I’m a father! Kaden Kavi Trumbull - welcome to this wonderful world!

Lance, Kaden, and Tikky Trumbull

The greatest thing that I ever helped create was produced at 5:28am on June 18^th, 2009. Kaden Kavi Trumbull was born 6 pounds 8 ounces to two very happy and proud parents: Lance and Tikky Trumbull.

His name: Kaden means fighter or “warrior” and Kavi means “poet” - and so we now have a Warrior-Poet in our lives!

I was little bit freaked out at the first viewing of my son: he was purple! I was thinking am I the father or is Barney?! (For those who do not know who Barney is click here). But then the doctor assured me that it is quite normal for the little guys to come out looking this way. Of course, being purple is one thing, but being an Alien is quite another! My son had an alien head! What’s going on here - I was thinking to myself, but the nurse also assured me that the head is made up of small plates and is malleable in order to fit thru the birth canal and that soon he would indeed have earthly dimensions! Of course, part of me remembered reading this in one of the stacks of baby books, but it is one thing to read about it and quite another thing to see it in Technicolor. After the initial shock of looking at this purple alien in front of me, I could not help but think “holy shit” we did it! But wait, quick count: 10 toes, 10 fingers, 2 eyes, a nose, a mouth, and oh my god - now that’s my son! His testicles were enormous! - I was feeling quite proud when the nurse told me that this swelling is also normal and that it would go way down in size within the next 24 hours. Damn…

Over the course of the next several hours I discovered all sorts of interesting things about babies: I had no idea that newborn babies could sneeze! The little guy must have sneezed about 15 times in an hour. I never thought sneezing could be cute - but it seems that everything he does is cute. I also had no idea that babies could dream so soon. I guess it makes sense…but what could he possibly be dreaming about?! - the good old days…? And then he started making all sorts of crazy sounds; it reminded me of my dog Joey when he has “chasing dreams” in which his body twitches, and he barks while his legs fray back in forth as if he was in a mailman chasing contest. Kaden was doing something similar and I was completely surprised.

Kaden awoke from his very brief sleep and I continued to study his face and all of his incredible expressions. At one moment he would be this holy crying terror - and the next his face would transform into Yoda - a wise and otherworldly being. And then even more strange and never seen before looks…after a while he gave me this expression that I could only describe as a naughty look - I did not quite understand what it meant. But I would find out a few minutes later when I went to change his diaper! I think I will have to remember this one.

Tikky and Kaden Trumbull

About 18 hours later when things started to fit back into correct proportion and color, I took a closer examination of this incredible bundle of joy that lay in front of me. And as I was changing his diaper once again, I noticed that Kaden had my wife Tikky’s nose, her eyes, her chin, her mouth, her smile and…so I yelled over to Tikky “it seems the only thing he got from me was my penis!” She responded “yes, except for the slight size difference!” - I said, thanks for throwing in the “slight” remark. Just then Kaden peed in the air spraying me, himself and everything else around him. Without missing a beat Tikky responded “well it looks like he also got that from his father!”

Kaden Trumbull’s first bath

Kaden could not - or would not sleep at all last night - and while Tikky was still recovering from the painful C Section that she had to have due to complications - I was trying to get him to stop crying. It was scary and I honestly felt so helpless. How can I get him to stop I kept wondering…At first I was quite afraid to hold him. It seemed too literal of an expression of a bold truth: his life is literally in my arms. As I looked at this tiny version of me and my wife I could not help but think - am I really the man that I need to be to raise this miracle to become a healthy, happy, well adjusted, and compassionate person? And do I have the patience, the love, the kindness, the intelligence, and the ability to give him all the love and caring in the world that he truly deserves…?

I decided not to answer those questions but instead I took a deep breath, kissed his forehead, and looking into his beautiful eyes proceeded to rock him back and forth for the next hour.

We both silently fell asleep together.

I awoke a bit later - Kaden in my arms, my wife next to us…all that was missing was our dog, Joey. We will see him once we get back home from the hospital and then our family will be complete - and it seems, so will my life…