Photoshoot!

Today, we had a photographer, Jennifer Burns, come to the house to take Lily's newborn pictures. We got lots of interesting shots and I think they will turn out well. Lily was pretty patient with us posing her and making her wear a cloth diaper. She's a cover girl in the making!

More visitors!

The generosity keeps coming! We continue to have wonderful visits from neighbors and friends too!

Seattle (and DC) friends Kym and Aaron brought over a wonderful dinner and their two-year old son, Lucas, on Tuesday, and were generous to leave even more of the great lasagne for our rapidly overflowing freezer. Lucas loved seeing the "baby baby."

Paternity Leave is the Greatest!

I am so happy that Ethan is taking two weeks off for paternity leave. It's nice to have an extra set of hands for taking care of Lily and I love that Ethan is getting to bond even more with his daughter during her first days of life. She loves him already. And of course, she has him wrapped around her little finger!

A Trip to the Pediatrician

Lily made her first visit to the pediatrician on Thursday. She had lost a bit more weight, post-birth, than they typically like, so we took her in to visit the doctor. She was 6 lbs, 9 oz.

Today, we took her back for a follow-up and all of her eating the past few days has paid off--she weighs a healthy 7 lbs, 1.2 oz. You can't tell from this picture, as she looks TINY compared to Dixon's head, but she really is on the upswing in the weight and size department.

A Visit from Cathy

Tonight our dear friend Cathy brought us a delicious dinner. It was the perfect way to spend our second night home. She also wanted to get her hands on Lily Bean-and who wouldn't?

As you can see, Lily is very shy and afraid of strangers. Just kidding-she immediately fell asleep while being held by her new friend, Cathy.

Meet Aunt Michaela & Uncle Luke

Tonight, Ethan's brother, Luke, and his wife, Michaela, brought us dinner - but it was merely an excuse to get their hands on Lily! They were very enamored with Miss Lily and she with them. She can't wait to get to know her Aunt and Uncle much better!

Heading Home!

Lily and I got discharged today. Hooray! We put her in her carseat, which looks like it's big enough to swallow her, and she started to cry. Like most babies, after about 2 minutes in the car, she fell asleep. Ahhhh.

We were excited to bring her home and introduce her to our other two babies, Dixon and Leo. This picture pretty much sums up Dixon's thoughts on Lily.

He pretty much runs away any time she's near. I'm sure he'll warm to her to longer she's here. Just wait until she's older and starts dropping food on the floor. He'll LOVE her then!

We are enjoying our first day at home as a family!

Lily's Birth Story

As much as I hoped the stork would drop a baby on our doorstep, it turned out that I had to actually GIVE BIRTH to this baby. Here’s the story of her birth:

I woke up at 2:25 a.m. on Sunday, October 19, with mild contractions. Around 4:30 a.m., I woke up Ethan and we just laid in bed trying to get back to sleep. I never really slept, I think because of the excitement of possible being in labor. Having never been in labor, I wasn’t sure if it was the real thing.

On Sunday, my contractions continued to get stronger but were still manageable. We had brunch plans at 1:00 with Carrie Albee and decided to go. It was better than sitting around the house waiting for the next contraction to hit. I had to grab Ethan’s hand under the table to get through them, but otherwise, it was brunch as usual.

Once we got home, the contractions were coming harder but not to the point where I couldn't talk. I wanted to be up moving around, so we went outside and washed the car. I would periodically have to run into the backyard when a contraction hit because I did not want to be doubled over in my front yard.

By 10 p.m., the contractions hit the magic number - every 5 minutes for at least 60 seconds. I called my midwife and she told me to come on in to the hospital. One thing I was not expecting was how incredibly painful it would be to go over speed bumps, manhole covers, potholes, etc. on the way there. I just about jumped through the roof when Ethan hit one!

We got to the Alexandria hospital around 10:30 p.m. and I slowly got checked in. The midwife told me I was ZERO cm dilated. I almost cried. I assumed after having contractions for 20 hours, I would have made SOME progress.

The midwife recommended a small dose of morphine because I was so tense that it was causing me not to dilate. I had not planned to get morphine but decided if I ever wanted to start dilating and not get pitocin, I had better do so. I was hooked up to the morphine from midnight until 4:30 a.m. Note: low-dose morphine, while relaxing, does NOT numb the pain. I would fall asleep for 4 minutes then wake up for a painful contraction. This went on for 4 hours! When I woke up, I would also be talking complete gibberish from the previous sleep's dream. Just ask Ethan.

Finally, they checked me at 4:30 a.m. and I was 7 cm dilated. I asked for the epidural at that point. It was great—I couldn’t feel a thing. They let me continue to labor with the plan to start pushing at 8 a.m. Ethan and I took a nap and were awakened at 9 in the morning.

At this point, the midwife broke my water. Then they let me labor down a bit longer. At 9:45 a.m., I started pushing. Lily Kathleen was born at 11:28a.m. on October 20--her due date!

The staff at Inova Alexandria was very nice. Of course, since it’s a hospital, someone was coming in my door at all hours. On Tuesday morning, the nurse came in my room at 5:30 a.m. to draw blood and it was a revolving door after that.

Lily is wonderful and I’d do it all over again in a second!

Welcome to the World, Little One!

Lily Kathleen Ackerman was born today! She is punctual just like her mom--today was her due date. She weighs in at 7 lbs, 7 oz and is 21 inches long. She has a head of dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. She is just perfect and we already love her so much! Welcome to the world, Lily!