Chloe's 1st Angelversary

Oh, what a roller-coaster of hormonal emotions - to hit Chloe's one-year angelversary as I hold a 10-day-old Darcy. Just surreal. And bitter-sweet. We released balloons to Chloe and had a cake in her honour.

my matching nursing pajamas and baby clothes - loving the bonding with D

but never forgetting my C for a second

thank you Aunty Natalie xxx

First Few Days at Home

My third, and last, maternity leave. Very different this time because I didn't have a looming deadline of going back to work all-too-soon, like I did with Abigail and Bryony. No 6-week-old daycare for Darcy!

it is tradition in our house that daddy does first bath

we ended our first weekend with baths and clean pajamas for each girl and my heart sung

maternity leave is taxing on Jake ;)

Darcy's Birth

First off, some pictures from the day before she was born - me at my biggest! Valentines Day:

Now, the story of her birth:

We were finishing dinner at 8pm when I felt a cramp and then another one. By 8:30pm, Abigail settled down to watch a Star Wars movie and I said to Jake "Can you help me knock out this dishwasher, in case this is really it?" Everybody is still laughing that I cared about the dinner dishes that night. It very quickly ramped up and I was nervous to waste time given (1) my history of fast labours and (2) my anxiety surrounding the birth this time, post-Chloe.

By 9:15pm, we had dropped Abigail and Bryony off to spend the night at Jenn and Joe's. Abigail was anxious and worried about me but I reminded her that everything was OK, and that it was going exactly how we had planned for, it's just that she was thrown off with all the rushing around I think. By 9:30pm I was telling Jake to drive faster down Shea Blvd because I knew this was it. I called Dr. Harris who said she would call and warn them I was coming, and that she'd meet us there.

In true Madonna baby fashion, by 11:05pm our beautiful shining rainbow was born. She gave us some scares in the early hours with some difficulty breathing and my anxiety and panic soared. But by morning, we were given the all-clear that our rainbow was perfectly healthy. The relief was incredible. Welcome to our family baby Darcy - how loved you are already!

first picture - just minutes after birth

boy, were these guys excited to meet baby!

time to take her home!

Darcy is the only one of her grandchildren that Nanna did not personally welcome to the family by being at the birth. So, she quickly gathered her friends - a group known now as The Golden Girls - and they had champagne to toast and celebrate Miss Darcy :)