Brett & Megan

First off, I want to say that one of the reasons I rarely post is because I don’t know how to do something like this without being extremely personal and frank.  So this is my blanket apology for any post that makes you uncomfortable.

Everyone says they grow so fast, but it seems an eternity ago that I was childless, or pregnant, or in that delivery room.  Just put my baby girl down for the night.  What a privledge…to be able to hold her and play with her and just be with her.  Sometimes when I am done feeding her I prop her up on my lap and we just sit and snuggle for a few.  And sometimes when I’m walking around with her I just smother her little cheek with kisses and I can’t stop and she just lets me.  It’s all just so beautiful and precious.  Yes…it is boring sometimes.  But I will never forget when my dad was dying in the hospital (though I didn’t know it at the time) and I spent so much time there.  I was itching to get a job, being just out of college, but nothing was working out.  And when he died I realized how good it was that I didn’t work because it was just a short special last time I got to be with him. 

And now I have this beautiful little baby.  And sure…I could work and leave her with someone, but I don’t want to.  And not just for her, but for me too.  This is such a special and rare part of my life right now.  She won’t ever remember it…but I will.   It is like the scripture says, “ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.”  So now is a slow, quiet, miraculous time that I am just enjoying for the short while it lasts.  Because whenever we have baby#2….

Thanks to my sugar daddy for bringing home the bacon so we can party all day.  I feel very lucky and blessed.

My where has time gone. It seems like, I dunno, 3 months since I’ve posted to my blog. Hey look at that, it’s been 3 months.

It has been 3 months since our lovely little daughter was born and we’ve started to wonder: What has happened to our lives? Did I even have a life before that? some of my relatives are asking. All that ‘free time’ (whenever that is) has been absorbed by a host of tasks designed to keep this little organism going – changing diapers, feeding, getting her to sleep. Heck, half of my baby time is spent just holding her. We have become adept at passing off the baby just before one of us has to go the bathroom.

Not that I am complaining, mind you. Holding my daughter is my new addiction. I can’t wait to get home just to pick her up and look into those blue, wandering eyes and pretend she is communicating with me. Her favorite spot is the changing table – it’s like magic. We put her on it and she becomes active & alert. Juliet and I do lots of ‘talking’ there. The moment I pick her up, she goes back into ‘the zone’ – staring off at whatever space has absorbed her short attention span.

I loved my life before kids. We were so active and had so much freedom (as evidenced by our many travel posts). Now that we have a child, we’re not as ‘active’ in the same sense, but she has become our new activity. Different pleasures. I love my life with kids, too.

As for Juliet, she couldn’t be better. I think we got spoiled on this one. All looks, very few cries, and generally a good temper. The girl likes to get her diaper changed and can spend at least an hour in the car seat without much fuss. She only occasionally needs the pacifier. I can see why some people stop after one – the next one can only be trouble.

BMHarvey has become BMJ! Juliet Britain Harvey arrived on Friday 9/18 at 2:02pm. She weighs 7lbs. 13oz. and is 21.5″ long. She is really healthy and both her and mom are doing well. We are getting to know each other. So far she has been an amazingly good natured baby.

So here’s how it went: We had an induction appt. for Friday morning at 8am. Thursday night I had Back to School night and then stayed until 10pm to make sub plans for the 3 days I was going to be absent. When I got home, Megan was pacing and breathing. Turns out she had been in labor for a couple hours. She stayed up all night and at 6:30am, we decided it was time to go in. When we arrived at the labor & delivery desk at 7am, the nurses said “You’re an hour early!” By the time the doctor checked her at 9:30am she was 5-6cm. No induction needed they decided. By 10:30am when the anesthesiologist came in to start the epidural she was 8-9cm.

Megan pushed for about 1.5hrs. and did awesome. After the epidural, she felt pressure but no pain. She was totally ready and had all the things she needed. It was a really calm wait. When she finally came out, I have to say it was a strange experience. It was like watching a little purplish white ghost fly out of there. She was quiet because she still had fluid in her respiratory tract which the doctor suctioned out. Pretty soon she was giving out cute little cries. Truly amazing. She was on Megan’s chest for a few minutes until the baby nurse took her to clean her at the incubator in the room. Then she gave her to me and I was floored. I don’t know how to describe it. She was instantly our baby. The nurses remarked that she was really calm – not crying. Looking around the room right away.

Mom was a little dizzy when she got to the maternity ward but is doing great now. Everyone has noticed her big feet & hands. I think we have a tall one on the way. We just got a brainwave hearing test where they put soft sounds into her ear through an earphone. The brain stem responds and sends out brain waves and a device reads these Otoacoustic Emissions on a screen. A good response is a score of 160 and tests can last about 20min. to see higher scores. Juliet (look at me, I’m already bragging) reached 300 in just 35 seconds.The nurse said she was the fastest baby she had ever tested. Basically she’s a genius.

We’ll be out of the hospital tomorrow with Juliet. We are falling more in love with her the more time we spend with her. We took a new family moment in front of the Mac cam below. More photos coming soon. . .

our new addition, Juliet