Daphne Mae, Part One...

Introduction of Miss Daphne Mae

Early morning, March 30th, 2014. After waiting for what seemed like years, THE day had finally come. We were finally going to meet our little Daph.

But first, a little re-cap.

I'd been miserable for months. I openly admit that I am not a pregnancy lover. I love the blessing of it and I love the outcome. Being unable to become pregnant for nearly eight years and experiencing a miscarriage during that period  has made me fully appreciative of the opportunity to carry and eventually raise another child, but I don't love pregnancy. Its a hardship for me. The first trimester left me 17lbs lighter, under any other circumstances, that would have been lovely, but the way I lost those 17lbs was anything but lovely. The whole time I felt so guilty for being grumpy, pukey, exhausted, and inefficient. My poor family...

I had a nice break between 15-22 weeks. I wasn't enormous yet and had mostly gotten over the morning (all day) sickness. I had the opportunity to go and visit my Gran and family in Idaho. Viv and I flew from Portland to stay for Thanksgiving at Gran's house. 

My little friend.

Chasing a toddler through airport security puts olympians to shame. Seriously. She was exhausting. We finally made it in and got to spend the week in Idaho Falls. I got really sick twice that trip, nausea and hard contractions, but thought nothing of it and figured it was the flight. Once we got back home, though, those bouts continued long after the trip. I finally went to the doctor and found out it was pre-term labor. Scary considering I had Clinton at 27 weeks, too. Luckily, it had stopped on its own each time before then, but I had to be put on meds to stop the contractions whenever they got serious after that.

Then it was Holiday time, which was its own whirlwind. It was so fun this year with the kids. It was one of my most favorite Christmases, all levels of belief and wonder...

Before we knew it, February was here and time for Clinton's surgery. We're working to make that an 8 months pregnant tradition. Thankfully, this time no body casts were involved.

Happy on the drive up.

Playroom after a long day in clinic...

Surgery went well. Doc was able to restructure his foot much more than he originally thought, which meant longer healing time (still in wheelchair when baby comes) but, hopefully longer-lasting results. 

Hospital time was chaos. We spent an extra day in recovery, which Viv made as torturous as possible, and got released in time to hit one of the worst freezing rain/snow storms ever.

The drive home was terrifying and pain filled for poor Clinton. We were so grateful pull up into a freshly shoveled driveway at home (thanks, Karen and Pa).

Once surgery was over, the days c-r-a-w-l-e-d by... Clinton was literally itching to get his cast off and I was counting the minutes until I could eat/breathe/sleep again. We all wanted little sissy to love on.

Getting closer...

and closer...

(See Part Two for Daphne's Debut)