The Princess Turns 3!

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is 3 today!  Oh those years have just flown by.  She can be a handful at times...really, she tries me in ways the boys could only dream about but still I love her so much.

As I was thinking about her birthday I realized that I started blogging after she was born so I figured it was time for another birth story.  I love me a good birth story (well even a bad one can be theraputic too).

So let's rewind the clocks about 4 years, before I was even expecting her.  I had just spent the better part of a year working while Husband stayed home as Mr. Mom (he did a great job too, though he never assumes I let the kids get into trouble anymore).  Yet I really didn't enjoy the company I worked for and honestly I missed my babies.  So Husband and I decided that I should and could go back to school, I quit my job, Husband found one and I went to school, starting in the winter quarter.

The plan then was to get a degree in English with an emphasis in education so I could become an English Teacher...but plans change.  Like finding out you're pregnant just after starting school!  That was certainly a shock.  We knew we wanted more kids...our 3 boys were precious but really I was hoping to have a girl and we always knew we wanted a large family.  So we had decided to take a baby break and hopefully get pregnant again AFTER I was done with school...God had other plans.

After the shock wore off, we started telling people and let's just say the news wasn't as 'joyfully' received as we had hoped.  It was very much a disappointment to me.  I would go through the stores shopping with my boys and hear women loudly whispering things like 'doesn't she know how that happens' or 'not another one.'  There were people who were happy, but I distinctly remember that it wasn't as happy a pregnancy as my others amongst my friends.

One thing else you need to know is that we didn't find out what we were having.  The one and only time I peeked, they were wrong, Husband wouldn't let me plan for that gender (which was a good thing) and overall I hated knowing...really took the surprise out of it for me (well, we did get surprised anyway).  So never again will I ever find out what gender my baby will be and after I finish this story you might feel the same way too.

So the week I was due came and went with no baby...not a surprise as at that time always overdue.  The in-laws went out of town for the weekend and to be honest I was sick and tired of being pregnant and had been trying all the remedies to encourage it along aside from castor oil...but I was desperate enough to try it again...sure enough the party got started, though it was a slow party.  My labors have been all over the map...long early labors to quick and dirty this one was a little middle of the road...not as long as Samuel's (18 hours) not as fast as Vincent's (less that 6 hours).  Eleven hours after my first contraction I saw HER.

I have delievered all my babies at home, and aside from Thaddeus, they have all been born in our bed.  I tell you without lie or doubt that there is absolutely nothing better in this world after giving birth than to be tucked into YOUR OWN BED with your baby.  To snuggle down with your husband and child to the quiet sounds you always drift off too instead of hospital lights and beeping sounds...that is sheer and perfect bliss.  I know not everyone can have a baby at home but me I can and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Since I was at home and because of the position I delivered in I was the very first person to see her, a truly magical momma moment.  I distictly remember looking down on my baby and checking under the umbilical cord and I knew that what I saw was not boy parts.  Yet as my midwife asked what we had, boy or girl I was rendered speechless...not out of joy, but fear that if I said I had a girl she'd look and say the pain got to me and I was wrong...I had to have a second opinion that I had a girl...A SECOND PAIR of eyes to confirm what I was seeing...so shocked was I to be a momma to a girl.

It has been my joy and privilege to be her momma and I love every minute of it (minus the screaming tantrums) and our life is so full and blessed because she is in it.  When I was expecting Thaddeus I was hoping for another girl because then I'd have a Full House--three of a kind and a pair, but I now realize that Four of a Kind with an Ace is just what our family needs.

{{hugs}}

Buffy