Milk. It does the body good.

Here I am 1 week postpartum.  I can almost fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans.

Here I am just 2 days before Faith was born.  Big change, don't you think?

It's 100% due to the breastfeeding.  My milk came in the day we came home from the hospital and it came in with a real vengeance!  I'm pumping on average an extra 30 ounces of milk each day.  Those 30 ounces are in addition to what Faith nurses.  Producing all that milk is really burning off my baby weight and filling up our freezer!

Hospital fun

Faith and I started the morning off with a good morning belch.

Then David and Grace arrived at the hospital.

And we spent some good quality time together as a family.

Mammee came back to visit us.

And we measured Faith's feet to Mammee's finger just like we did when Grace was born.

Later Grace and Aunt Hope played "This little piggy" with Faith.

Then Grace sang to her baby sister.

Then Grace went to lunch with her Aunt Hope.  As soon as they got back to the hospital, Grace ran over to check on her baby sister.

Then Grace broke out the hospital gloves.

It's amazing how something so simple can really entertain kids.

Grace played doctor for a while.

She took her time while checking out her baby sister.

Grace is very gentle with Faith.

But we have to keep a close eye on her because she'll use any and all instruments just like the doctors do!

Later that evening Queenie and Grandaddy came to the hospital with a bunch of gifts for Faith.

And a Dora backpack full of goodies for Grace.

Now Grace won't go anywhere without her "pack-pack" (backpack).

Thankfully, both David and I were able to take decent nap today.

It was a fun and exciting day today but I can't wait to go home tomorrow.

Faith meets her family

Faith meets her big sister, Grace.

Grace was so excited to hold Faith for the first time.

Here's her Queenie.

Here's Queenie with both of her grandbabies.

Grandaddy

Aunt Hope

Uncle Seth

Mammee

Pappy

Aunt Bethany

It's a girl!

We headed to the hospital early, early this morning.  4:30am early.

We arrived a little after 5:00am and checked in.  At 6:45am the nurses started my induction!

At just after 10:00am I was fully dilated and ready to push but we had to wait for my doctor's arrival. 

My nurse called him twice and told him to hurry because I was already crowning and we were going to have a baby with or without him.  My doctor arrived soon and we were ready to push!

Here's a video of the delivery.

It only took a couple of pushes and our sweet baby was born at 10:31am.

It's a girl!

They plopped her on my belly.  She wasn't nearly as goopy or bloody as Grace.

Then David cut her cord.

Baby cried and cried through it all.  In fact, she started crying before she was fully out!

Then the nurse took her to the heat lamp to warm her up.

There she received the first of her bracelets.

And got her feet stamped.

Then they bundled her up.

And gave her to her Daddy.

And then I got to hold her.  She is so beautiful.

Before long the nurse took baby to the nursery to give her a bath.

Grace, Stephen, and Mammee watched from the window.

I think Grace was pretty excited.

I'm not so sure Baby enjoyed getting soaped up and cleaned off.

Soon she was brought back to us.

I held her and took in every tiny detail.

And David took a small nap.

Then we all celebrated the newest addition to our family.

Eventually David left the hospital and went home.  This was the sunset.  Today was long and somewhat exhausting but so exhilarating.  It was the perfect day to have our newest member, Faith Helen Cathey, join our family.  She was born on July 20, 2010 at 10:31 am.  She weighed 8 pounds even and was 21 inches long.  Happy birthday and welcome to the world sweet baby girl!  We are so happy that you are finally here and we already love you more than our hearts can hold.