It's A Girl !!

I have just had the privilege of attending another one of my friend's births! Tina and I have been friends since I was about nine years old, and she recently decided to have a homebirth and asked if I could be there. Of course I could! She called me Sunday evening and I was on my way (with my kids!) to Anderson, IN, about 3 hours away. We got in about midnight, IN time, and I got the kids situated in bed and got busy attending Tina.

She had a bit of a rough time toward the end, but did beautifully giving birth to a precious little girl, 9lbs 8oz and 21 inches long. She was born at 4:43am, and we were so thankful that all the kids were sleeping! We had all been praying for a middle of the night birth. They named her Elariah Essence.





A few moments after birth, Elariah gets a kiss from Mommy.












Proud Daddy Jason was also a great labor support! Here he is with Elariah just about five minutes after the birth. (He caught her.)















All cleaned up ~ about 12 hours old.


She has been such a good baby, sleeping most of the day and nursing like a pro!
I think she got more rest than the rest of us! By the time we had cleaned everything up, the kids were all awake, so we didnt get a wink of sleep. It was the first time I've pulled an all nighter in years! (And the first time I've ever done it pregnant!)






Tina is one busy mama! Here are her four children and my two. Hers are 2.5 year old twin boys (Zeal and Ephrem), a 15 month old little boy(Cael), and now their first girl. Four kids in two and a half years! The boys are having a little bit of a rough time adjusting, but I'm sure they will all survive and learn to love little Elariah.






Here we are about 24 hours after the birth, all feeling a little more rested. Tina is doing great and recovering well. It was really awesome to get to be with her for this special time.










Well, I still have a bunch of other pics to post, but I wanted to get these up while they were still fresh! More to come, maybe a little more frequently now that I am feeling a little better. :)