Uh oh, we're in for it now. Greta is now pulling up to a standing position by herself. She's done it twice today at Nanny's house. I'm afraid walking won't be far behind if big sister is any indication.

UPDATE - Laurel is now saying all 26 letters of the alphabet without skipping any! For awhile she has been saying A-H and N-Z, but today (Dec. 2nd) she has been saying them from A to Z. What a big girl!

We had our family Christmas photos made yesterday and these are the pictures that didn't quite make the cut. 

You can already tell that Greta is going to have a hilarious personality. What a little ham.

 Laurel doesn't look mischievous at all, does she?

 This is Greta's "mean face."

 Greta: "I will break you."

 Braden's escaping and Eli's had enough.

 This is Laurel's yes-I'm-smiling-but-I'm-not-happy-about-it face.

 "I want that ornament, but dang, this chair is comfy."

 Apparently Greta is not a fan of Laurel's version of patty cake.

 "We're losing interest in this Mom."

 Greta's going in for the windup.

We had a a wonderful Halloween this year though it was a little colder than usual. Luckily both of the girls' costumes lent themselves well to layering so everyone stayed relatively cozy. Here are some pictures of our adorable kiddos.

Our sweet, quiet little girl has morphed into a squealing, screaming baby. Greta has discovered her voice and has been letting us all hear her loud and clear. She is also sitting up on her own and playing with her toys. She reaches for everything and we have to be super vigilant to keep her away from everything.

Laurel's language is absolutely exploding. She is finally successfully putting together sentences with more than just nouns! It is awesome to hold long conversations with her with only rarely having to resort to hand gestures and pointing. She is also learning to sing songs.

Both of the girls are at such fun stages and are really interacting with each other. Laurel loves to show off her "baby sisser, Geta May." And Greta thinks Laurel is the most hilarious thing she's ever seen (which may very well be true.)

Greta had her four month checkup today. Everything was great and despite the fact that I tried to warn her that the sweet nurse was going to stick her with a few needles, she was friendly and adorable, as always.

Now on to my favorite part, the stat comparison (I just realized Laurel must have had her 4 month check up a week or two early, whereas Greta had hers a little late, so the numbers aren't great to compare, but the curve makes the percentile comparison correct).

4 Months

Weight:

Greta - 14lb 14oz (75%)

Laurel -14lb 0oz (75%)

Length:

Greta - 25.75" (90%)

Laurel - 23.75" (45%)

Head Circumference:

Greta - 41.5 cm (60%)

Laurel - 41 cm (50%)

So once again, Greta still has a sizable (haha) lead on Laurel, especially in the length category! It doesn't surprise me, the kid's already outgrowing her 6 months clothing.

I wonder at what age the girls won't want me to post their weights in a public place, hmm...

I meant to write a blog post last night to let everyone know that Greta rolled from her stomach to her back yesterday morning, but apparently she knew I hadn't written it yet so she decided to show off a little bit more. This morning she rolled over from her back to her stomach at my mom's house!

Greta is such a fun and good-natured baby. She is still sleeping great (knock on wood!) and is very patient with all of Laurel's attention. She laughs out loud and offers adorable smiles to most everyone. We're so blessed to have such fun, happy girls!

I go back to work full-time on Monday. Let me ask you, how am I going to be able to leave these two precious girls? It will be hard, but I know they are in great hands with my mother and mother-in-law.

We took Greta to her two month well baby exam today (wow, I can't believe she's been here for two whole months!) Everything is going great with her and she's getting so big! The most fun things are her constant smile and coos. She is very social and likes to interact with everyone, especially daddy. While she likes Laurel, she's already smart enough to flinch when she comes at her too fast! She had three shots, which of course broke mommy's heart. Other than one ear-piercing shriek when the needles punctured her skin, she didn't cry at all. As soon as the shots were finished she nursed and promptly fell asleep for an hour and a half. We'll pray she doesn't have any reactions to the shots.

Now the fun part, her growth stats vs. Laurel's at 2 months old.

2 Months

Weight:

Greta - 12lb 4oz (80%)

Laurel - 11lb 4oz (60%)

Length:

Greta - 23.5" (85%)

Laurel - 22.25" (50%)

Head Circumference:

Greta - 38.5 cm (45%)

Laurel - 38.8 cm (50%)

I really don't want to jinx it, but things are going smoothly! Laurel has been over the moon about her little sister, we just have to be vigilant in keeping that excitement contained and Greta safe from the exuberance. We've been extremely fortunate to have lots of help from my mom and mother-in-law in trying to keep Laurel on her normal schedule, especially with her afternoon nap.

