Friday, July 13, 2018

Introducing... Hazel Sofia Richards!

And just like that - we are now a family of five!

After a very (very) long wait, I can finally now proudly announce that we have an official fifth member of the Richards/Simmonds clan: (drumroll, please...)

Hazel Sofia Richards.

Freshly born
Though it has a relatively ridiculous amount of pictures, this blog post is really just a short chronicle of the first three days of our life as a family of five.  Part of me was tempted to offer a full-blown account of more salient details of the labour and delivery, but I decided in the end that if anyone is interested in those, you should drop me a line... or better yet, come for a visit!

In a nutshell, however:

- My water broke almost at the drop of midnight on July 10th (12 days overdue, for anyone keeping track). Contractions started pretty much immediately thereafter.

- We had planned and prepared for a home birth, and I was super excited to finally have the opportunity (both Juniper and Linden could have been home births, but the midwifery program had not been completely sorted either time, and home births therefore weren't offered).  When my water broke, however, it was full of meconium, which suddenly turned the delivery into a necessary hospital birth. 

- The labour lasted almost exactly 14 hours.  Hazel was born at 2:01 pm, July 10th.

- Stats: 
Weight: 8 lbs 14oz
Length: 22 inches 

This puts her right in the middle of Juniper (8lbs 2oz) and Linden (9lbs 10oz).  I clearly brew large babies!

- The birth was attended by two of the midwives on my team - first Kelly, and then Katharine; by a fabulous nurse; by Zsofi (my honorary doula, who was also there for Juniper's birth); and of course by Clark.  At the very end, it was also attended by a whole team of specialists, who were there to help guide Hazel and her stuck shoulder out as efficiently as possible (and also to make sure the meconium had had no adverse effects).  It was a zoo!

- Everyone was healthy and happy post-birth, and we were able to go home that evening, which was awesome. Hazel is incredibly strong (she has ridiculous neck control already), is a champion nurser, and is super chill for the most part. Not so much at night, unfortunately, but that will all change in time.  The kids think she's awesome, and are full of kisses and love and songs. 


And that's it!  I'll divide the pictures into days, with a bit of commentary here and there.  Otherwise, prepare yourselves for a LARGE number of (ridiculously cute, imho) newborn shots.  

 DAY 1: At the hospital


Immediately post-birth, with a hilarious little hat that refused to stay on 
Clark holds Hazel for the first time
Oh the outrage of being left alone so unceremoniously! 8 lbs 14 oz.
Zsofi finally gets to hang with Hazel
Snuggling with me.  Have you ever seen a newborn child with so much hair?  
Cherub
Juniper gets to hold her sister for the very first time...
... and then Linden...
... and then Mary

Everyone was pretty smitten
Finally, Clark gets to reclaim her for a bit
 Day 2: Hanging at home


The very first morning: Linden reads "Goodnight Moon" to Hazel.  She was not paying quite as much attention as he would have liked

Mary likes to claim snuggle time as much as humanly possible...

... but sometimes the kids get a turn too!
How cute are these guys?
The three amigos

Look at that personality! I truly think she's an old soul.

Sharing a joke with her dad...

... and then another good laugh about being a pumpkin head
Quick shot with Katharine (my fabulous midwife) on the day 1 home check-in

Day 3: Falling into a rhythm of sorts

It's pretty amazing to see the three of them together
My mom's happy place

Sometimes when you want snuggles, you have to triple up and share

Katharine comes back for the day 3 check-in, and to see how much weight Hazel has lost and recovered post-birth

8 lbs, 12 ounces - almost back to birth weight! Like I said, a nursing champ

The photoshoots: Both kids got to choose an outfit of choice for Hazel (and for them), and then got to hold her for a bunch of photos.  We then decided to take advantage of the glorious afternoon light, and do our first family shots as well.

The superhero holds the beautiful princess

So many kisses! (though I have tried to keep them away from her actual face as much as possible)

Close up on Hazel, who has been pretty consistently finding her thumb when she's in need of a suck. She might just be a genius baby.

Juniper's pick: a little hand-embroidered linen/cotton dress
Proud big sister!

Clark in the hammock swing (no costume change, but beautiful light!)

The family shot...

... and of course, the silly shot!

Happy to be part of the world!

If you hadn't noticed by now, Hazel looks a *little* bit like Juniper did when she was born.  Uncannily so.  For reference:


Juniper, Day 3
Hazel, Day 3

Need I say more?  All right, I'm sure there will be a little urchin demanding some milk very soon, and then begins the nightly struggle of how best to sleep as much as possible.  I'm pretty much planning to just be perpetually tired for the next little while, but I must say that it's balanced at least a little by the amount of newborn cuteness and snuggles that we have all been treated to.

