And Then There Were Eight

Last week, we welcomed a new life into our family. A new little personality which made us a family of eight.

Our daughter, Nora Jane was born on Thursday, December 28th at 11:30 am.

She was 40 weeks and 6 days, and quite cozy. I was induced starting at 6:30am, and things picked up quickly from there. My body only needed a gentle push to start things up. Five hours later, she was born. It was an experience unlike any of our five older children, I felt as if her body and mine were working together to get her here.

Despite the health issues I had gone through during the pregnancy, she was perfectly healthy. Her skin was a rosy pink hue, her cry was loud, and she started to root around within an hour after she was born. My recovery went well too, I was able to come home just over 24 hours later.

We took these pictures a few hours before leaving the hospital, I cried when seeing them. She brings a light to our lives I didn’t know was missing and I’m so happy she joined our family. Baby number six, how amazing and wonderful is that?

These past few days have been great. Our kids are home on Christmas break and Doug’s been off of work. It’s been wonderful, filled with Mario Kart, playing with new Christmas toys, rewatching Christmas movies, and playing many games of Monopoly (my husband included). Having her during break has allowed us take a step back from the world and get used to our new normal together.

Nora and I have been hanging out in our recently finished bedroom – eating and sleeping, then eating and sleeping some more. :) The kids have been helping to bring up meals, water, or anything I need, each peeking in for their own one-on-one time with Nora and asking “is she awake yet?”

With other postpartum recoveries, I was eager to jump into normal activity and daily life. (And I look back and think “what was I doing?! ‘Slow down, girl!'”) This time around I’m doing nothing, and focusing on this little baby. Lots of skin-to-skin, looking at her while I’m nursing, holding her while she sleeps, soaking it ALL in.

Just before we were expecting, we knew we were on the cusp of big changes in our life – uprooting our current life as we knew it with the move. We found out she would be joining us, and things spiraled into motion.

Just before having her, it was like we finally came up for air. We had moved, completed a large number of renovations spanning 4 months, and were starting to feel settled in our new home. And then she was here.

2017 was a jam packed, intense year but it ended in the best way possible. With our sweet Nora. :)