The This and That of Everleigh

This morning Kyrie came and gave me a kiss and said "Thank you mom for baby Everleigh." Sweet. Ben is the affectionate big brother and Kyrie has designated herself the baby's personal assistant. She considers herself in charge of diaper-fetching and clothes choice.

Everleigh is our smallest baby but has a healthy pair of lungs and promises to gain weight quickly. She tried to crawl an hour after birth; we might need to use stair gates this time around.

After days of contractions, I had a contraction on Saturday night during dinner that made me want to scream and throw something. After so many false alarms, I was hesitant to promise much. We waited a couple of hours to try to get them five minutes apart; at 8:45pm I called the midwife and told her they were still 6-7 minutes but that they were really long and low. She heard me have one and said, "Why don't you come up?"

We arrived at The Birthing Inn at 9:45pm and she checked me out and said, "7 cm. It won't be long." (Mike and I had heard that with Ben and we both were like, "Ok, whatever.") Everleigh popped out at 11:24pm. I birthed in a birthing tub (which is the ONLY way to do natural childbirth) and it wasn't EASY but it was the best birth I've had by FAR. Our friend Esther Owen assisted with the birth (we met her at Kyri's birth and discovered we had common friends, beliefs, work experiences and stayed in touch). Our midwife, Susan Sherwood, was the best. I called them the Dream Team at the end. Susan gave me amazing care this time around and communicated so well with me about everything.

We left the birthing center at 2:10am, made a run to McDonald's for the hungry parents and grandma, and were home in bed at 3am. Everleigh was awake and alert until we were in the car and she slept for 4+ hours when we came home. Bless her.

Kyrie met her briefly at 3am and said, "Ooooh, tiny fingers. I love her jammies." Ben met her around 8am when he came upstairs and said, "Mom, you got the baby out." YES, I DID.

Last night we were glad to have three adults here who all took turns with Everleigh during the night. It is life with a newborn. But by far, I (the mother) am doing the best I've done post-partum. And enjoying our precious little girl.