Infant Photoshoot

I took the opportunity while my parents were here to use them as my photography assistants. It was so much easier with lots of help. Miss Joy was very cooperative and very cute, but don't take my word for it.

This is just a tribute

In this age of technology and increasing security, when online privacy is an oxymoron, I feel lucky because I get to name my children twice--once for the government, and once for the internet.

So while many of you will never know my new daughter's government name, I thought I'd take a moment to talk about it anyway.

I have a deep-seeded belief that names are important. It's ironic that people quote Shakespeare to dispute this belief because if there's one thing to be learned from Romeo and Juliet, it's that names are extremely important. Romeo would not have been nearly as wonderful had he not been forbidden fruit. And Juliet would not have died if he hadn't been a Montague. So names are important. I spent countless hours before I was pregnant thinking about what to name my baby. And in the end, I wanted her to be a tribute.

So she's named for two of my best friends, and two of the best women I've ever known. (Both readers of this blog, also.) They are both strong and independent, yet they are some of the most loving, caring, and trusting people I've ever met. I think that's a rare and wonderful combination. These two women are also extremely generous, something I fall short of so often. One of them has overcome more difficulties in her early life than I will probably ever have to face in my entire life, yet she still has a sense of humor and unabashedly positive attitude. The other is universally loved and respected because she rarely says anything negative about someone else. She leaves everyone around her feeling better.

I know neither one of these women would be comfortable being portrayed as perfect, and I know they aren't, but I hope that my daughter can be like them. And I hope that by giving her their names I can remember to be more like them, so she will be too.

Thank you to all the wonderful women in my life. And welcome, Baby Joy--that's what you are to me.

Finding Joy

I think little miracles happen every day. It's just up to us to find and recognize them. But sometimes we get big miracles. For us, one of those big miracles came very quickly in a sweet little package early Saturday morning.

At my 36 week appointment I tested positive for Strep B, which meant I needed to be in the hospital 4 hours before I gave birth to get antibiotics. I was a little worried about this, since with The Captain I barely made it to the hospital in time to push, and I was only in delivery for about an hour and a half. So I asked my midwife what would happen if I didn't get there in time to get 2 doses of antibiotics (which is what they like to give, and they need to be 4 hours apart, hence the 4 hour deadline). She said they would have to do blood cultures on the baby and she'd probably have to stay longer in the hospital.

My labor with The Captain went so well, but everyone told me the next one would be shorter, so I was planning on going to the hospital earlier. It was going to take us an hour to drive there, plus I had to make sure The Captain was taken care of. So I just prayed that my water would break first again, so I could know when things were starting and take care of everything and still make it to the hospital.

So when I started having contractions Thursday in the late afternoon, I was a little disappointed. They were strong, as in I had to stop what I was doing when I got one, but not at all regular, and after laying down for awhile, they went away. I had a few more mild ones Friday morning, then nothing. I called my Mom in the morning because I didn't think I'd last more than a few days, to give her a chance to buy plane tickets and be prepared.

We had plans Friday night to go out to dinner with the interns that were leaving Johnny's work. Before we left I started getting a few contractions, but they were still mild. Johnny asked me if he should get the hospital bag in the car, just in case. We debated for a minute, but in the end I said I didn't think it would get that serious. I suppose in hind sight, it would have been a good idea. On the drive up to dinner, they got serious. They were long, like 2 minutes, and happened every 10-15. They were really painful because they pinched multiple nerves in my pelvis, which made it extremely difficult to relax through them, or just breathe really. Getting up and moving helped calm things down, and I made it through dinner. In fact, I felt pretty good by the end. We told people that we would still have Game Night at our house, if they wanted to come. On the way up, I was worried that I'd have to go lie down, but the ride down was manageable. We put The Captain to bed without too much trouble, and standing for awhile calmed things down. Which was good since people did come over.

Luckily for me, we didn't end up playing any games, just talking. Also luckily for me, we had all just eaten, so the fact that I didn't have treats was a plus. I got a few contractions while everyone was over, but I just had to stop talking during them, hopefully no one noticed. Well, except Johnny. Everyone was very tired, so they left around 10:30. We went up to bed, and I hoped that like Thursday, the contractions would go away and I could get some sleep. Sadly, that's where my luck ran out.

Johnny helped me through a few contractions, then asked to get a little sleep so he would be ready when I needed him. I tried to sleep, but I had to get up to go to the bathroom three or four times. I hated it because every time I stood up, I'd get a really hard contraction. Finally, I figured out that this baby was coming tonight. Since my water hadn't broken, I decided to get in the tub, hoping that would help me relax. I hadn't found a comfortable position thus far, and was having a lot of trouble mentally and physically committing myself to success. The tub helped a little, but I started having 1 1/2 contractions pretty rapidly. I knew it was time to get someone to watch The Captain and go to the hospital.

The two people who live close to me that I knew I could call in the middle of the night were out of town, so I called someone far away. . . and got a voice mail. Then I called my mom, to freak out of course. Johnny was frantically putting things in the car, and in the 11 minutes we were on the phone, she talked me through 3 or 4 contractions. She also gave me a few ideas of who to call. But after several failed attempts to get dressed, and Johnny's help through a few more contractions, I felt like I'd have to push, and I knew we wouldn't make it.

I threw myself on the pile of pillows on the bed and Johnny gave me a blessing. I told him I had to push. He told me to go ahead, and I wondered how he knew it was okay. I'm sure he didn't, but that was what I needed to hear. First push, my water broke. Third push, she was crowning. Fifth push, she was here, crying and healthy. It was less than 20 minutes after I'd got off the phone with my mom. 1:30 am.

We cleaned up, got some sleep, and went to the hospital later that morning. We had to be there for 48 hours until the blood work on little Joy came back negative for infection. Which it did. She's perfect, and I feel great, too.

Like Father, Like Son

Yes, I'm still here. No baby yet.

I haven't taken many pictures recently, though, but the other night I couldn't help it. Johnny and G were just so cute, and they matched.

G used to love following Johnny around while he was mowing the yard, but recently he's been acting shy around the lawn mower. So I was really surprised to see him faithfully following Daddy while he mowed the back yard.

I tried to capture all the cute walks/runs G was using, but with a camera, it can be tough. Here's the strut

The tiptoe run

and the full sprint

Johnny was lapped a few times, and because G wasn't wearing shoes, he ended becoming The Hulk