Birthday

Just a few hours after I wrote this post about the give and take of parenting, we welcomed our third baby girl, Rose Margaret, to our family. She arrived almost a week past her due date, causing me to make and remake plans each day and each night. Where would her sisters go? What happened if I went into labor while Wren was at school? Who would buy the tickets for the upcoming dance recital?

But as these things usually do, everything worked out, despite my plans. Rose came when she was ready and then, that was all that mattered.

I’ve said it before, there is nothing like the day a baby is born. I remember feeling that way after our firstborn, Wren. How quickly life changed. How automatically I went from the most intense pain and pressure of my life to moments of awe and wonder. All of the worries and what ifs, gone. All that matters is the perfect little human in your arms. A little person who had grown in my belly and was now a part of our family. Just like that, I loved these girls with everything that I had.

Then the joy floods in. Family starts pouring in, eager to get their hands on the baby they too have been waiting for. There are phone calls, FaceTime chats with aunties and cousins, and messages from friends from near and far. The smiles.

My favorite smiles were those of our TWO big sisters. I had no idea how they would react to meeting their sister. For Adi, our youngest, I don’t know if she really ever grasped that there would be an actual baby! I awaited their arrival and held by breath as they came through the door for the first time. Wren went right to the baby, asking to hold her. Her face lit up and stayed illuminated until she left. Adi was full of questions. Why do you have a bandaid mom? Why are you in that bed? What do these buttons do? Can I push them? But as she heard her sister cry for the first time, she immediately went into sister mode. She stroked Rose’s little head and said, “it’s ok baby.”

Yesterday, I was fueled by love. I hadn’t slept in nearly 48 hours, yet when the last visitors left, I couldn’t put the baby down. I had to just watch her sleep. Notice the crevices of her ears, the shape of her tongue licking her lips, and the rise and fall of her little chest.

There’s nothing like the day a baby is born.