My precious little Biscuit,

I cannot believe how quickly the last 5 (plus) months have gone.  I am in awe at how life seems to be speeding up as I get older.  It is like water slipping through my fingers and I am parched.  I want to grab all of these precious moments before they are gone.

I am sorry that I have not written you every month like I had hoped.  I guess the second time around, I've gotten a little lazy.  I haven't weighed you or measured you.  But on the plus side, that means you have not been to the doctor's office much (we are delaying vaccines for a few months).

You are such a beautiful little girl.  I cannot believe how much love I have in my heart for you.  Having a little girl is a very scary thing.  I look at you and realize that I will shape so much of who you are in such a very different way than I will for your brother.  Because of that, I am trying very hard now to develop a certain way of talking about myself that is realistic but not demeaning.  I don't want you growing up thinking it is acceptable to constantly put yourself down....

I don't really know why I got on that...

Anyway.  You are so much more than a beautiful face.  I can see already a joy forming in your heart that I hope will last a life time.  People are always commenting on what a happy baby you are!  You love to smile and bring joy to the world.

You are developing a love for talking that Elias certainly never had at this age.  You babble a good deal, even in the middle of the night.  You love to laugh, especially at your reflection and your brother.

You began sitting up at about 4 1/2 months and rolled over at about 5 months.  You don't particularly like tummy time and since you've proven that you can roll over from your tummy to your back, we pretty much ditched tummy time.

We gave solids a shot and you very much disapproved of sweet potatoes.  We have also given you a pineapple core (with close supervision), which you LOVED.  I tried to take it away after a few minutes and you screamed.  We've also tried frozen blue berries in a mess feeder which you also loved.  It seems to help your fussiness.  The general thought being that you probably are teething in some capacity and the hard core/frozen berries make it feel better.  I just think you like fruit.  You still like to nurse, though you are very easily distracted and find your brother much more interesting than getting nutrients.  You still will not take a bottle.  If left for a longer period of time than you would usually go between feedings, you simply become very upset for a few minutes; are offered a bottle; refuse said bottle; cry a little more just to show your protest; than get over it.

You are not a good sleeper, though you are better than your brother was at this age (which I am thankful for).  You are capable of sleeping more than 2 inches away from me for at least part of the night.  The funny thing is, you actually sleep less than your brother does now.  But, it doesn't usually seem to upset your mood.

You enjoy your bouncer and toys but easily become bored with things.  I cannot offer you the same toy twice in a row.  You usually just throw it away and start to cry.  I am having to become creative in what constitutes a good toy because I refuse to waste money on lots of baby toys you will quickly outgrow.

Selah, you are the beautiful melody in my day.  What a joy to watch you grow.

I love you.

Mommy

We tried sweet potatoes yesterday as Selah's first solid food...and she wasn't too fond of them.

Brian, Elias and I welcomed into our family baby girl
Selah Eden

on October 2nd, 2011 at 12:15 a.m.

To my sweet little Selah,

We are so happy to finally have you here and, yet, it almost doesn't feel real.

Your entry into the world was very different than your brothers. I hope this doesn't set the tone of your life; I have no intentions of constantly comparing you to Elias, but I was very surprised by how you decided to make your entrance. I expected that my labor would go much quicker this time but, girl, you gave me a run for my money! Not that I was in labor as long as some women are but even the midwife thought it was strange. I had regular contraction ALL of Friday night that led nowhere. They eventually went away. Saturday morning we went to visit your great-grandmother Edna in the nursing home. The contractions came back, more intense. We then went to Grandma and Grandpa's to celebrate Daddy's birthday with lunch. By this time, the contractions were regular and intense, so we decided to come home, fully expecting you to make your first appearance on October 1^st.

I labored the entire afternoon with contractions that ranged from 10 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart, depending on how active I was being. It was very frustrating not knowing if I was in true labor so we decided to have our midwife, Barbie, come over to check to see if things were progressing. At about 8:30 I received news that crushed me. After laboring all day, I was a mere 5 centimeters. Baby girl, I made it to 10 centimeters with your brother before Barbie arrived.  I never once cried out in pain while progressing with him the way that I did with you. This was a new type of pain, a new type of birth experience.  I was in tears. 

Barbie asked me to take a walk around the neighborhood to see if that would get things going.  It was obvious only minutes into the “walk” that that was exactly what I needed to jump start the labor.  I stopped more on that little stroll to work through contractions more than I actually walked.  We came back because I felt the need to throw up, though I never did.  I labored the rest of the night and it was the most excruciatingly painful experience of my life.  At about 11:50, Barbie checked to see if I had made any progress.  I was still only 7 centimeters dilated.  By this point I wanted to give up.  My body had had enough.  She offered to break my water, knowing that it might help the labor progress faster.  It worked.  I gave one push after my water broke at which point she asked me to get up so she could put something down on the bed.  I had a contraction while standing and she told me to squat through it.  I got down and could feel your head crowning.  I couldn’t believe it.  I said it out loud and by the time the words were out of my mouth, I had another contraction, pushed and your head was completely through.  I told Barbie and she thought I meant that I could just feel your head.  She barely had time to reach down and catch you after one more push.  You were pretty tangled up in your cord.  It was wrapped around your legs and arms several times.  She worked to untangle you and finally I sat down and she laid you on my chest.  Daddy checked and said, “It’s a girl!”  I couldn’t believe it.  I was so thankful not to have to push for an hour, like I did with Elias, after laboring all day with you. 

Barbie was perplexed as to why this labor lasted so much longer than mine did with Elias.  There was no definitive start time to my active labor since my contractions were all over the board.  And she could tell that this time was way more intense for me.  Maybe you were presenting differently?!

When I told my mom the meaning of your name, she said that you must have just been spending time pausing to reflect on God’s glory and that when you decided to come out, you just did.  I thought that was an appropriate way to describe my labor. 

You were born at 12:15 on October 2^nd, 2011.  You were 9 lbs and 1 oz, 21 inches long.  Both your head and chest measured at 14.75 centimeters.  You latched on right away and I can tell you will have no problem breast feeding once my milk comes in.