more photos

Some days I'm surprised to wake up and be the mother of two!

I knitted this hat for the baby to come. Looks like baby torture to me.
But it was my first "serious" project, and a lot of fun to knit.

home with Anna Kate

Coming home from the hospital to a new lambskin for Anna and coffee and "jewish rolls" made by my mama was wonderful.

Four days oldSeven days old...at her doctor appointment yesterday we learned she had already regained her birth weight and an extra three and a half ounces :).

the birth of Anna Kate

It started last Friday evening, casual and cozy, with Joel, Yolanda, Bianca, then Becky. Henry and Noah and Eric, too. The moon was a pregnant crescent with a star below it.

Joel repaired the piano bench I had broken earlier in the week. With the support of Bianca and our two chosen companions I labored at home till 4:00 a.m. Then we drove to the hospital.Transition was amazingly hard. And amazingly amazing. Anna Kate was born at 6:23 a.m. on Saturday, February 28, one week past her due date. Pushing her out was one of my life's most unforgettable experiences.Welcome, Anna Kate, 8 lbs. 4 oz., 19.5 inches long. Your birth was everything I had hoped for: a safe, loving, natural VBAC. No meds, no external fetal monitoring, no interventions, made possible through Mystery, a supportive husband, an i.n.c.r.e.d.i.b.l.e. doula, dear friend/sisters, the prayers of dozens and dozens of people. Made possible by my body, made to do just what it did. Made possible by you, Anna Kate, because you made your way through. Welcome, welcome, welcome!

My gratitude to Yolanda for taking all these photos to help me keep those thirteen hours of labor and the following moments in my heart and mind. Being the clergy person I am, I can't help but paraphrase a favorite verse of mine from Ephesians:

²¹Now to the One who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to You be glory for ever and ever. Amen.