moments from mimi's first days, part 3

Miriam spent her first few weeks on the yellow side so she also spent quite a bit of time sunbathing. She's looking much pinker these days thank goodness and never had to go through the torture of getting her bilirubin checked over and over like Asher did his first month. Most of the time she would sunbathe in this little serving tray setup. It was handy because we could move her around from sun patch to sun patch without disturbing her much.

In these photos she is soaking up some rays at just a day old. 

I love little bitty baby parts.

great post about extended breastfeeding

Photo by my friend Nicki Wright of Nixi Photography

Bellies and Babies has a great guest post about nursing beyond 6 months into (or beyond) toddlerhood. Reminded me of so many of the reasons why I am still nursing Asher. It's definitely worth reading even if you can't imagine nursing past a year. Check it out.

Also, the Breastfeeding Cafe is hosting a blog carnival the next couple of weeks in preparation for World Breastfeeding Week next month. Lots of great posts!

floral friday

As promised, here are more photos of the big fat poppies from last week. 

Don't they just make you smile?

Asher and Miriam

Those are some good Bible names, are they not? I didn't even know I had an affinity for Bible names until I had to name my children. Which reminds me of a kinda funny story.

A couple months ago I was at the park with Asher. There were two dads there with their little boys and all the kids were playing in the sand pit. One of the dads was chatting with me and we were exchanging names and such. When I told him Asher's name he said that they had considered naming their son that. Then he asked me what we were going to name the baby. I told him and said something like, "Yeah apparently we have a thing for Old Testament names." He said, "Oh I didn't know Asher was in the Old Testament... So what religion is the Old Testament anyway?" I replied, "Oh Jews, Muslims, and Christians all use the Old Testament." This was apparently quite surprising to him. :-)

But back to my cute kids...

Here are some pics of the first time Asher held Miriam when she was two days old. I just love these.

This one is going on my wall... love it!

And then these are all from yesterday. Can you tell Asher really loves his little sister? He loves to come up and rest his cheek on her head or face, and he's been wanting to hold her quite a bit the past few days. He also gives her great kisses.

Here I let him hold her without helping so I could take the picture. Not sure Miriam appreciated that.

And then here's a couple more of each of them just because they are cute.

This was the first time he actually smiled for the camera when I asked him to. 

That is dried strawberry jam on his face by the way.

first park day

I took Asher and Miriam to the park for the first time yesterday. It was good for Asher to get out and run around. It was good for me to chat with some friends. And I guess it was good for Mimi too. :-) I also took her with me to the library for a quick meeting about the upcoming Breastfeeding Cafe (more on that later). She got many oohs and aahs over her cuteness and tininess.

3 weeks

She's been here for three weeks already. 

She's getting a little fatter each day. A little more "baby" and a little less "alien newborn". 

She smiles more. She can hold up her head better. She can fit in some of her newborn size clothes. 

We can't get enough of her.

moments from mimi's first days, part 2

One day old

moments from mimi's first days

A few pics from Miriam's first few days...

daddy's side of the (birth) story

I always think its fun to hear birth stories from the Dad's point of view. I'm so glad Jared took the time to write this down in his journal on Miriam's birthday. I thought I'd share. You can read my version of the birth here. 
 

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

9:11pm

Happy Birthday Miriam Dawn! I cannot *believe* that she is really here! She is such a sweet, petite and precious little thing. It is such a miracle that one day a woman is pregnant and then suddenly there is a new person in the world! What a miracle. And such a RELIEF that everything went so perfectly! This pregnancy and birth has made of me a passionate advocate for natural home birth. Having Miriam born at home was a sublime, intimate experience. It was reverent and peaceful--everything that we could have asked for. But I shall back up a bit. 

