Enter June

So, here I am in early labor:

Sweet, naive girl. Smiling away. Snapping pictures. I realized I hadn't really taken any belly pictures, so I figured I better get one before the belly was gone. Of course, I'm still holding on to a goodly portion of the belly. So much fun. :)

Now, here I am about 18 hours later. Nice hair, right? Well the little bundle in my arms is pretty cute anyway.

June Charlotte Middleton was born at 1:42 a.m. on Sunday August 29. She weighed eight pounds even and was 20 and a half inches long. As some of you know, we decided to have our baby girl at home. It was a great experience.

I was in pre/early labor for most of the day Saturday. By the late afternoon we were feeling pretty sure that we would have a little girl with us by the next day. My mom came and picked Theo up around 7 or 8, and Gabe and I went for a walk. The weather was unseasonably cool, and it was really nice to get out for a bit. I was having contractions about every five or six minutes at this point. We would have to stop walking when I had a contraction, and Gabe would push on my back. I am sure we would have been quite a sight. By about 10:30, I was getting pretty serious. We called the midwife, and she and her assistant came over.

I really liked being able to move around and try different positions during labor. I found the bath to be really helpful and spent most of the last few hours in the tub, which is where June was born. The pushing stage came quickly and it was such a crazy experience. With Theo, I had an epidural and couldn't feel anything. Everyone says that your body knows when to push, and it is such a strong urge that it is difficult to control. I really didn't believe that, but oh man. It only took about seven contractions to get her out. Gabe caught her and cut the cord.

Giving birth without any drugs was not easy, but I am glad that I did it. It hurt a lot, but I liked that I could feel what was happening. I think that being at home gave me much more freedom to find comfort, and it was so nice to be able to recover at home.

June is doing really well. She pretty much wants to eat all the time. If she is not sleeping, she thinks she should be eating. We have an appointment today so we will see how she is doing weight-wise. She makes grumpy old man faces all the time that make us laugh.

Theo seems to be doing pretty good. We were pretty worried about him adjusting, but so far nothing too dramatic. For the first few days he pretty much ignored her, but he has grown more interested in the past couple days. Today is Gabe's first day back at work, so we will see how it goes. Too bad he doesn't get a month of paid paternity leave. :)

Love my kids. :)