. In the early evening she left the hospital and I was on my way as well, Joram asleep in his car seat, to meet her at the hospital in Tucson. Some close friends of ours met her there after her surgery finished and I got there soon after. We spent Joram's 2nd Christmas at our little duplex with just the 3 of us. I don't know exactly how everything works, but I know that if our little baby received a spirit, she's waiting for us with the rest of our family.

Kiran
We have a 15% chance of having another ectopic pregnancy every single time we get pregnant, and we were fortunate and blessed to have another baby less than a year later. We knew better what to expect this time, so I tracked contractions very carefully, and in the evening of the 16th of December we headed to the hospital, where my younger brother, Tikon, met us to watch Joram while we were in the delivery room. After just an hour or so of pushing, in the very early hours of 17 December 2007, out came our little Kiran (which means "ray of sunshine" in Hindi) Rath. With Joram we had a midwife named Janet, whom we loved, but Kiran was born just 2 weeks after Janet retired, so our new doctor, Dr. Shawn Tassone, whom we had met just twice (he had performed the ectopic surgery the previous year, which is why we chose him this time, and the week before our delivery).

When Joram was born, things went so quickly that I didn't have a chance to see anything. I watched him crown, then glanced up at Nan, and by the time I looked back down he was out. This time I wasn't about to miss it, so as soon as she was crowning I didn't look anywhere else, and watched as the whole sloppy mess came out quite smoothly. They cleaned her up and gave her to Nan, and I'll tell you, there's nothing like seeing a child of God taking their very first breath of life, and then holding them for the very first time. Kiran had darker skin and eyes than her older brother, and we were pretty sure she would take more after me, whereas Joram was a gentle mixture of the two of us. Joram was in there pretty soon after and was instantly a proud big brother. Their first pictures together show the beautiful relationship they share, even still to this day.

Kiran is such a wonderful blessing in our lives. She is quick to smile and laugh, which is infectious to everyone around her, as rambunctious as her brother, and seems to love everything about life itself and does everything with an intense passion. We're sure that she's going to be a high-octane daredevil when she gets older. Her big, beautiful brown eyes attract gazes wherever she goes, and her hair is filled with huge curls that always look like she just stepped out of a beauty salon.

Kiran loves her family, especially being a big sister, and she gets along well with her baby sister. She wants to go to school badly, just like her big brother, and loves being in preschool (on her first day on the right). She even pretends that she is in school and talks about her schoolwork using the same terminology that Joram does with his schoolwork.

Life is definitely much more exciting with Kiran around, and you can usually expect the house to lack any sense of quietude if Kiran is awake (with Nisha on the left - they got dressed on their own!). We love our sweet Kiran, and she truly is our "ray of sunshine."