LC is Six!

A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul...Proverbs 13:19

LC, about a day and half old, gazing at mommy in the hospital

LC herself is a longing fulfilled that has been sweet to my soul.

She was one of our two more unexpected babies, and she was due to be born around June 29th or so of 2004. Since I carried her two older sisters past their due dates, I assumed it would be no different with number three. My secret wish was that if the baby was going to come late, it might be born on Independence Day.

That pregnancy was a good, simple one, and early July found us doing typical summer Saturday stuff. BB was outside moving our storage shed from one end of our back yard to the other, which meant dismantling it and then putting it back together in its new place.

I stayed inside and did housework and colored with the kids.

And that's when the first one came, while I was sitting at the table with EG, who was 3, and MK, who was almost 2 - the first whole-belly cramp that for me has always signaled the beginning of the end...

When another contraction came 30 minutes later, I trotted outside to tell BB, who casually said something like, "oh, well let me know if anything comes of it." Ha! It was not an insensitive comment, just his disbelief that maybe, just maybe this might be the real thing. Back inside I went, to wait and see...

Sure enough, every half hour or so, another one came. I made supper - and I remember it well: a nutritional bust, but well-received by all - hot dogs and tater tots. I forced myself to eat, knowing I had a lot of work ahead of me. And then we began making calls. And I started to panic a bit. For whatever reason, I just wasn't as mentally ready for this labor as the previous two.

This means that I demanded to go to the hospital now. And we went, after dropping the girls off with friends, arriving at the ER (since it was after hours) at about 8 or 9pm. Though I'd gone no-epidural with babies one and and two, this time I quickly asked for an epidural.

Miss LC (we did not know her gender till that night...it has been our odd-numbered babies whose sex has remained a surprise) was born about 2am on July 4, after a very easy labor - even with that blessed epidural quitting on me while I progressed between 6 and 10 centimeters.

She came out plump and crying and just beautiful...

But the best part was the next day, both of us having had our baths/showers, just the two of us in the hospital room. I dressed her in a sweet neutral gown I'd brought and laid her on the bed with me. And then we looked at each other. It was an amazing moment and I've never really had one like it with a newborn. She gazed at me. Of course, I stared back, surprised at the connection, and loving every minute of it.

At six, she is happy, funny, satisfied, sensitive. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

We piled up her presents on the fireplace for her to open. All our family is out of town, and they are so gracious to mail gifts to the kids or send them back with us when we've been Back Home for a visit. So, even though it was just the six of us on LC's birthday, she had a fun little stack of gifts to open!

She was quite a ham while opening her presents - very expressive and funny. Here she's opening Gramma's gift: a Pet Shop set.

It's amazing how happy a $1 pack of balloons can make a birthday girl.

LC's birthday treat: chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. The cookies were very fat, but it didn't stop us from devouring them!

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Yesterday, we celebrated MK's 8th birthday. I'll try to get that ready to post, soon, too.

I hope you have had a lovely and restful weekend!