The Baby!!!!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with great joy and ecstatic excitement that we announce the early but safe arrival of Joseph Wesley Morton Jr.!!!! Wesley, Rachel and Joseph are doing great, and are so happy to be able to be together and for Wesley and Rachel to hold their little sweetie in their arms... Mr. Joseph Wesley Morton Jr. {they're calling him Joseph}
"Hey, cuz'!! " Michael B. Morton III greets his little buddy. Joseph with his great~grandparents, Nana and Grand Daddy...
Look at that face!!! And those fingers...

With his great~Grand Daddy...

It all started Monday night...we were about to sit down to Martha's spaghetti with Granddaddy and Nana, when we got word from next door that Rachel started having contractions again~this was not a good thing, as she was on bedrest, trying to keep him in there for as long as possible. So Mother dear and Nana rushed over to her house, two doors down, to see her, coming back in a little while saying that her contractions were 4 minutes apart, but that they were giving her some prescibed things to stop the labor, as Rachel was only 35 weeks along, and everyone wanted her to hold out as long as possible... and they wanted to have a quiet home birth.....

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I am sitting here in W&R's living room...it is dark out side, and I have just come back from our house with an armload of supplies...the lamplight is filling the room with a dim light, and the air is still and warm, almost as still as everybody in this room~there is that feeling in the air of quiet, prayerful excitement, tense musles and that unexplainable, unmistakable feeling of when a new life is being labored into the world by a loving mother, and by the prayers of a strong father.

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I can hear Rachel in their bedroom, and Daddy is explaining some things to Wesley ....At this point, Wesley is planning on just staying here, even though the plans were certainly not for a premature birth ..... There is some concern about the baby's lungs, at 35 weeks , so Wesley is praying for the Lord's direction ... Oh, I need to run back to the house for some things for the birth...just a minute....

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Running back to the house, out of breath and shaking with excitement and nervousness, and concern for our little baby...as I run down the dusty lane, I look up at the evening sky, eyes filled with stinging tears, at a blurry half moon shining down, making everything a dusky blue hue... the clear sky, with yellow stars scattered over it, each with its own place in the sky scape....I see those three stars, one right after the other, always there, always shining, never leaving its place behind the other... I think to myself, God can make his little lungs whole right now, as simply as He has kept those stars where they've been since He created them....He will help W&R in every aspect of this birth, and in all of life, when we put our trust in Him. And give us strength, or wisdom in times of uncertainty. He is always faithful...If you think of yourself, not even as a visible speck on the world, and then go up, past the clouds, stars, into the vastness and blackness of space, then look back behind you where you've flown from, back at the world, a ball of blue, held up by the mighty power of the Creator, you wonder at your own sinful vain self for not explicitly, unquestioningly and immediately trusting the One Who has the power to hold up the stars and turn the earth on its course. You are suddenly put into perspective at your own sinfull smallness, and of His loving vastness....

The earth from space, in the beam of sunlight.

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I am back at their house....she is about 7 cm, and is having some back labor. Nana and I just prayed together for her, and Little Man....Kressant, Mama and Dorothy are in the bed room helping her, and Daddy is giving Wesley a crashcourse on how to deliver a baby, if he still plans to stay home....I smile to myself...Daddy is so cool and calm. But of cource he always is. He is so great! Wesley is following his footsteps wonderfully. I've called the Smiths, they are on their way!!

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It is 9:30, and we are in the car, (Daddy, Mama, Martha, the little boys and I} following Wesley and Rachel to the hospital~Wesley felt the direction of the Lord to drive to the hospital so they could either stop the labor or help deliver the baby and give him any medical help he might need afterwards.....We are so proud of Wesley, hearing the Lord's direction and being wise and prudent.....Dorothy is with them, and the rest of us are scattered in a contingent of cars and other four-wheeled contraptions to get there! We're about 15 min behind them....I'm soo excited!!!!!!!!!

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We are running down the hall~Look!!!! There is the glass wall of the nursey!! I see a lady doing something to a little bundle that I can't quite see...Cleveland comes around the corner, with a bag of cookies, grinning about somthing..."There he is, y'all!!!" We stop in our tracks~ Yes, there he is!!! That's HIM!!! and he is screaming, Praise God!!!!!! ( Rachel had Joseph within about 20 minutes of getting to the hospital!!)

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I rush to crane my neck to look over the trim~yes, there he is...his tiny head, with a swathing of black hair, long slender arms with perfect piano fingers, for a life filled with happy music...long legs with big, relaxed feet for his own little children to rub one day after a long days work... a perfect chiseled chin and pert nose, and fine, thick lips to smile at his Mama with, and to laugh with his Daddy...His eyes are blinking open!!!! Look, they flutter, shut, and then peep out for the first time at the world in an uncertain curiosity.... ha, hey, Little Man... welcome to the world....I praise God you're here, and that you can scream like that, and kick and open your blue eyes and see us all laughing, crying and smiling over you...you have a lot of life to live, Joseph...live it as unto The One who gave it to you....

I'm so glad you're here with us.

I love you.

Aunt Adeline

P.S. Grandmama here. :) God is so faithful. When Wesley called the OB, he was at the hospital and was so helpful and supportive. We thank The Lord for this gentleman. Our favorite pediatrician was also at the hospital - it was like God had them there, waiting for us ! The new little family came home the next morning and all is well. I was so grateful for Wesley's leadership in the situation, and while the hospital's safety net was not used to any great extent, after all, I thought Wesley made a wise and prudent decision to err on the side of carefulness with an early, and first, birth.