Now, I sincerely don't think there is such a thing as a "bad" baby but Greta is absolutely wonderful. Tim and I laugh about it, but you seriously don't realize she's in the room most of the time unless she needs to eat. She is very contented and sleeps wonderfully! She loves to snuggle up on mine or Tim's chest and at night she will usually sleep for three to four hours at a time, wake up to eat and then go back to sleep within 20-30 minutes.

I keep asking myself if Laurel was that much more difficult or if I just feel a lot more prepared this time around. My mom says it is primarily just knowing what to expect (and that Laurel was also a very easy, laid-back baby). Also, Laurel and I had lots of breastfeeding problems at first (including double mastitis) and I had tons of tail bone pain for months after her delivery. All those things combined to make the first few weeks after her birth quite difficult. This time around we had a little bit of a bump in the road with nursing but after a day of moping that I was going to have to pump for a couple weeks I got some perspective that we'd have months, if not years, to have a great breastfeeding relationship.

One of the hardest things is not letting my temper get away from me when Laurel does act out. We're trying to make lots of special time for Laurel so that she doesn't start getting resentful of Greta, but it's really hard to carve out much extra time right now. Today was our first all-girl outing as I took Laurel and Greta to the playground. It went really well and I'm sure it's just the first of many, many outings!

Laurel was so excited to get to come see her baby sissy in the "pital." Her Nanny and Papaw bought her a special baby doll so that she could introduce us to her baby and her to our baby.

This is my incredible doula, Angie. She was incredible during the delivery.
Here's the first kiss between sisters. Laurel is crazy about Baby "Geta."
And finally here's a very tired but proud mama with her new baby girl.

Tim and I stayed up until about 1 a.m. early Wednesday morning watching an incredible thunderstorm spread out around our house. Shortly after I fell asleep, I was woken up with my first contraction at 2 a.m. and it was definitely different than anything I'd felt before. It spread into my back and the tops of my legs and was very low in my belly. I got up and went to the computer to use a contraction counter so that I didn't have to wake Tim up and they were very consistently 45 seconds long and 6 minutes apart. The only thing changing was the intensity. By 3:30 I woke Tim up and told him we might want to get packed and ready to go. I called my doula, Angie, shortly after 4 and she agreed that it sounded like this was for real. We decided it would be best to meet at the hospital.

At 4:30 my water broke and almost instantly the intensity and frequency of the contractions went through the roof. I endured a very difficult 30 minute car ride to the hospital (which I later found out must have been my transition phase.) They were coming every 2 to 3 minutes and I really had to moan to deal with them. Poor Laurel was in the backseat, but she was a real trooper. She kept asking, “Mommy, belly hurt?” My parents met us at the hospital and took Laurel home with them. Angie was also waiting for me and helped me get into triage where the nurse exclaimed "I can't find a cervix. Get the doctor here immediately!" I was completely dilated and starting to feel the urge to push.

They rushed me into a room and called in a resident physician from another group who was there for another labor. She and Angie (who is also a certified midwife) were getting a game plan together to deliver me while I stood up beside the bed. (I refused to lie down in the bed because it was just too painful to move anywhere.) I leaned over the bed and tried a few pushing contractions standing up but I could never really find a comfortable place or a way to relax between pushes. At that point I decided the bed looked a whole lot better and I sat down. Luckily our regular OB arrived just in time and jumped into the action.

Tim had gowned and gloved up and the OB was teaching him how to catch the baby! At this point I was scared out of my mind to push for fear of the pain. Angie stood beside my head the whole time and talked to me about why I did, in fact, have to push and push past the point where my mind told my body to quit. I "sat out" several contractions while I worked up the courage to do it and then she said the magical words, "Your baby really needs you to push.” I had heard them mention that there was “light meconium” showing up in my fluid and that the baby’s heart rate was starting to show a little distress so I closed my eyes, drew in my legs to my chest and pushed as hard as I could. Feeling her head move down and then crown was the most intense/painful/incredible feeling. With one more push her head was out I felt relief. The next push to get her shoulders out was just as intense but the fear was gone because I knew I had already done it once.

