Mazel Toy!

inntunity
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His siblings and their
fends give Brendan
Field lots of attention.

Courtney and Jared Field held a private "welcome
home" party for Brendan after he came home from
the hospital in May.

LISA BARSON
Special to the Jewish News

M

embers of the Field family
in Farmington Hills lead
busy lives.
At 45, Randy Field has
a successful law practice. His wife
Stephani, 36, has been working almost
20 years for the Garden City School
District. Their 11-year-old son Jared is
an avid hockey player, and daughter
Courtney, 8, loves to dance. A seven-
month-old puppy and a goldfish com-
pleted the picture in their Farmington
Hills home.
That is, until May 17; when Stephani
gave birth to a new baby boy.
"We thought we'd stop at two chil-
dren," Stephani explains, "until the last
couple of years, when we began talking
about having another child."
Medical complications interfered,
and the couple gave up their dream of
having a third child. Stephani went so
far as to hold a garage sale to sell all the
baby clothes and furniture she had kept
from her other children. Two weeks
later, she learned she was pregnant.
At first, Stephani was scared. "I was
afraid my medical condition had
returned and it was a false pregnancy,"
she says. Tests proved otherwise, and the
family began preparing for the baby's
arrival. Jared and Courtney took a class
through Beaumont Hospital designed
for children whose parents were expect-

ing. They were the oldest children in the
class, and the instructor had to tailor
some of the topics to make them more
age-appropriate.
The kids learned how to change a
diaper, feed, burp and hold a baby.
Jared felt the class would be benefi-
cial to him as he nears babysitting
age, but Courtney was unenthusias-

The Fiel elfamily appreciates their youngest.

tic about a class she saw as designed
for little children.
Courtney's reluctance faded as excite-
ment for her new sibling grew.
Courtney and Jared even went with
their parents to Stephani's prenatal doc-
tor appointments, and were able to see

the fetus on the ultrasound and hear the
baby's heartbeat. "It sounded like a bro-
ken carburetor," says Jared.
Both kids were at the hospital when
Stephani had her baby. They stayed in
the room through her contractions and
labor pains, but left just before the birth.
The two returned minutes after their
new brother was born, even before he
was cleaned up.
It was great
watching Jared
and Courtney,
to see the
excitement in
their eyes the
first time they
saw Brendan,"
says Randy.
"They were
both very sur-
prised," laughs
Stephani, that
Brendan had
bought them
Gifts which
they received in
the recovery
room. Courtney
couldn't figure
out when he had time to go shopping."
Both Randy and Stephani agree that
with this baby, things are definitely dif-
ferent than with the first two. "I feel
much more relaxed about the little
things," says Randy.
But Stephani has had another reac-

tion. She appreciates every moment
with Brendan, because she has learned
that children grow up quickly. She
sometimes gets possessive when the
children, or their friends and cousins,
want to hold the baby. When Jared
and Courtney were young, it was her
adult friends who vied for the oppor-
tunity to hold the baby; now, it's her
own children and their friends.
And, it seems, many others are just
as excited. When Jared returned to
Forest Elementary School the day after
Brendan was born, he made a card in
art class and had the entire fifth grade
sign it, including all the teachers.
Courtney's friends brought over toys
and gifts for the new baby. Before he
was born, the second-graders at Forest
even voted on what the baby's name
should be. This is really a community
baby," says Stephani.
Jared and Courtney attended their
brother's bris and are performing well
in their new roles of big brother and
sister. They help their mom feed
Brendan, or hold him when he fusses.
They even are willing to change dia-
pers, if necessary.
Jared cannot wait until Brendan is
4, when he plans to teach him the
basics of hockey. Courtney, who ini-
tially preferred getting a sister, is still
excited about not being the youngest
any longer, because "younger kids
can't tell me what to do, even if it is
a boy." fl

7116
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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