I used to think pregnancy would feel miraculous for 9 months, full of wonder and gentle kicks that remind you of the tiny beautiful life growing inside of you. Turns out, I am not one of those pregnant people. The only thing that made me sad at all about closing the pregnancy chapter of my life was leaving behind some of the maternity clothes I had grown to love.
On Friday, when Aphia was 4 days old, I told Jon that I actually felt better than I had just 1 week ago; I had more energy and less pain and discomfort than I had during pregnancy and I was only a few days into recovery. This is a far cry from my post-partum pitiful self after the boys and their huge heads entered the world. Although Aphia's head is 76%, she was so much kinder to me upon entry, this is surely a sign of how delightful she will always be to me throughout her life, right?
I do love newborns! If I could just get an epidural for pregnancy and the first few weeks of nursing, we'd probably want a dozen babies. Because epidurals are truly as wonderful as people told me...
I thought everyone was out of their minds when they talked about enjoying labor and delivery, there could not be drugs that powerful. But, there are. Because we had no desire to repeat Isaiah's birth and the ensuing 4th degree tear, or the terror of Paul's dramatic delivery, we opted to plan Phia's arrival as much as God would allow.
On the morning of February 24th, 2020, her cousin Ava's birthday, 1 month before my 40th birthday, and 1 day before her due date, we went in to the hospital to start induction. (Of course, we had gone to Bonefish for some Bang Bang Shrimp the night before, because we must keep everything fair and equal for all the kids.) After the Pitocin, the contractions weren't terrible at all for the first few hours, so Jon and the nurses actually had to convince me that they would get worse and that I'd been asking for an epidural the whole pregnancy, so I'd probably regret turning back now. Once they placed the epidural my legs started to go numb, but I could still feel the contractions. The nurses and even doctor felt horrible about this, but I was actually kind of glad because it reassured me that yes the pressure was going to turn to pain and it made me grateful for the easy access to my epidural site when the anesthetist came to give me a second drug which took care of the pain right before pushing. I was also grateful for the drugs when both my fabulous doctor and then the nursing team were otherwise occupied for about an hour after I was 10cm dilated and ready to push. Without the pain control I surely would have had the hospitalist deliver another of my kiddos. Although we didn't have an official birth plan, having the OBGYN, that I had bribed with homemade chocolate chip cookies to take me on as a patient, deliver our baby was at the top of our priority list.
Once the epidural was effective, I must admit, the whole birthing process was basically fun. There were multiple times when I asked if those were my legs as I saw them being moved or brushed past them with my hand. It was all as surreal as the peaceful look on my face in the picture below, seconds after an 8 pound human made her way out of me.
We are still getting to know this 8 pound darling, as she spends much of her time sleeping. But we will not be fooled, Paul was a sleepy infant as well and now, of course, he is a wild man. Being a huge fan of the author Bob Goff, I can't help but call her Sweet Aphia as he always refers to his wife as Sweet Maria. Whether she turns out to be sweet or feisty, we are thrilled to have front row seats to watch as God's plan for Aphia's personality and life unfold in front of us.
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| Although we had hoped to have Aphia join our family a year earlier, I see now that God knew what He was doing as Paul can barely be contained around her now, I can only imagine how hard "gentle" would have been for him a year ago. |
"I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers," -Philemon 1:4