The challenge going forward will be to figure out a way to keep Juniper and Linden properly entertained while simultaneously staying sane, and re-learning how to parent a newborn.  It's still pretty surreal, I have to admit. But I imagine this will be easier to manage than it was with a newborn and a two-year-old (like we did the last time), and I am still riding the high of no longer being pregnant.  Holy crap, it is nice to be past that stage - that was a lonnnngggg haul.

I'm sure there will be many more photos and stories in the days to come, so stay tuned for when I next muster the energy to check back in.  I will leave you with this little note, that we found when we got home from the hospital:




Sunday, July 8, 2018

The waiting game continues...


Family shot, right before my actual due date
Today it is Sunday, July 8th.  For most, this means very little.  For me, it means that I am currently one week and two days overdue.  I know that in my last post I revealed that I would hold off posting again until there was baby news, but I am now far enough past the anticipated arrival that I have had a slew of people checking in to see if I had just... quietly had a baby and forgotten to mention it.

This post, then, is meant to assure everyone that we are all still waiting, right along with you, and to provide a bit of a catch-up on what sorts of things we've been up to while we (patiently, or impatiently, as the case may be) wait for things to happen.

Theresa and the kids do some yoga
So, right around my due date, we wanted to make sure we had our bases covered with respect to potential need for child care etc.  My mom was planning to come as soon as she got home from visiting with my sister and her newborn in Vancouver, but that left a bit of a gap with which we weren't particularly comfortable.  Theresa, kind and caring soul that she is, drove up from PEI (7 months pregnant herself, mind you), to be our back-up.  This meant that the kids had a ready adventure-partner  pretty much as soon as they finished school, which was fabulous. Beach days, trips to the park, yoga, card games, you name it -- all things that somehow Theresa found the energy to do with them.

It also meant that on the weekend of my due-date (which was June 29th), it was a veritable party around here.  We had Theresa, of course, but my mom also arrived on the Saturday, as did Liz and Pat.  I was very confidant there would also be a new baby thrown into the mix, but alas, that was not to be.  Instead, it was a weekend full of games and general merriment and a bunch of photoshoots:

This hammock gets a whole lot of use this time of year

Silly family shot - always a requisite of Linden's

I was sure I would be captioning this: "Last belly shot before birth".  Nope.

Linden and a caterpillar friend

Two big bellies - look at how differently we're carrying!

The beautiful Richards sisters and our gaggle of ne'er-do-wells

Liz and Pat are always good for a board game or two.

I love this shot! The candid-getting-ready-for the-posed-photo photo

Theresa must have just left before this was taken

After my due-date weekend, things quieted significantly.  My mom is here now, and will be for another week, which is great.  It is crazy to think that she might be spending only days with her new-born granddaughter, rather than a whole two weeks, as we had anticipated.  Clearly, this is either one chill child, or I just have a very comfortable womb.

In any event, this past week was mostly spent trying not to go stir-crazy during the ridiculous heat-wave.  This was helped immensely by our completely awesome neighbours, who showed up just as I was parked grumpily (and very sweatily) in front of the fan, to bring their old air conditioner for us to use.  What a gift that has been!  There has also been a lot of swimming in our local lake, frozen treats, and as many quiet out-of-the-blaring-sun activities as we could dream up. This included me finally making a play teepee for the kids, which has already gotten loads of good use.

Fairy patrol!

These wings didn't come off for a few days. I just thought it was particularly cute to have a fairy so seriously drawing at the table

SSR (silent sustained reading) in the shady hammock.  Linden has decided he wants to learn how to read English this summer (he can currently read French quite well, but not English), and is so far very enthusiastic.

Mary helps sew some felt food for their play kitchen

The teepee, freshly erected!

Seeing as the teepee is constructed out of white canvas, the kids immediately asked if they could make it their own.  No better drawing surface than an actual huge expanse of... canvas!

Juniper's side
Out to dinner in beautiful Eastern Passage

Clark decided to turn our rhubarb into cordial this year.  He's been drinking it with fizzy water and gin, and it is quite lovely! Plus, just look at the beautiful pink colour.
Post dinner ice cream overlooking Lake Banook
As for me?  Well, there was a period of time, a little over a week ago, where I rallied and started accomplishing things right left and centre, like a nesting whirling dervish.  At this point, I mostly lounge around like a beached whale, feeling more than a little uncomfortable, and the teeniest bit useless.  I have, however, been trying to walk this baby out as much as I can, and eating spicy foods, and drinking raspberry leaf tea, and all the other things that are supposed to prompt baby to get things rolling. First I thought the full moon would draw her out, then the change in weather (the heat and humidity dissipated on Friday, and it has been just glorious ever since), but it seems that she's just going to come in her own good time.  

I promise, however, to update as soon as there is any baby news to actually share!

On a walk around beautiful Shubie Park
 See you (hopefully) soon!