Welcome Clover!

Our little baby girl finally decided to join us last Thursday night (has it already been almost a week? Wow!) and we couldn't be more excited, relieved  and happy.

Everything about this pregnancy, labor, and delivery has been so different than it was with my first. I hear it all the time but this really went to show me that every pregnancy is different and you never know what to expect. My water broke Thursday evening while I was at my parents house and they were able to drive me to the hospital straight away. I called Eric and he met us in the waiting room and I was admitted shortly after that. Even though my water had broken my contractions weren't really strong or regular yet so the doctor wanted to put me on pitocin right away to get things going. My nurse was very pro natural birth though and fought him off as long as she could. When we finally did start pitocin we did a very low dose but it definitely started to speed things up and after about only 30 minutes of painful contractions Clover was born. From the time my water broke to the time she was born the whole thing took only 5 and a half hours so while it hurt like crazy towards the end at least it was very quick!

Emotionally everything has been much easier for me this time around. I'm not sure if it's just that there is so much less of a learning curve with a second child or if my hormones are just less crazy but overall I am feeling really happy and level. My only weepy moments tend to come from watching Echo and Clover together, it's so sweet I feel like I'm going to bust!

In spite of my worries that Echo might feel displaced or jealous of the new baby she has been absolutely wonderful. She love Clover so much and gives her constant kisses and pats. She also loves to help with diaper changes and bringing blankets to Clover. All those months of practicing on her baby dolls has really paid off, Echo is all about her little sister!

So now we are all just figuring out our new rhythm as a family of four and settling in to a new routine. I honestly feel like I've never been happier, I am so in love with my little girls and looking forward to many years of fun together. I'll try to post some more pictures on here soon so stay tuned!