The Arrival

Today was supposed to be "Coco's" due date. Statistically, even still, she probably could have been a few days away from arriving. But she's here already and these last two weeks with her have left me thrilled, exhausted, content, in tears and profoundly grateful. Our little one arrived on her own schedule, after a rain front moved in and a few days before the full moon that I thought would bring about labor.

We really thought we had more time. In fact, the weekend our little one arrived is also the weekend we had jam packed with projects ranging from laundry (which my parents gratefully ended up doing the first night we were in the hospital) to a much needed haircut for me (which ended up happening two weeks later) to putting boxes of various electrical cords away (happened a week later) to getting that prenatal massage I had promised myself (still pending) to a birthday party for Josh (oh well, there's always 2010). But, proving that little ones don't care about our plans, she came early and we are thrilled.

 [Sara, as pregnant as she'd ever get, after her water broke and right before heading to the hospital.]

Labor started after a wonderful dinner with Josh on October 30 at Obelisk to celebrate his 37^th birthday. After returning home and falling asleep, my water broke just after midnight and I remember thinking "Is this really happening?" Before telling Josh that I thought our little one would be arriving in shorter order than we had thought, I remember going to the bathroom and taking a moment to take it all in, before telling Josh that we might need to head to the hospital soon.

[Josh, after Sara's water broke.]

Labor proceeded smoothly and sixteen and a half hours later, our little girl was born. Saying her name for the first time was a powerful moment, even if I think I was still in shock after the rigors of labor.

And now we're now firmly in the world of new parenthood. Sometimes I feel like I am just stuck in one giant (if pleasant) cliché. We don't get enough sleep, we are absolutely charmed by our little one, we keep saying "She's so cute", we worry needlessly if she is eating enough, we take a lot of photos of our sleeping girl, we talk a lot about diapers and we pretty much walk around with a happy if slightly dazed look. The new "normal" of sleep has been an adjustment, but  because the last weeks of pregnancy kept me up late and often, it has been reasonably acceptable.

She's only been with us two weeks, but she's already happily turned our world upside down. I've casually described this new life as one "where Tuesday night and Saturday night look basically the same".

So, where do we go from here? I guess we'll see. I have already learned that I can function well on much less sleep than I ever imagined. I can only guess what her lessons will be for me next week.

Off to spend another two hours just watching her sleep,

sPg