There's not much in the world that’s truly amazing, but the birth of a sibling definitely is.

The maternity ward is one of the scariest and most beautiful places in the world. So much screaming passed from birthing mother to tiny newborn who has caused their creator so much pain even before taking their first breath. So much pure joy or heart ripping sorrow can be heard tearing through the halls of the hospital wing. 

Such a sound overtook my sister and I as we shuffled out tired our tired bodies toward our mother's hospital room. The impassioned vocalizations entering our ears were those of the truest grief. The cause of which I would later learn from accidental eavesdropping while passing the sorrowful room, a child had just been born with little chance of even growing old enough to attend school. Such a reality had never crossed my mind before now. The idea that my miniscule unborn brother had a chance of not living long enough to walk or talk or become a real living think person in the world. It scared the center of my being. 

The truth is, even with all the medical technology we are in possession of, birth and the few years following it are some of the most dangerous times in a person's life. As a matter of fact, 26,000 infants are still born every year in the US, and of the ones that are alive after birth 5.8% will die within a year. There is also the reality of birth defects. Approximately   3% of all child in the United States have a major birth defect. This may seem small, but anyone could be the unlucky 1in 30. 

As my sister and I cautiously stepped into my mother's hospital room we were immediately whisked away into the lobby by grandparents to wait out the actual birthing that was prepared to take place. To soothe our anxiety, I found the lobby remote and turned on the American classic, the Simpsons. Even through all the El Barto shenanigans thee was an ache in the minds me and all the family in the room which I sat, about the wellbeing of our newest relative. Every once in a while, my mind tricked me into believing I could hear a faint whisper of what was the scream of my mother deep in the halls of the hospital.

After what felt like an eon, my father came out from the labyrinth of hospital halls bearing one question," wanna see him?" My dad lead our small party through countless corners and past dozens of absolutely identical doors each twist and turn confusing every person except what must have been the happies man in the world at that moment. He expertly herded my sister and I into the room first as to allow us to meet our new sibling before most anybody else in the world. 

The moment I laid my eyes on the boy I knew that we would be together forever. The infant was a beast weighing in at around 9 lbs. and being in the 80th percentile of height. Even as he screams about napping as I wright this, he was and still is to this day a great joy in my life every single day and I can remember his very birth forever.