Tim caught her and put her on my chest. No one had told us that our baby was a girl (and Tim didn’t even think to look) so immediately I moved the cord to see her. I got the privilege of telling everyone that we had a little girl! It was awesome.

I had a 2^nd degree tear that went into the muscle so the repair work was fairly uncomfortable but I was finally holding my little girl so it was all alright. The hospital staff was awesome and I held her on my chest for about 2 hours. They did her Apgar checks, her Vitamin K shot and her eye ointment all while I held her and let her start nursing. There was no pressure to bath her or measure her and they just told me to let them know when I wanted to get those things done.

Greta May was born at 6:20 a.m. on Wednesday, May 11, 2011. She weighed 8 pounds and measured 19.5 inches.

From our frantic 5 a.m. arrival until our discharge, we were only in the hospital for 32 hours. Now we are back home and enjoying seeing our two girls get acquainted.

This morning at 6:20 a.m. Miss Greta May joined our family. The birth story is a whirlwind, but everything went wonderfully and so far both she and myself are doing very well. She's been nursing like a champ so far and I've been feeling pretty good after a completely natural birth. I'll try to get pictures and the full story posted soon.

Well, despite the signs, this baby has decided it needs to cook just a little bit longer. At this point I kind of regret having the cervical exam because I think if I didn't know I was 4 cm dilated I wouldn't be on pins and needles waiting for something to happen. As you can tell from my ticker at the top, I'm still only 37.5 weeks along, so baby really should stay in there another 2.5 weeks for me to be at my due date.

Between the cervical dilation and effacement, the periodic Braxton Hicks contractions, losing my mucus plug (gross, I know) and hearing that second babies come earlier than first babies, I had convinced myself that the baby would be born this past weekend. I even ran home from work Thursday night to pack my hospital bag and get it in the car.

On a related note, I realized today at 1:17 p.m. that this is the most pregnant I've ever been - so there's that...

This could be my last evening as a mother of one child! Isn't that exciting?? I had my 37 week appointment today and was dilated 4 centimeters! That's where I was in terms of dilation after labor started with Laurel, so I'm thinking things could start at any moment. I'm so excitednervousanxious for little one's arrival. I can't wait to find out if I'm going to be the mommy of a little boy or of two girls. My doula is on call and has already been hard at work today in the birthing world (her goat had two babies this afternoon). If labor doesn't start soon it's going to be hard to relax enough to go to sleep, but I know I need to save all of my strength for labor.

That's my mantra right now. I met with my doula, Angie, last night. She is a certified midwife and offered to check my cervix to see if any dilation/effacement had started and to see if baby had dropped. With all the contractions I've been having and the low pelvic pressure I've been feeling I decided it would be a good idea to see exactly where I stand.

Well, it seems like I've got another impatient little one on my hands. Angie palpated my abdomen and commented that it seemed like baby was in a ROA position, which means baby is head down with his back on my right side. She said that is typically a position which will translate into a fast and problem-free labor. She then checked the position of baby's head in my pelvis and was a little surprised at how low it already was. With the cervical exam she walked Tim and I through each step to explain exactly what she was looking for and feeling of.

Obviously with Laurel I had some internal exams but I never really knew what they were doing and how they were coming up with X number of centimeters. Angie explained that she first checks the feel of the cervix to see if it is hard or soft to see how much effacement has taken place. The cervix has to be completely soft and pliable before significant dilation can occur. She said my cervix was very "mushy." (I believe that's a technical term.) She then felt to see if actual dilation had started. Sure enough, I'm already at 2 centimeters. She said I wasn't dilated all the way through my cervix but that she didn't want to push too much and risk causing more dilation at this early stage.

After gathering all that information she suggested I continue to take things easy and stay very hydrated. She said my body was definitely in a position where labor could begin at any time and progress fairly quickly. My goal right now is to make until April 23rd. That will put me at 37 weeks and in a much safer place to ensure baby is ready to be out in the real world. Obviously I'd love to make it until May, but I'm not sure how realistic that is at this point.

So everyone say it with me, "Stay in there, stay in there, stay in there..."

This pregnancy has been very different than my first. I experienced nausea this time, I'm getting bruised ribs from all the kicks and, unfortunately, have been experiencing lots of Braxton Hicks contractions. With Laurel I never had a single contraction until my water broke and I went into labor. I've not been so lucky this time... Until a couple days ago they had been completely pain-free and sporadic so I hadn't worried too much. I did mention it to my doctor and she reassured me that most second time moms experience contractions even if they didn't with their first.

