Emily Margarete

Our beautiful baby was born on February 9th at 7:55am. I always said she was due on the 9th even after the doctor said the 5th :) She was born at home after about 7 hours of "real" labor. I'd had contractions about 10 minutes apart for most of the weekend and by the evening of the 8th they were more like 5 minutes apart. I was still able to get a couple hours of sleep before they got stronger and woke me at 1am. Once I was sure it was really time to have a baby I called the midwife, Elisabeth, and asked her to come over. While waiting for her I lit candles in the bedroom and living room, woke Eric up, and we started to get all the supplies out. Elisabeth arrived around 3:30am, checked on the baby and I, and got my IV antibiotics going. I had tested positive for Group B Strep a few weeks earlier so we had the antibiotics as a precaution. Once the first round was in I was free to get back to my pacing. By about 5:30am the contractions were much stronger and I was dilated to 5cm. I kept expecting my water to break early in labor like it had with Anika, but it wasn't happening.

Anika woke up at 6 which is early for her. I guess there was too much going on. Eric's mom took her to another part of the house where she got dressed and they played for awhile until the bakery would open so they could shop for breakfast. As they were heading out the door a little before 8 I needed to push and my water broke. Eric ran downstairs, told them to wait a minute, ran back up and turned on the camera just in time to see Emily's head come out with my second push. I wasn't expecting things to go so quickly and I just kept saying "I can't stop". One more push and she was out. I was on my knees so I was looking down at her and said "It's a girl!". Anika and Cornelia came in as Elisabeth was giving Emily a rubdown with a towel and putting her in my arms. She was a lovely shade of purple, but that didn't last long. As soon as she was in my arms she opened her eyes to look at me. Elisabeth and Eric helped me to the bed where I just cuddled her for awhile before pushing the placenta out. Once that was done I rolled to my side and started nursing. She latched on right away and ate for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only 10 minutes or so.

After she ate she got weighed (8lbs 1oz) and measured (19 1/2 inches) and looked over. Then we dressed her and while she slept I showered, dressed, and ate some of the breakfast Anika and Cornelia had gone for. I was feeling great for having just given birth. There was no tearing, no heavy bleeding, and I am having a hard time taking it easy because I feel like my normal self.

Now little Emily is a week old. She is adored by all and her big sister is always kissing and bringing her things and so concerned when she cries. Ani is such a sweetheart. Emily's cord stump is off already so she's had her first bath and this weekend she had her first trip to the library and commissary. We took her out to see the snow this morning for a minute and she wasn't impressed. Now here are a few pictures of our sweet baby :)