And Baby G Makes 3!

One week ago today, our little miss E came into the world, snuggly, screaming and adorable.

She was not happy about her eviction!
While I'm not going to post my birth story quite yet (give me a few more days to fully process), I feel compelled to update and attempt to describe how much our world has changed in the last week.

For those of you who were aware, I was on bed rest for the last two weeks before E's birth.  I had hypertension/borderline preeclampsia which was concerning to my midwives and in order to avoid an induction, we opted for strict bed rest instead.
My mother was on bed rest for the majority of her pregnancy with us, two weeks almost killed me.  I have a whole new respect for mamas who have to spend time on bed rest--our babies are worth it, but it's very hard going from go go go all the time to "don't do anything except get up to go to the bathroom or refrigerator".

It got to the point during the weekend of the 19th that my midwives said if E didn't come on her own by Friday, I would need to be induced.  That was very hard for me, as I had hoped to have a natural labor and birth--and inductions can make that very difficult.  Part of me was sad that I wouldn't be able to tell my husband that it was time to go to the hospital.  Part of me was sad that some of the surprise was going to be removed.
But I also was willing to do whatever was necessary to protect me and my daughter.

Thankfully, I went into labor on my own early that Monday morning--and although my birth didn't go quite as I had planned, I wouldn't change a thing.

Here is my very last pregnancy picture.  I was 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant and we had just arrived at the hospital. 

Call me crazy, but I already miss being pregnant.  I'm probably one of the only people who has gone through labor and within an hour told her husband, "let's do this again!"
I adored pregnancy.  I felt great, learned to embrace my new body and was able to marvel at how God has created us to support and grow life.  What a blessing to nurture my daughter inside of me for 9 (sometimes long) months!
The post partum period hasn't been too bad either.  I'll post more about that later too.

I must say that our daughter is one adorable little sweetheart.  She has mommy's nose and lips.  She has daddy's eyes, ears, forehead and toes.  Her head is covered in beautiful dark hair and she is the biggest snuggle bug I've ever seen.

We are so in love.
Our first week has been an adjustment, but wonderful.  We have a great support system here between our families and friends, and I am so thankful for that.  People have started to bring us meals and that has also been a huge blessing to us.

E is a great nurser and sleeper.  She loves to cuddle and is quite particular about where she will sleep.  She is not a fan of her cradle right now, but we're working on getting her used to sleeping somewhere other than mommy and daddy's arms.  Our first night home was the hardest, but it has been a wonderful learning experience and joy being her parents.

We still have so much to learn and so much yet to update, but I think this is plenty for now.  I'm getting a bit jealous that daddy has gotten to hold her for the last hour and I think it's mommy's turn for E snuggles.

Stay tuned, I'll be posting our birth story soon for those of you who are like me and love those :)  For those who would rather not know, you've been forewarned :)