However, night before last I was woken up by pretty strong contractions several different times. They were very irregular so I tried not to worry too much. I got up, ate some cereal and read a book for a little while. They calmed down and I went back to bed. Within an hour and a half I was woken up again and this time the contractions were starting low and making their way up to the top of my uterus. They were accompanied by a menstrual-type cramping low in my abdomen. Needless to say this really freaked me out. I watched the clock and tried to time them but they were very irregular and thankfully fizzled out within about 45 minutes.

Last night I slept well and didn't experience any contractions so I'm hoping it was a one-time thing and won't be happening again for at least two more weeks. But to be on the safe side, I'm going to have my doula check to see if I've had an cervical change when I meet with her tomorrow night. That way I can know if these contractions are actually doing anything or just annoying me.

Laurel was born at 37 weeks and while she was completely healthy, I was really hoping to keep this little one in just a bit longer, and I really don't want to have a 35 or 36 weeker. Tim has stepped up with house work and is trying to let me relax in the evenings so we can keep these contractions under control. I'm hoping that will delay things for at least a little while.

Laurel and I recently had some photos taken by a local college student who was working on a class project. She graciously offered to take a whole session of photos and give us the images at no cost! Here is a sample of her great work!

I can't believe there's less than two months to go until my due date, and if this baby is as impatient as Laurel we'll meet in a month! For the most part we're ready for the arrival because we aren't doing a nursery (the crib we'll be side-carred next to our big bed in our room. Plus we've got plenty of onesies, sleepers, diapers, socks, etc. to last us through at least 2-3 months old. I'll need to pack a hospital bag at some point and we'll need to install the infant car seat in my van, but that's about it.

For the past week poor Laurel has had a terrible cold. Well, I guess she's learned a little too much about sharing in Sunday School because she immediately gave it to her father and me. Right about the time I got sick I noticed that the baby stopped moving quite as often or as forcefully. The first day/night of the change I just attributed it to a fluke. Also, I know baby is getting a lot more cramped and doesn't have the room to jump and kick like before. But then after another day and a half of significantly decreased movement I started to get a little concerned. I had drank coffee and got no real reaction, had a banana and nothing, etc. so I called the doctor's office. They told me to come on in.

When I got there they hooked me up to a fetal monitor and did a nonstress test where they monitored the baby's heartbeat for about 20 minutes and had me hit a button every time baby moved. It took forever for the nurse to get a good reading on the heartbeat because he seemed determined to move every time she got the detector in place. After about 10-15 minutes of wrestling (and pulling the belt so tight around my waist I was afraid I would bruise) we finally heard a constant heartbeat. Well, of course, baby finally decided to wake up a little and he started moving around a lot. The heart rate fluctuated between the 120s and 160. The doctor said the monitor usually gets babies good and upset so they'll move and kick a lot. She said the movements and heart rate were perfect, but to feel free to come in if I get worried again. I'm just so relieved that everything seems to be fine.

Laurel has been out of diapers for over a month now!! I can't believe it, but she has done so well. Accidents are pretty infrequent and she is even occasionally waking up with dry diapers in the morning and after her nap, which is totally new. Unfortunately right now she seems to be battling a cold, but other than that she's doing great.

Baby is doing well also. I had my 32 week checkup yesterday and baby's heart rate was 130. Both me and the doctor are both guessing it's a boy since the heart rate has consistently been pretty low. I'm feeling really well now that my back and hip aren't bothering me anymore; however, sleep is becoming harder and harder to come by. After lying on one side for about an hour I get sore and wake up and have to roll over. I've also had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions this pregnancy whereas I never had a single one with Laurel. They aren't painful, but they do make me worry. The doctor said everything was okay as long as I can make them go away by lying down and drinking some water, but if I had more than 4 in an hour and they weren't going away to come over and let them check me.

It's strange, but as time gets closer I feel more calm about delivery rather than nervous. I'm not sure why since I was originally pretty terrified of a natural birth, but I really feel like I'll be in the best hands possible with the support of Tim and my doula, Angie. Also, I've met all four doctors at my new OB-GYN group and I feel really comfortable with all four of them. In fact, when they've looked at my chart, all of them have commented on how wonderful Angie is and how great she is to work with. That gives me a lot of confidence!

