Finally here!

I can't believe it's been a week since we welcomed our little lady into the world. This first week has been a mixture of amazement, love, exhaustion, frustration, lots of learning, and a lot of mesmerized staring at this beautiful baby that we get to call our own.

The mind does play funny tricks on you - I'm already forgetting the painful parts of labor and pregnancy. I couldn't have done it without Sean and our doula, Lisa - they were so amazing throughout the 20 hours that I labored, helping me through each contraction and encouraging me when I was tired and sick (I couldn't keep any fluids or food down the whole time). At hour 15, I decided to get an epidural, which made me feel so much better, and helped with the nausea. I did end up getting a fever from the epidural, and had to get antibiotics in case the fever was a result of an infection. This meant that V had to get antibiotics once she was born, too, and she ended up having to stay in the NICU because the regular special care nursery that they would normally keep her in to monitor her was too full. We were disappointed not to be able to keep her in our hospital room for the first few days, but visited her in the NICU every three hours to feed her and hang out for a bit. Honestly, after seeing all those tiny, fragile babies in the NICU, it was hard not to feel grateful for our very healthy baby, even if her first few days weren't what we imagined them to be.

V is a lovely, chill baby so far - she mostly just sleeps, poops and eats, and cries very little. My favorite time with her is when we wake her up to feed her - she goes through a whole stretching routine and makes the funniest faces while doing so. It's still kind of crazy to think that we are parents - I wonder how long it is before the surprise wears off, until this new phase feels like a natural part of our lives?