Birthday!

I'm terrible and realize that I saved this as a draft and never posted it...so sorry!

Lydia Louise Rossow arrived on Sunday 12/20/09 at 5:54 pm. She weighed in at 9lbs 2 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. Our home waterbirth went perfectly...she's a strong baby and a true miracle (more on that later...). We had a full house for the birth. My mom, Dale, Dad, Brenda, Ninny, Brett, Carol and Abbey (along with new puppy Daisy) were all able to meet Lydia within a few minutes of her arrival. Aunt Robbi and Uncle Nick had been in from Texas, but left just hours before her birth.

Lydia was beautiful and wide awake from the get go. Alex and I spent the first few minutes just starring at her, and she starred right back. She looked right into our eyes, grabbed onto my hand with one hand and reached out for Alex's hand with the other. She finally got to see those crazy people that have been poking her and talking to her for the last 10 months! And we got to see the beautiful lady that has been kicking, dancing and rolling around inside of me for so long!

Lydia had what Suzanne (our amazing midwife) called a "true knot" in her umbilical cord. Sometime early on in the pregnancy she flipped herself around just enough to tie a knot in her cord. This could have been a problem (major...life-threatening problem) had certain interventions taken place (inductions, breaking of waters, etc). Since she labored for a very long time (trust me, it was long!) and my water did not break until just an hour or so before she was born, the cord was able to gradually stretch out without any damage. A true knot is uncommon, and no signs are visible before birth. Therefore, any of the routine interventions to speed up the process would have been bad....VERY bad. Alex and I knew we were led to the decision of a homebirth for many reasons, but we had no idea at the time how very, very important that decision would be for the safety of our precious girl. Needless to say, thank you just doesn't quite seem enough for our skilled team of midwives, Suzanne, Sarah and Lisa. Thank you for all that you do in teaching empowerment, patience and trust in just how uncomplicated childbirth can be if we allow God's perfect design to work as intended.

Lydia, Suzanne and Sarah at 2-day follow-up.