Two weeks in and feelin' fine

It's amazing how quickly our family has adjusted to having Viola here. I'm sure part of it was having an almost endless amount of help, with still no end in sight (thank goodness!). Diedra flew out here the day Viola was born (a happy coincidence), so I had help waiting for me at home, and mom came out three days later.

I'm also amazed by how quickly my pregnancy seems a thing of the past. Time moved incredibly slowly for me the last week, and now it feels like forever since I was pregnant. My recovery was even faster this time around; besides some issues that are entirely TMI and not related to childbirth, the day after I didn't feel like I had given birth at all. Oh, sure, I had that annoying flabby belly and the hormone surges, but physically I felt really, really good. I consider it one of the benefits of giving birth naturally; my body had a really hard time getting off all the drugs when I had Peter, but Eleanor, Theodore, and Viola's births were all easy to bounce back from.

I was very, very blessed that this time around I had resolved beforehand to be patient about when Viola was going to be born. Long story, not made especially short: when Theodore was born, I was sure he was going to be early. Mom took off two weeks to come stay with me and help with the baby and because I was so sure he was going to be early, she came out early. Every day I didn't give birth was one less day I would have her to help me, and I felt like we just sat around and waited, and waited, and waited. Every morning I would wake up and think, "Darn! Still pregnant!" He was only two days late (so much for my premonition!), but I only had four days of my mom's help before she had to leave. I was a wreck when she left. It was not a pretty sight. This time around, I was determined not to torture myself like that again, so I adopted a very nonchalant attitude about when the baby would be born. Mom stressed out more than I did about the birth, but it actually worked out perfectly that I was eight days late. At the end, I was getting impatient and uncomfortable, but I wasn't stressing myself out. I had one bad day, but because I had decided before the fact not to stress out about the birth, I took it all in stride. If I hadn't decided to be nonchalant about it, I would have had a breakdown.

So now Viola is two weeks old. She's already getting visibly stronger and bigger. She is constantly getting love from her older brothers and sister; almost every day I walk in on Eleanor holding her and singing to her. I'm so grateful that the birth went well and I didn't have to have a breech birth or a c-section and that I'm recovering well.

And I'm so grateful for my new little girl. I've been waiting for her for a long time.

This is the before picture. There's no way I'm putting up an after picture.


My two girls.


This is how I look when I don't get enough sleep. Maybe it has something to do with the crying going on.




The oldest and the youngest. Peter has discovered how toasty warm she is.

Introducing:

Viola Brigitta Rhynard. Emphasis on the first syllable, like you're saying Violet, but ending it with an "a".

I am tired.

Finally!

Well, I had to fight the irrational urge to viciously bite Matt at the end stage of labor, but I gave birth this morning to a 8 lb 1 oz girl. Labor was HARD. Man alive, I do not want to do that again. I didn't swear during labor, but I loudly announced at the end that Matt was getting a vasectomy soon.

Her name is being hammered out. It's kind of hard to name a baby. "Does she look like a ____?" "I don't know; she just kind of looks like a baby to me."

Happy Halloween!

Last night we celebrated Halloween by making our kids go door to door begging for candy, putting said kids to bed, and eating said candy. It was wonderful!

Matt took the kids out while I stayed at home and passed out candy. No, I did not go into labor. I'm actually a little surprised that I am going to have a November baby; I did not expect that I would go this overdue. I know, I know, it's not THAT overdue, but I just didn't expect a baby in November.

Matt's a little relieved, though. He didn't want a Halloween baby, purely for the fact that if it were born on Halloween, her celebration would always be replaced by a Halloween party and it would never be a birthday party. Yes, Zari, I feel sorry for you. Just kidding!

Here are the obligatory costume pictures. Peter was a Power Ranger (even though he doesn't really have much of an idea of what Power Rangers are), Eleanor was a cheerleader (don't get me started), and Theodore was the cutest little bear I've seen this year (this was Peter's old costume, and Peter was pretty darn cute himself).





Mmm, candy.