New little sweetie

IMG_0367, originally uploaded by salutor.

Our sweet little girl finally decided to make her grand entrance! She was born at 1:11 pm on Monday, December 3rd, six days after her due date.

Labor took 9 hours and was made weird and fitful by the baby not dropping til the midwife broke my bag of water and I was totally dilated. Then toward the end she got stuck crowning, which felt just as awful as it sounds. After a gigantic push, the stuck half of her head, the rest of her, and a deluge of amniotic fluid, blood, and poop--the baby's, not mine--came out all at once. It wasn't pretty, but she got born!

Turns out that she weighed a chunky 9 pounds 7 ounces and had a 14 1/4-inch head circumference. Also, her shoulder was sorta torqued sideways which the midwife said was probably why labor progressed which such strange timing and why she was so hard to push out. I would definitely say this was my hardest birth, but she was my biggest baby so it's maybe not so surprising.

Things have been fairly relaxed around here today. Sister is at school, and my mother came to pick up Bean for the day. I've had a shower and found something that both fits and that I can nurse in, both of which seem like minor triumphs all on their own. Husband has been so solicitous and sweet and has said all manner of complimentary things about my labor. Our new little one is nursing beautifully, and I get the distinct feeling that she's happy she's here.

It's so nice to have another baby girl in the family!