sisters!!

the baby ticker is no longer necessary!

mary josephine fike was born on thursday evening at 6:52. she weighed 7lbs 15oz and measured 20 1/4 in.

she completely caught us off guard! thursday morning, after a handful of contractions i thought i might be in early, early, labor but wasn't really convinced of it. thinking we might really go into labor that night or something and feeling pretty good, i proceeded to tear apart our couch cushions to throw the slipcovers in the wash, make messy piles of things we might need to grab on our way out the door, sterilize things, wash dishes, clean out the fridge, dust, etc. around 2 pm, in the midst of the chaos, our midwife decides to swing by the check things out. turns out i am 5 cm dilated! things started to kick in around 3:30 or so and 3 1/2 hours later, after about 20 min of pushing, our baby girl was born!

kirby and i felt like we were trying to catch our breath the entire time, it just happened so fast! it took 13 hours to get to 5 cm with hero!! we couldn't wrap our heads around that fact that it was really happening. by 7:30 we were all tucked into bed, watching the sun go down, loving our girls and smelling mary's sweet head. it was absolutely perfect.

and even though i never thought life could be better, i already feel like our family is more complete. there is more love, more joy, more sweetness.

here are some pictures from our day (thank you, lindy!! we love you so much:)

we can't wait for you to meet our her!

mary josephine

first family pictures

hero waving 'hi' to mary

loving her baby sister

really loving her baby sister

give me her!!

so good

so, i have no idea how this happened, but in the past two years i have quickly became a woman obsessed with all things childbirth.
i recently saw a documentary that seriously shook my universe. ricki lake (i know, where has she been, right?) made a film called the business of being born. it is hugely important.
as soon as i saw it i thought to myself, "every woman everywhere has to see this!!"

i could probably write forever about why this subject is so important to me, but i think the film says it best. kirby and i were totally blessed with being exposed other birthing options. we got educated and made our own decisions regarding our birth experiences. that led us to delivering with midwives, hero was in a birthing center, this next baby will be at home. i am so glad to have made thoughtful, well-educated choices... i was able to be conscious and aware and active and strong through the whole process. it feels so good to say that i really loved delivering my baby(ies), because it's not often you find that woman are positive about their birth experiences. in that sense, i feel like the joy of having kids has been robbed from us by our cultures standards of care. with that...

see this film, see this film, see this film! it's available now on netflix...
i would love to hear what you think.

hibernation

i am really into hibernating lately. i think my emotional, pre-mother state has really kicked in. i am trying to really soak up my last little bit of time with my two favorite people before we meet our new baby. if i have been ignoring you, don't take it personal.
i wonder alot what hero is thinking, what she will be thinking, if she gets that something is up. she has been resting her head on her "baby" (my stomach) alot and hanging on extra tight when i hold her. sometimes i wonder if her little heart knows a change is coming. maybe she is telling me she's ready.
it's kind of bittersweet but much more sweet than bitter. i am so excited to meet another baby God made for our family.
anyway, a little over a week ago our amazing wedding photographer, Mary Hawblitzel, took some pictures of me and hero. here are some of our favorites!

i have no idea why everything is underlined all of a sudden.

heartburn

i stole this out of my dads pantry and ate it for lunch.

my esophagus is on fire.