My Ladies

Hattie takes after her Momma: they're both amazing! Robin was incredible throughout the pregnancy and she was nothing short of heroic through the delivery. I love seeing her with Hattie, now. The joy is uncontainable. Which is why I'm sharing some more pictures :)

The Love of a mother is something to be seen. A funny story (funny now, not when it happened): Our second night at the hospital we thought we'd give it a go with Hattie in the room, since that is how it would be at our house. So we had gone through all the necessary steps: a feeding, a clean diaper, a tight swaddle and rocking with Papa until she had fallen asleep. Lights out somewhere around 11:30. We thought we had it licked. Just as the lights went out we made a comment (I can't remember if it was me or Momma, probably me) "man, things are going so smoothly..." Not 2 minutes after my head hit the pillow I heard a cough, a splat, and some gargling. Robin and I both jumped out of our individual hospital beds, scrambled to find a light switch, (which wasn't easy. think of two cartoon characters scrambling around bumping into each other). When we got some lights on we realized Hattie didn't seem to be breathing. She was struggling. Also in the chaos we were going to try to push the Nurse button, but that may take too long. So Robin grabbed Hattie and tore off down the hall toward the nurses station. Two nurses met her in the hall (props to Martha Jefferson), and got Hattie to clear the mucus and colostrum. In hindsight it wasn't a big deal, however us being so new at being parents were a little overwhelmed. We returned to the room and talked strategy for the next time that may happen.

Luckily since then, Hattie has been great. Our first night at the house went smoothly. Feedings about every 3 hours. Not too much sleeping. Mainly nerves. Hattie did amazing.

Enough with the type, here are my beautiful ladies:

 

 

When we came home from the hospital we started to identify those elements of our homecoming that were going to be crucial to our first day's survival. One of those is the Moses basket we've been handed down through Robin's side of the family. At some point during that first day I noticed a little cross folded from a palm leaf stuck in the basket. It was a symbol of Palm Sunday - the day of Hattie's birth. Our friends Steve and Chelsi, who have been a rock for us in these days, had come to the house to pick up Amos for the week, and Steve placed the palm cross on the basket. Here's Hattie with Steve and Chelsi. When I think about Steve and Chelsi, as well as all the other people around us here in Charlottesville I recall that it "takes a village to raise a child." And our village is so beautiful! 

Hattie with Chelsi

Hattie with Steve