Disclaimer: To me, potty training (or learning) is a very child-specific venture so this post is just to explain what we've done and how it has worked, not to suggest that this is the best way to teach every child to use the potty.

When Laurel was about 18 months old she started expressing an interest in the potty. She would come to the bathroom every time Tim, her nanny or I went and she would tell us when she wet or dirtied her diaper. I knew that potty-interest is pretty normal for that age, but I still wondered if we could take advantage of it to start introducing how to use the potty.

It was suggested to me that I try reading the book Diaper Free Before 3 to get some ideas about what to do. The author was a big advocate of very early introduction and gradual teaching of potty skills (starting before a year old). She advised buying small potties and putting them in your bathrooms and initially just sitting the child on the potty once or twice a day. During that time we would read/sing/play with her and keep everything very low pressure (no bribing or scolding or over-the-top praising.)

Once she went a few times while on the potty, we started sitting her on it more and more. Most of the time she really enjoyed sitting there (even if she didn't use the potty) but occasionally it would backfire and she would refuse. At those times we just backed off and tried again later.

By the time she was about 20 months old we started letting her wear training pants/underwear around our house and her grandparents' houses. She had a lot of accidents at first, but the feeling of wetness in her underwear and having to change clothes was a much bigger chore now than it had been before with diapers. (We've used cloth diapers since she was three months old and I do feel that those may have contributed to her early association of going pee-pee equals being wet because there is a little more wetness against the skin with cloth versus disposable.)

We still used diapers for car trips or any outings away from our home or her grandparents' homes and during nap/night time (we still use diapers for sleeping). After she turned two I started thinking more about the book and how the author talked about completely taking away diapers once the child really seemed to know what was going on and could communicate their potty needs. It was a very scary thought, but Laurel was smart enough to know she was getting a diaper to go bye-bye and lots of times she would wait until the diaper was on to go to the bathroom.

Last Friday (Feb. 18) we stopped using diapers completely except for sleeping. And you know what, it's working! Yes, she has an accident once every 2-3 days, but she is going to the bathroom on the potty now not only at home but at restaurants, stores, church, etc. (We use a potty ring on top of a big toilet for public bathrooms.) She is articulating to us when she needs to go without us constantly asking. In fact, her telling us when she needs to go works a lot better because when we try to make her go there's often a power struggles that results with her intentionally holding it and then having an accident once we leave the bathroom.

Since we took away the diapers (and yes, she had plenty of warning) we continually reinforce that she'll need to at least try to go every time we leave the house and before taking a nap or going to bed at night. In lots of different ways, Laurel responds very well to being forewarned of our expectations and as long as she knows what to expect, she rarely argues or resists. This has been the key with getting her to go to the bathroom away from home and when we are leaving our house.

I am not naive enough to believe that she is fully potty trained or that we won't have accidents and possibly regressions, especially with the baby on the way. However, I think all this work on the front end will ultimately result in her complete independence from diapers at a much earlier age than if we just left it all up to her.

As most of you know, we've been using cloth diapers on Laurel since she was about 3 months old and absolutely love them. They have been a huge money saver in the long run and almost all of our diapers are still in great condition to pass on to #2. We started using cloth by doing Jillian's Drawers Trial. They have a great return policy (http://www.jilliansdrawers.com/customerservice/returnsandcancellations) which allows you to return any stain-free diaper within 30 days for full store credit! That makes trying out a new diaper pretty risk free!

Right now I'm leaning toward using disposables with the new baby until about three months of age simply because I'm unsure if the cost of purchasing a whole set of tiny, newborn cloth diapers will be worth it (and because there is a LOT of newborn poop.) I'll keep you updated on our decision!

"That was so fun" was what Laurel told us tonight at dinner right after she sneezed. This is her first "real sentence." As soon as she said it I asked Tim, "Did she just say 'that was so fun'?" He laughed and said he was pretty sure that's what she said. Lately she's been putting lots of words together. For example:

"Mommy, 'side me!" = Mommy, sit beside me
"Shebby, mere!" = Shelby, come here (Shelby's our cat)
"Daddy, say 'gin!" = Daddy, say it again
"Nanny, with us?" = Is Nanny coming with us?
"Chuch fend peas." = Can I see my church friends please?
"Stop it Shebby!" = Stop it Shelby (this was her first three word sentence, probably because we say it so much)

Right now she is picking up new words like crazy and her favorite thing to do at night when we're going to sleep is to play the "door game." What I do is say household words and she repeats them. I call it the door game because the easiest way for me to think of words is to mentally walk through my house and name everything I see. She repeats every word, some clearly...and some not so much. (I doubt anyone would recognize "ayter" as refrigerator.)

