I'll just have to skip right over Christmas pictures but, needless to say, Christmas was so much fun with Kira this year. She LOVED it all and it was so much fun to watch her excitement.
Here's a short little story of our baby's birth and pictures of this beautiful thing: Friday, Jan. 5th was my due date and still NO BABY! Terry and I were in major disbelief and exhausted from the constant thought of when she would arrive. I was having contractions and by Saturday they felt regular enough that we decided to head to Jefferson City and wait for them to kick in there. All day Saturday and Sunday I had contractions that would get regular for about an hour or so and then space out again. It was crazy. She was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday the 9th but I was really hoping to avoid that and just start it all naturally.
Early Monday morning, Jan. 8th I awoke around 2 a.m. to contractions that felt more serious and substantial. Finally!!! Around 4 a.m. the pain moved from my back and upper abdomen to my lower belly. I remembered this stage from Kira and I remembered that it hurt like hell and it's what made me want to get an epidural. So, with that thought in mind I was ready to go to the hospital. I went in to wake up Terry. He said "ok" and then turned over and went to sleep. I thought "Hmmm, perhaps I didn't put enough emphasis on the fact that I am truly ready to go and the contractions hurt". I gave him about 10 minutes to wake up on his own but he was sleeping soundly. So I went in again, turned on the light, and said "yeah, they are really painful and I will be ready to leave in 5 minutes". He sits up and says "I'm nervous now" then turns over and GOES BACK TO SLEEP AGAIN!!!! I was partly shocked but also partly amused. After giving him some time again to wake up on his own and seeing that wasn't going to happen I had to wake him up a third time. This time it worked and after 10 minutes we were ready to go. Mom kept Kira at home. They were both awake by this point too and Kira was very excited for us to go get her baby sister.
They checked me in and got me set up at the hospital. The nurse checked me and told me I was 3.5 cm dialated - only 1/2 a cm. from last Thursday despite my whole weekend of contractions. Terry laughed when I said to the nurse "You have got to be kidding me". I figured after that weekend I would be much farther along. I feared a long day of labor. I didn't want to be exhausted and delirious when she was born.
Turns out I had nothing to worry about. Things seemed to happen very quickly. The epidural person was not going to be able to visit me for a while and they wanted to see how I would progress for a while first. So I had some Stadol which felt VERY nice. That only lasted about 1/2 hour and once that wore off I was in serious P - A - I - N. I hated it and was getting very angry. Everyone kept saying things to me that would irritate me so much and make me so mad. Good thing I couldn't speak so instead I just thought about how much I hated everything right then. Finally, they got an epidural person to me. It sucks trying to hold completely still while having contractions. I was near tears and really feeling afraid. While I am arching my back getting an epidural I hear Terry ask where a bathroom is. I couldn't believe he was going to the bathroom at a time like this. I look at him and he was paper-white and obviously ready to either pass out or hurl. The nurse got him a chair and he spent the next 5 minutes bent over trying to feel better.
Once Terry and I were both feeling better things happened so quickly. They said I was ready to push although I couldn't tell that at all. After 4 short rounds of pushing our baby girl was born at 9:42 a.m.!
She was and is so beautiful! We named her Maya Sabri. We both kept commenting on how big and healthy she looked. Very different from our experience with Kira. It felt so good to see a strong, healthy baby and to hold her in my arms rather than have her whisked away. She has a full head of dark hair and is already so alert and responsive to our voices. We had decided that we would use the middle name of Sabri which is my sister's middle name. The cool thing is that she was born on Thara's birthday too. So they share the same middle name and the same birth day! I can't think of anyone else I would rather her share those things with.
We spent one night in the hospital and checked out the next day since she and I were doing so great. We're at home now and things are amazing. I LOVE holding a newborn again. She is so sweet and soft. I am enjoying all her little grunts, squeaks, and sighs. It feels good to be much more relaxed this time around. I don't care what the rule books say - I am doing what feels right for us. She sleeps with us at night because I feel that's more safe for her and I like it. I like kissing her head throughout the night and feeling her tuck in to me. I am enjoying every minute, knowing this will be our last baby.
Kira is loving being a big sister and she is so wonderful with Maya. She loves to hold her and is very careful with her. She will give her hugs and kisses spontaneously. She comes to get me when Maya is waking up or starting to fuss. She wants to match what Maya is wearing so if I dress Maya in pink I have to be sure to have a pink outfit ready for Kira. The other night I had to dig out Kira's dirty purple jammies because Maya was wearing purple jammies. It is so much fun to watch Kira in a role she has been waiting for and is obviously so happy about. When Kira met her for the first time in the hospital she was sitting on my lap and helping hold Maya. Kira just kept laughing and looking at me and laughing. She had tears in her eyes. I thought at first she was getting overwhelmed or kind of nervous but it was nothing but pure happiness. It was the coolest thing to see. I have never seen that type of reaction from Kira before.
Well - I could go on and on (more than I already have). We are having icy weather this weekend. Terry is out all weekend taking care of restoring power to everyone's homes. So it's just "the girls" and I. I can't drive yet and don't want to take Maya out in the cold so we have been home for the past 4 days. I am feeling slightly stir-crazy but also I am just enjoying having plenty of time to spend with both Kira and Maya to make all of our transitions easier. Terry and I feel very blessed and so thankful for our healthy family. We both feel like life is perfectly wonderful right now.