Katrina, Asher and I arrived at the midwife shortly before 9, and Rebecca stripped her membranes and gave her antibiotics [for Group B Strep]. Asher was really great, playing with several cars (and hitting them with the toy golf clubs). Rebecca also gave Katrina black and blue cohosh, which gets things in order and stimulates contractions. We ran to Costco and ShopKo. I was feeling excited but also anxious to get HOME so we could get things in order. We got home, and the girls and I finished cleaning and set up the tub. The labor was quite intense, and Katrina very quickly got to the point where she needed to use her Hypnobabies to manage her contractions, and she could not talk during them. We got home a little after 11. Rebecca got here around 1:45ish, took a look at Katrina and said "that is a woman who is going to have a baby. You can fill the tub the rest of the way." As soon as she got in the tub she felt instant relief. I called Anne [the older kids' grandma] and arranged to have the girls picked up and was calling around to get Asher taken care of when he got up from his nap. Unfortunately I had put some birthing materials in Asher's closet, so woke him up. He probably would have slept through the entire birth otherwise!

I could tell by the sounds Katrina was making that the labor was really intense--she was kind of making this singing/moaning sound through her contractions. I ran Asher over to Kristen Johnson's, got back as soon as I could (though I should have driven instead of walked!). When I walked back in the door, Rebecca shouted out, "Jared come over here you are going to miss it!" I went over to the tub and saw a little body hanging out, from about the upper abdomen down. It happened REALLY fast, but I saw her wiggle around. One arm came out, then the other, and then her head came out. Chris, who had come only about 10 minutes before, described things as she saw them through her more experienced eyes. She said that Miriam maneuvered around to get her arms out, then did a little kick so her head would clear the pubic bone. I was very impressed by how ideal water birth is (it functions as everything--temperature control, lubricant, pain relief, cleaner, assists with positions, etc).

Miriam is crying, that incomparable little newborn cry.

I was also impressed by how well babies really do know how to be born. I saw how still she held when only her lower body was out, and she moved in just the right ways.

Miriam is small, but so beautiful... she was 6 pounds 10 ounces. I am so glad she had every single day she did in the womb! She was pretty purple at first but pinked up beautifully quite quickly.

It is difficult to adequately express how peaceful and joyful the birth was. It was so wonderful to be HOME, to be in our own space. We could tell that Rebecca was really enjoying it here. She had NEVER seen a home breech birth! It has been six years since she saw a breech at all. She said she has felt so calm about the birth, though she studied up a bunch! [This is why we had the other midwife there who was very experienced with breech births.]

It is such a RELIEF to have this birth behind us, just because of the concerns... but everything went so beautifully we didn't need to worry at all. There is precious little we would have changed... it would have been awesome to get the home breech birth on video, since it is so rare, and I wish I had been there for the entire birth!

An interesting random note.. Even this morning I could tell Katrina was really in labor because her breath smelled the exact same way it did when Asher was born!

Wow, what a day. That was one of the peak experiences of my life. Chris, the other midwife, was really great. She didn't even really need to do anything. But she is a interesting mix of laid back (doesn't really do medical notes etc) and just a powerhouse, competent personality. And this birth was a total bonding experience with Rebecca.

I guess I am running out of words, but I feel deeply, deeply happy and grateful. So grateful that Katrina and Miriam are doing so well. Katrina exclaimed how good she felt after the birth, like she didn't even have a baby today. She did not tear at all (just one "skid" mark), and her bleeding didn't need any intervention. And Miriam's little features are so perfect. Her bottom is a bit purple and swollen, but not bad at all.

The kids were really sweet about meeting their baby sister. Asher handled it really well; he was excited and didn't seem weirded out. Grace called, mostly to ask if Miriam had red hair! Olivia asked if she could come over, and was in tears when I suggested she wait until her mom could bring all of them over. Then Olivia said "My legs hurt because I rode over here SO fast on my scooter!" And Isaac said Miriam was his early birthday present and was really happy.

I can't believe it... what a wonderful day. Ok, now to finish up what I need to do--diapers and put food away and such.

Oh, the pizza guy showed up at our door and we were a bit confused. We were like, "is it paid for?" Katrina's grandma bought us pizza, which was really sweet.

floral friday

Poppies are one of my favorite flowers. I love how bright and happy they are. And also how delicate the petals are. These are from the yard of a house around the corner from us. They are big and gorgeous. I have several more photos of them but I think I'll save those for next week.