Another trick she's learned is to count to nine! It's really hard to get her to do it, well, to be honest, you can't get her to do it, but she knows how. Tim and I have heard her and my mom has heard her do it.

Also, we've got magnetic alphabetic letters and it amazes me how often she can pick up a letter and accurately identify it. No one has ever actively tried to teach her either the ABCs or to count, but she's picked them both up on her own.

It's so fun to watch your baby learn and grow!

For Laurel's 2nd Birthday Party, we had family over to our house for a Dr. Seuss party. The highlight for the kids was a bouncy house we blew up in our living room.

Here's Laurel and her cousin, Eli, opening presents. After her party we went to Nanny and Papaw's house for awhile. She was exhausted on the way home, but the second we got in the house she got her second win and decided she needed to play with each and every one of her new toys before bedtime.
Today we went to church and then to a baby shower for my niece. Now Laurel's finally getting to relax in one of her new presents.

Happy 2nd Birthday Laurel!!

My birth experience with Laurel was beautiful. At the time, it was everything I wanted and I was in no way traumatized or made to feel bullied. During the birth I was hooked up to a pitocin drip, had an internal and external fetal monitor, had an IV, remained in the bed for the whole time I labored in the hospital, had an epidural and an episiotomy. However, since then my ideas of what I want my next birth experience to be have changed. After reading some very empowering birth stories in Ina Mae Garten's Guide to Childbirth and having some conversations with women who have given birth without medical or surgical intervention, I decided that was the path I wanted to take.

My first thought was to hire a doula. A doula is a woman who serves as a childbirth assistant to the mother (and the father) and offers support during labor, as well as education before and after the birth. I consulted a few different resources in my area to come up with a group of names. I kept hearing one name over and over...Angie. So Tim and I scheduled an appointment to meet with Angie and to see if she might be the doula we were looking for. One thing I specifically like about her is that she is a Certified Midwife, so in addition to her skills as a doula she has delivered many homebirth babies. I have to say, I immediately liked her and felt like this was exactly the woman I needed. She was friendly and upbeat and seemed to understand everything both I and Tim were telling her regarding what we wanted, what our fears were and why we were looking for a doula. I think she especially reassured Tim that things would be fine and that most emergencies she had personally witnessed were actually during medicated births, not otherwise.

On the way home I laughingly told Tim that I would have hired her on the spot, but I knew I needed to sleep on it and give Tim some more time to digest it all. This morning he woke up and told me, "I'm on board, call her and hire her today." Included in her services are chilbirth education classes (she'll be working one-on-one with us to focus on preparing for and coping with labor and delivery since we feel pretty confident about caring for a newborn and breastfeeding). She'll also attend a couple prenatal appointments with me and, of course, assist me during labor. She said she tries to spend a day or two postpartum also making sure I'm doing well and have everything I need.

Going into the pregnancy I had some reservations about the ability of my medical group to give me the support and freedom to give birth naturally in a hospital setting. (Homebirth was briefly discussed but ultimately the fear of something going wrong and the distance to the nearest NICU were obstacles we could not overcome). At one of my appointments I talked to the doctor about having a birth with few (if any) interventions and the possibility of bringing a doula and she was less than enthusiastic. In fact, she seemed completely unsupportive. In addition, there are eight different doctors in the practice who deliver (plus 3 nurse practitioners that you occasionally see for appointments) so there is no opportunity for a personal relationship.

The group I will now be seeing is a smaller practice of four delivering doctors. As a group they are much more respectful of trying to honor a mother's wish of how she wants the labor to go. Angie said she's worked with the group on many occasions and has a good relationship with them. This switch will also mean switching to a different hospital, which I will admit I was a little leary of because it is a much bigger facility. However, I believe they have the maternity ward fairly separated from everything else. I'm hoping that Tim and I will be able to schedule a tour soon.

Obviously I can't read the future and challenges or obstacles may come up that will require me to change my plans for this birth, but I'm optimistic that Tim and I have put ourselves in the best position we can (given the resources and facilities we have available to us) to welcome this baby into our family in a gentle and respectful way.