The miracle of life

A little breather from the crazy out there. Josh Levs of CNN is one of the first journos who followed me when I first joined Twitter and has stuck with me since. Would have missed the goosebump raising story of his son's birth if I hadn't checked into Twitter today. Seriously, read it all but here's part of it:

I reached in, palms facing up, put my pointer fingers into the baby's armpits, and helped guide the baby out. That's when my heart started pounding even faster, and my adrenaline went from overdrive to supersonic.

The umbilical cord was snaked around the baby's neck, tightly. Think a turtleneck with five circles. The baby's eyes were shut and I saw no sign of breathing. As far as I knew, no sign of life.

So as the operator went on reading the standard directions: "Wrap the baby in a clean cloth or towel... tie a shoelace tightly around the umbilical cord..." I stopped following her. I focused on the neck. Didn't even look down to see what gender the baby was.

"Oh my God, the baby's not breathing," I said. "Breathe baby, breathe."

The miracle of birth at its most miraculous.