Caroline Camellia

So after 36 hours of hard labor -no joke- Thirty.Six.Hours. That's what I get for insisting on a VBAC. I'll be honest and admit that at one point I told the nurse, "screw it, let's just do a c-section." BUT! I said that because, 1: I had been in labor for a really long time. and 2: Because the best doctor ever was going to be leaving soon and the doctor from hell was going to be replacing him and I'd be damned if that woman had anything to do with the arrival of my child. Seriously, she was evil. She yelled at me, I yelled at her, nurses yelled. It was a super pleasant birthing experience. But thankfully, after hearing the story from one of our nurses the best doctor ever agreed to stay late and deliver our baby no matter what. See what I mean? Best doctor ever! If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have gotten the VBAC I was hoping for. Anyway...don't I look wonderful? This picture was taken around hour 32 or so.

Our tiny girl is here! The nurse's first words upon her arrival were, "wow she has a lot of hair on her lower back! Luckily it's blonde!" How lovely. Also, it's not blonde, it's brown. Here's hoping it falls out!!!

And by "tiny girl" I mean, huge girl. I guess the Mr and I only make one type of baby. Slightly smaller than her brother, Caroline weighed in at 9 lbs 3 ounces and 22 and a half inches long. The longest baby our nurse had ever measured. We heard someone exclaim from the hallway, "that's almost two feet long!" Yep, that's our baby.

At first her face was quite swollen, and she looked identical to Jonas when he was born.

But now that she has recovered from being born she's starting to look like her own little person. Though she still looks a lot like Jonas...and just like my little sister Kellie, when she makes her grumpy face.

She, not unlike Jonas, skipped the newborn phase and went straight to 3 month old. So many cute little newborn outfits went completely to waste. Here she is in her 3-6 month clothes.

Jonas absolutely loves her! While riding up in the elevator to see her in the hospital he said to Greg, "I think she will be sooo sweet." He was right. When she cries he's quick to respond by patting her and saying, "Oh you poor little baby." Who knows where he got that one. Another phrase he uses at least daily is, "look at how tiny her little booty is!" So complimentary.

Now we're all just relaxing at home. Enjoying the Mr's paternity leave and eating my weight in food every day. Because guess what? I CAN EAT AGAIN! and it is glorious. Jonas asks me every day when I will be skinny again. The other night at dinner he announced excitedly, "you're skinny now mom!" Then amended his statement to, "well not that part (motioning towards my stomach) but your feet are skinny...just your feet...and your toes." I'll take what I can get.

The nurses and everyone involved in Caroline's arrival were WONDERFUL!!! With the exception of Satan Doctor, mentioned earlier. Caroline's full name is Caroline Camellia. Camellia like the flower. Her middle name was decided on in the hospital at the last minute, but after two weeks (yeah did I mention she's two weeks old already?!) I still like the name so it worked out. She had her two week appointment yesterday and has exceeded her birthweight by 9 ounces so she's well on her way to being a chunk like her brother was. Better start building up the arm muscle!

P.S. Remember how I thought I'd have tons of energy and time to do things after the baby arrived? Well I wasn't completely crazy. Jonas and I planted a late summer garden earlier this week!!! Hooray!!! Now if the tomatoes could just ripen before it gets too cold.