“joy-baby…”

little big sister gracie has taken to calling her new younger sister “joy-baby” rather than our usual, “baby—.”  so “hi joy-baby” it is!mommie hasn’t been able to put the camera down ever since bj has arrived!  (who says we won’t have any pictures of the younger kids?)  here she is, home at last & just a few days old…

here we are november 30th, the day before baby joy’s birthday, with her still safe and wriggling around in my tummie!  just doing the usual… picking up the kids from school and heading to papa’s championship football game.  (more on this later).  little did we all know that it would be only a matter of hours before baby joy would arrive…

bj just couldn’t wait to join in all the fun so she decided she would bless us with her presence 3 weeks early!  her birth wasn’t quite as dramatic as our last one (mommie had a placental abruption with bg), so no 911 calls or ambulances this time!  we just barely avoided the same situation from happening again and were able to rush to the hospital thanks to papa being home.  (and one uncle joe who sped over to take care of our other 3 pups)!

everything happened so quickly, it only took about an hour and a half from the time we entered the hospital to “here’s baby!”  originally, we had planned to deliver naturally, but since they had to get her out asap, we had to do a repeat c-section.  this time, it was somewhat “planned” so we had time to get dressed for the occasion!

here’s papa ready to go into some sort of de-contamination room…and here i am just before going under the knife (i always wanted to say that)...btw could these gowns be any uglier!?  they really ought to provide already icky-feeling & swollen mommies who have just given birth with a decent pattern in order to take the classic hospital photo with their newborn baby.

okay i’m ready!  let’s do this!

**(on a totally non-reltated side note… do you like my new specs?  i even wore them while i was under the knife.  i’ve been meaning to show them off here because i LOVE them!  the moment i saw them, the skies opened up and bright rays beamed down upon them from above.  i especially love them because they are BIG, RED, and BIG.  and RED.  i still like my other red glasses, but i had them for over 10 years and it was time for a change).

 

okay, back to the story…papa got to see bits of the procedure so he got to see my insides!  it’s amazing just how quickly they can get a baby out of you!  because of fluid in her lungs & a small heart murmur, baby joy was taken to the nicu, but thankfully she was all clear a few days later!

i saved all of my hospital snacks so we had ourselves a little party in our room when bj’s big brother & sisters came to visit!

little hands & little feet…

  

after 4 days we finally get to go home!  mommie actually rather enjoyed her days at the hospital this time…sweet nurses ready to help at a moments notice, hot & cold beverages & snacks available in the kitchen 24-7, and also b/c she discovered something called “night owl service!”  hoot!  hoooot!  (that’s supposed to be an owl).  basically, it’s room service for after-hours and perfect for nursing mommies!  cheese quesadillas? turkey & chez? pb& j and popcicles!  oh yeeeah…

bj’s first car ride…she was so little her head kept bobbing around & i had to sit in the back just to make sure she didn’t fly out of her car seat!

our sweet miracle baby…we are so glad you’re here joy-baby!!

here’s to the new year!  xo