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.

Picture

Lydia, Mommy and Daddy in front of the Christmas Tree. 40 weeks and counting.

Hello, again!

40 weeks and 2 days...and counting....and counting...and counting!

Lydia is not here yet ladies and gentlemen. This is truly why they call it an "estimated due date" I suppose! Alex and I got very excited a few weeks ago. We were sure she would come earlier than expected and surprise us all! Our midwife has told us from the beginning two things- 1)She is a girl, and girls like to go until 41 weeks (but surely not OUR little girl!) 2) This is our first baby, and first babies usually go an average of 41 weeks and 2 days (but surely not OUR first baby!). Maybe we should have listened... :) I can almost hear Lydia now..."Patience, Mommy and Daddy, patience"!

Movin' and Groovin'

Alex and I saw Lydia move for the first time yesterday! She was really flipping and kicking for a good majority of the day and into the night last night :). That was so fun for us to see! We've been able to feel her for a long time, but this time we could actually see her changing the shape of my belly, pushing out on spots, and rolling around! We try playing with her at least once every day...She is not yet pushing right back when we squish/push/squeeze/love on her, but I know she can feel us. She does kick/move around a lot when Alex and I are talking about certain things. I think it's her early way of putting her two cents in...stating her opinions from the get-go...a true Burkett after all ;).

The Name

Alex and I have decided on Lydia Louise Rossow for her name. Lydia was a woman in the Bible who showed great trust, faith and servanthood to God. She was a "dealer of the purple cloth" which meant she was probably a wealthy business woman since purple cloth denoted royalty and was very expensive. She was later (and more importantly) better known for her servanthood and hospitality, allowing Paul and many other followers of Christ to stay in her home. Read more about Lydia here... http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40534.asp. Louise is my mom's middle name...another woman of faith whose values we can only hope filter down to our Lydia. Louise was given to my mom after one of my grandmother's best friends, Billye Louise Tooman.

It's a Girl!

Thursday we discovered that our new little addition will be a baby girl! We are so excited to be able to talk to her and be able to have a tiny glimpse at what she looks like. I had no idea how amazing it was going to be to see her for the first time. She moved around quite a bit; kicking, sucking her thumb and even sucking on her big toe! It is amazing the amount of information they can tell this early at only 20 weeks! We saw her kidneys, bladder, brain, no visible cleft in the lip (always important for the SLP momma) and no visible spine defects. We really wanted a good shot at the spine since we refused the "Triple Screen" test that checks for chromosomal abnormalities as well as spina bifida. At first she was turned to where we couldn't see the spine very well, but after I asked the technician if we could get a better look, she flipped right over to show us her perfect little spinal column! She is measuring at about 3/4 of a pound and they said she has very long arms. My camera is extremely low on batteries, but I attempted to take pictures of the ultrasound pictures until we can get better copies scanned.

The first picture is of her sucking on her toe :), the second is her feet, the third is her profile again but sucking her thumb.