Ivy was FINALLY born on May 16th, two weeks past my due date. I shouldn't have been surprised considering the fact that Evelyn came 17 days late. I just had thought there was no way life could be so cruel as to let that happen again. So it was a miserable few weeks for me feeling huge, downing Tums every half hour, waiting, waiting, waiting, and experimenting with homeopathics and acupuncture in the hopes that something, anything would start. On Friday morning I woke up to a "real" contraction and had a couple an hour apart. I told Steven he may want to stick around for a bit just in case. I had then somewhat regular mild contractions in the morning. Christie came to check me around noon and I was only 3 1/2cm, so I thought it may take awhile, sent Steven to get some take-out for lunch and decided we'd watch a movie while a had mellow contractions for awhile. About five minutes after Steven left, though, the contractions changed in a mighty way and the thought of watching a movie at that point was almost laughable. I labored the whole while in the birthing tub with Steven and Christie both by my side, encouraging me the whole time, and with Steven putting lots of pressure on my lower back with each contraction. Labor is insane and there's no way to properly describe it. Even having done it before is in no way preparation for the reality of it. To do the whole thing without any pain management is something I can't even believe I've done now twice. And to understand the intensity is something I think only a woman can identify with for a limited time after birth. Already it's slipping from me. Already I'm thinking, well, maybe it wasn't THAT bad, maybe we'll have a third.... Anyway, labor is intense. And pushing out a baby with a 14 1/4 head is pretty intense too. The whole "real" labor lasted 4 hours, start to baby-in-arms. I'm so thankful it was fast, so thankful it was during the day, so thankful that my mom, two sisters and Steven were there to witness it all. I'm so thankful to be able to have labored and birthed at home, in my own bedroom and to cuddle up with Ivy in my own bed afterward. What a relief to have labor end and in turn have a new baby in my arms! It's the most amazing feeling of elation possible.
Ivy is precious! She was 9 pounds, 1 ounce at birth and 20 inches long. I think the most remarkable thing about her is that right away she was able to focus on my face and into my eyes. She really engages already and has even made 'talking' noises back at my when I'm talking to her or singing to her. It's just amazing. She's a beautiful and cool little girl already and it only took me a matter of hours to fall madly in love with her. There's no turning back.
Evelyn's been a super big sister. She really loves Ivy to bits. The only hard part about her with the baby is she wants to help a little too much and has strong opinions about what Ivy needs or wants at every moment. Evelyn is fairing pretty well, considering all the change. There is a bit of competition for my lap and arms. She's pretty emotional about everything and I think she gets tired of me resting all day, but all her time with Daddy has been making up for it mostly. Thank God Steven took two weeks off to help with my recuperation and caring for Egret.
I'm really enjoying motherhood the second time around. It's so much more joyful and sweet and less worry and obsession. It feels great to just enjoy my new daughter and not fret about every little thing. These are the very best moments in life.
