We are overjoyed to welcome Theodore Arthur Grady Beecher to the Greecher household. He arrived at 10:04 pm CEST on July 14th, 2019, one week before his due date. At birth, he weighed 3.65 kg (~8 lbs) and measured 49 cm (~19 in) in length. We are grateful for the phenomenal care provided by the Hôpitaux Universitaires Genève (the HUG) and are fortunate that Theo is a robust, healthy baby and Emily is recovering smoothly. We are also grateful for the kindness and support we have received from our community both in Geneva and beyond. The three of us are at home and have enjoyed settling in together as a new family. There’s something magical and awe-inspiring about welcoming a new life to this planet; we are trying to savor that feeling as much as possible.
After months of build-up and plenty of adventures, the morning of July 14th started with contractions at 6 am. Emily announced to a sleepy Alex that she thought that she was in labor, and he responded exactly as he had when she announced the results of the first pregnancy test, “Are you sure? Let’s try to get more sleep.” For most of the morning, we were convinced that the contractions weren’t “real” and decided to use the opportunity to finally practice pain management techniques (e.g., breathing, massage).
Around lunch, we went for a walk in Parc La Grange, which is when the contractions began to intensify. By the end of the walk, Emily was squatting on the sidewalk and traumatizing many unwitting passersby. She didn’t care.
We finally called our parents to tell them that Emily was in labor, which they confirmed after hearing her contractions first-hand. They encouraged us to go to the hospital, so we sprung into action. By the time we were out the door, we worried that Theo could arrive in transit, but fortunately, we made it to the hospital and were admitted promptly. A few hours later and after a lot of hard work, Emily reached down and caught Theo as he emerged into the world. Our beautiful son was born
Below we include a sampling of photos from Theo’s first two weeks. If you are interested in more frequent updates, we have set up a Tinybeans account where we will be posting photos regularly. Please reach out if you would like access. Also, we will be returning to the U.S. in Oct/Nov, and we hope to introduce Theo to as many of you as possible.
Sending lots of love from Geneva,
Emily, Alex, and Theo
