Our baby girl is here! And I have to say, my labor with her was a lot better than Perrin's. (THANK YOU, Brielle! No 56-hour ordeal this time!) I woke up around midnight Thursday night/Friday morning feeling a lot of pressure, like she had dropped even further down. At about 12:30 AM, my water broke (seems like these things always happen in the middle of the night. What's with that?) So we called my parents to have them come stay at our house with Perrin, and we headed to the hospital. With a little help from pitocin to get my contractions going a little stronger and closer together, she was born about 12 hours later at 12:49 PM. Even the pushing phase was much easier this time around--I pushed through three contractions,and she was out in less than five minutes. Once the doctors and nurses did the initial weight check/APGAR/clean-up, they all cleared out and left us to bond with our sweet little girl. She snuggled down in my arms and even nursed a little before falling asleep.
I was really excited to introduce Perrin to Brielle, but wasn't too sure what he would think. At best, I hoped he'd be mildly interested but mostly indifferent. At worst, I was afraid he'd be jealous or not like her for some reason. It turns out that he is the sweetest big brother I could have imagined! He petted her head and held her hand and asked if she wanted to play choo-choo trains with him. Then he sat beside me in the hospital bed and held her across his lap. So far, so good! I hope he keeps his sweet nature when he realizes he has to share his mommy with her from now on.
We're back home now, and so far Brielle just seems to sleep and sleep and sleep. Not that I'm complaining... but unfortunately, she wants to do all of her sleeping in someone's arms, which is fine during the day but not so cute at 3:00 in the morning. Oh well... sleep deprivation is part of the package of parenthood. Besides, it's hard to get upset with someone this cute:
Perrin may not realize it, but he's in the final days of being an only child. My doctor told me at my appointment two days ago that I'm 1 cm dilated, so we're on our way! We've been trying to spend extra time with Perrin doing some fun things in these last weeks before the birth, knowing that soon he probably won't get as much one-on-one time as he's used to. Yesterday I took him on a field trip with his Mother's Day Out program to the pumpkin patch. It was so much fun!
Here we are, near the entrance. From the looks of my belly, it's pretty appropriate that I'm standing next to a giant pig. Speaking of pigs, we got to watch a few pig races while we were there. Miss Piggy won every time. She was apparently highly motivated by Fritos. Also, you can see a little bit of the tire tower in the background. Perrin had a good time scrambling his way to the top.
Next, Perrin wanted to go down the slide. So I stuck him in a potato sack and sent him careening down. The first time he went, we were both a little surprised at how fast it was. Just look at that face!
I didn't know if he'd want to go again, but after the initial shock, I guess he decided he liked it. He was a little better prepared the second time.
Of course, we had to go see the animals. They had goats, sheep, chickens, llamas, and bunnies. Good thing the goats were on the other side of the fence because one of them tried to head-butt Perrin when he grabbed its horn.
Next, we got to go on a hay ride! The tractor pulled us out to a big field where all the kids got to get out a pick a pumpkin. Perrin picked out about 4, and I told him to choose just one. This one was the lucky winner. Perrin asked me if he could eat it. He's his father's son, for sure.
We had some time to just explore the farm before and after our picnic lunch, so Perrin climbed on haystacks, played in the corn pool (which is exactly what it sounds like) and "drove" a choo-choo train.
We had such a good time that I'm already making plans for us to go back next year... as a family of four. :)
We've made it to October, which means our daughter might be born THIS MONTH! I feel like I've been pregnant for about a decade, but even so, it's strange to think we're finally nearing the end (or rather, the beginning). And I realized the other day that I've taken almost no pictures of this pregnancy, so I had Trey snap a picture of me a few days ago at 35 weeks. I seem to have exploded in growth lately:
When I reached this point with Perrin, I was concerned a lot with the impending labor and delivery, and I was wondering if I would know how to take care of a baby. This time, I'm not too worried about labor (surely it can't be as bad as the 56 hours of torture I survived with Perrin), plus I feel a little more confident about all the baby things that were so mysterious to me the first time around. Most of my worries this time are centered around Perrin and how he'll handle the transition and how I'm going to juggle the demands of a newborn with a very rambunctious toddler.
Yesterday Perrin was singing Happy Birthday to my tummy,which was very cute and sweet. And he mentioned something to me about Brielle playing choo-choo trains with him. So he doesn't seem disturbed at all that a baby is coming to live with us soon. On the other hand, he really has no idea what he's in for. It's obvious to me from the times I've babysat other kids that he does not like to share me. So I keep wondering how in the world this is going to work out. Then I have to remind myself that millions of people have managed two kids at once. Some people even manage 5 or 10 or 15 kids at once. Having only two kids sounds like a walk in the park when you look at it that way. (Of course, I don't think ANYONE could handle 15 Perrins. It would be the cutest, most destructive, hyperactive, dog-terrorizing crew of energetic nudists this world has ever seen. Not that I would change anything about him because I truly do love his spunky personality--chaos and all.)
I could analyze this situation to death, but I'm just going to have to wait and see how it all goes. Until then, I'll spend lots of quality time with my little boy and enjoy all the one-on-one time we have for now. And I'll marvel at the little life kicking away inside me and appreciate these last weeks of pregnancy (in spite of back aches, heartburn, and my Shamu-like figure) because this could be the last time I experience the miracle of pregnancy.
I love my kids. And I believe that one day they'll love each other. And somehow God will enable me and Trey to give our kids all the love and attention they both need and deserve.
