When Uta woke up on the day of Kizuki's birth the midwife was already here. Labor was well underway, and it would only be a few hours until Uta met his sister for the very first time. Uta was excited, but mostly because he had grown very fond of our midwife Cara, and always has a million things to show and tell her. I wasn't particularly thrilled to share her attention during contractions, but it did add a little levity to the situation to be discussing legos during the worst of pains.
Uta wasn't all play during the labor. He had a special job to do which he took very seriously. His Grandma in Japan, Baba, had sent a candle and a tiny piece of paper with a red character painted on top. These things were from the buddhist temple and meant to ensure the safety of me and the baby during the birth. Once labor started the candle was to be lit and the paper dropped in water. While the candle burned, we were meant to pray.
To prepare Uta had been learning to light a match, another grown up privilege to get him pumped up about being a big brother. We set up a little shrine atop the dresser, where we placed the objects Baba sent. Uta drew a teeny tiny picture of the buddha holding a baby. We have never really talked about what prayer is or how to do it but Uta didn't seem to need any explanations. When the time came he just did his job in earnest.
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