I am often torn about sharing details of my personal life on the internets. Much more than general privacy concerns, I sometimes feel like posting pictures and info about what has been going on in my personal life has a kind of spoiler effect. I experience this when I bump into people who I haven’t seen for a while. When I have posted lots of stuff about my personal life online, these encounters end up being nice, but missing that catching up part. It is nice to have surprises to share with people face to face. That said, I also enjoy sharing the joyful times in my life with people who I might not have a chance to see very often or who may be a little more removed from the circle of people I spend time with on a regular basis. I find myself at an instance in my life where I have something joyful to share, and hopefully sharing it here won’t take away from sharing it in the real World. Here goes.
On May 24th at 8:26am, after 7 hours of labor, my second child was born. A girl (very much to my surprise). Her name is Zelda (after my grandmother). She was born at home. My partner, Loretta is amazing. Our son, Ellis, was also born at home, and he was here for the birth of his sister. Winnie, our trusty Pit Bull, was also here, but did not get off her bed the entire labor. Our midwives, Tenaya and Mary, were so great, and Loretta’s aunt arrived during the labor just when Ellis needed her. She was an incredible help. One of the great things about having a baby in your own home is that once the baby is born, you are already home. You can go to sleep in your own bed and make food in your own kitchen and shower in your own shower.
Even though Zelda was born almost exactly on her due date, before she arrived, it felt like she would never come. We had really been expecting her to come a week or two early. Loretta would have a couple of contractions here and there, and we would get excited, and then nothing would happen. We had taken to going to Berkeley Bowl every day in hopes of having a water breaking experience at the grocery store, and to pass the time. When Loretta finally went into labor, it felt like we had been waiting forever. Maybe Zelda was trying to tell us to take it easy.
Loretta, Ellis, Winnie, and I are so happy to welcome Zelda into our lives. Here are some pictures from the week before the birth, the day of, and a few days after. Enjoy!
Waiting!
Distraction.
Ellis’ favorite seat – mommy’s belly.
Blue Bottle Coffee – 24 hours before delivery.
Our bathtub. Loretta laboring.
Freshly born. Midwife, Tenaya, checking out Zelda.
Zelda sucker punches a new friend.
Aunt Tara.
The tired family.
