My first bath

Coming home...sort of

Here I am coming home from the hospital. We're remodeling our house right now, so we're staying with Grandma Vonnie for a few months. It makes for cozy quarters, but it's great to have so many people to hold and rock me...even my big cousin, Darien.

My first visitors

Friends and family came to see me at the hospital. Here are photos of a few of them...

My Birth Day!

Mom and dad were so happy to meet me. It was a beautiful birth, even though it wasn't quite the way they had planned. Dad was so sure I was a boy, so he was shocked when I came out. When he took me to the family waiting room, he announced, "Estelle Marie is in the house!"

My labor and delivery

Mom and dad did everything they could to bring me into the world drug-free -- they labored for 34 hours with no meds. But in the end mom's cervix wouldn't dilate, so I was delivered by cesarean section. Here are a few photos of their journey.

They couldn't have worked so hard without the preparation and instruction from their Bradley Birthing Method teacher, Joann Petersen, and their doula, Rita Johnston. They are grateful to both!

Ready for the world

Little did mom know that I was getting ready to start labor a few hours later. This really was mom at her biggest. Holy cow! (And I don't mean that figuratively...)