It's hard to believe it's already been a week since she was born! Well, for those who want to know, I'll give a brief sketch of the labor story. All my "nesting" energy went into cooking Thanksgiving dinner! Since we couldn't travel, this would be our first Thanksgiving with just our little family all by ourselves-- and, therefore, my first chance to cook the meal all by myself. :) So, I cooked a feast! But, after all that work, I didn't get to eat it. I had some warning signs that said I might be going into labor that night, and I didn't want to chance it (and it's a good thing I didn't). So, I just nibbled a few bites as everyone else chowed down. Then Daddy read from the Bible about the 10 lepers and having a thankful heart. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving! We tucked the kids into bed and warned them that there might be someone else watching them when they woke up in the morning. Still, I was only having Braxton-Hicks (practice) contractions when we went to bed. But, neither of us could sleep, so we were soon both up doing random things (Monte worked on his grad paper and I think I was doing laundry or something). We went back to bed at about midnight. And, just when Monte was beginning to snore peacefully . . . "Oh, that was a real one!" I felt so bad waking him back up, but I said we'd better go to the hospital. For those of you who don't know, my last labor was two and a half hours from first contraction to first baby's cry, so we wanted to get to the hospital quickly in case it went fast again. But, as it turned out, we needn't have worried. This baby was in no hurry to come all in a rush. We got to the hospital at about 1:00am. I was dilated to 4cm or so, but contractions were in no consistent time pattern. We labored while walking the halls of the maternity ward for a couple of hours. The doctor got there at about 3:45 or so. It was actually kind of a fun experience. The pain was handleable (I make up words) and in between contractions, the doctor, the nurse, Monte and I had a great conversation about kids and family and Thanksgiving and God's blessings. All through the labor, Monte was a tremendous help and comfort (he also changed most of the poopy diapers in the hospital). What a guy! At 4:30 or so my water broke and a few pushes later, Vala was born! I didn't tear at all! I've had it the other way with previous deliveries, so I can appreciate what a blessing it is to give birth to a small baby and feel great afterwards! Overall, best labor, delivery, and recovery. :) Before going into the hospital, I prayed that the Lord would give me His strength because I was so exhausted already that I couldn't do any of this on my own. God answered all my prayers specifically. He does truly care about every intimate detail of our lives!
Now, we have our beautiful baby girl! She eats, sleeps, and poops just like a little baby should. She's been an easy baby so far. The kids love her and have been great little helpers. I think we may be making a trip to Lincoln next weekend to show her off to family and to meet her little cousin who was born a couple of days ago.
