It's a Girl

Wow. A lot seems to have happened in the last week.

The biggest news is that we welcomed a daughter into our brood. I guess I should have announced with the first introduction that it was a girl. I thought Wren was a pretty girlie name, but there have been several folks who hadn't heard the name before and thought it was a boy.

The labor and delivery went surprisingly fast fast fast. We knew it would be quicker this time - but the leap from contractions every 5-6 minutes to every minute to birth just zoomed by. Greg was furiously working to finish his seminar paper and submit it to his professor. He sent his "as good as it's going to get" version around 1:45 am and laid down to rest for an hour or so. At 3 am, I woke Greg up and then called my Mom and told her to come downstairs (she was staying in the garage apartment behind the house since my awesome landlords loaned her the place while they were in Houston). From the time I called my Mom, until she got up, and down the stairs - contractions went from every 5 minutes to about every minute and a half. Eeeeek! Time to go! Greg and I grabbed our bags and went to the car. It was 3:45 am when we left the house for the hospital. I called the after hours number for my OB and spoke to Dr. Cowan who said he'd see us at the hospital in a few minutes. Around 4 am, we strolled in, checked in at the nurses station and were shown to a triage room. By this point, I had told the nurses to page the doctor -- but I don't think they truly believed me! They did of course page him, but we'll get to that in a moment. :) Just as I was to be moved from triage to Labor and Delivery my water broke -- what a strange strange feeling that is... Seriously, it's just weird. Made it to L&D and the nurses went to check to see how far along I was -- and I told them I was ready to push. Wait, wait they said... the doctor isn't here yet. Ha! If you've ever had a child there is no wait, no pause and no holding back. Baby was ready to come whether the doctor was there or not! Sure enough, I said I was ready and the nurse said, yep... there's the head! Wowzers! One more good push and poof out popped the baby into the L&D nurses arms. The time was 4:51 am. Dr. Cowan arrived in the room a couple of minutes later. :)

We're now all home and attempting to settle into some sort of routine. Atticus has been absolutely fantastic with Wren. I'm amazed at how quickly he learned her name - seriously, I think it took him 24 hours. He's never said his own name -- but somehow he's taken to her immediately. He's a very big helper too. Atti wants to bring her blankets, socks, diapers, the pacifier... it's incredibly sweet. If we're in the other room and Wren starts to stir, he comes running into our room to peek into the bassinet saying, Wren Wren. The tricky part has been the morning schedule. Atticus used to wake up at 7:15 am on the dot -- but I don't think he's sleeping as soundly now and hence he's waking up quite a bit earlier. The catch is that Wren seems to get up at the same time, so trying to feed both kiddos is a bit of a juggling act but I'm sure we'll figure it all out.

I've posted some new pictures to Picasa -- see the Baden Family Photos link off to the right. I'll try to be diligent with updating the blog over the next couple of months, but you can always just give me a call or drop by if you're in the neighborhood. I promise, if I'm sleeping - I just won't answer the phone/door. :)