hurray i'm smart again!

or just less dumb!

i've already noticed an increase in my brain capacity in the few days since athena blythe was born. 

on monday morning i called my doctor because i had thought that my water had broken. turns out it had, the day before. who knew? apparently not me. i thought i was simply having bladder control issues about 30 years too early. my doctor told me to head over to the hospital because "we" were going to have a baby that day. i'm not sure where this "we" business came from, because i didn't really notice him gaining a bunch of weight, losing equilibrium, being forced to wear unflattering, elastic waist pants or questioning his bladder control on a long hallway or during a funny story. 

before i headed over to the hospital, i headed over to cold stone for a final meal to keep my strength up. i sat outside for a full 15 minutes looking like a crazy person until the proprietor finally unlocked the door.

during my ice cream waiting interlude my contractions started. as a bonus i told the cold stone proprietor that i was in labor and i was able to walk out of the shop with a chocolate cookies and cream and butterfinger waffle cone for free. boom. to top of a delightful morning, i heard 2 phil collins songs and a hall and oats song on the way to the hospital. it was going to be a great day!

my favorite person in the whole world(thomas) met me at the hospital and we had a nice few hours of chatting, texting and book reading, interspersed with contractions every 5 minutes. 

after 6 hours of labor(which really could have been much faster had the doctor listened to me and got my pitocin and epidural started about 4 hours sooner. i went from a 4 to a 10 in about 30 minutes. i may not be a doctor, but i play one of tv.) and 20 minutes of pushing, we had athena blythe. it must be because i am 5 years older than i was last time i gave birth, but it was a lot harder than last time and it hurt. even with my epidural i could still feel a few things that i did not want to feel and i thought a few words that i don't like to say. nevertheless, it was a pretty incredible, spiritual experience. can heaven be any closer than when a baby enters the world?

 she was a screamer. 

there has been some discussion about the similarities between a photo of scarlett and me in 2005 and a photo of athena and me from this week:

what can i say? poofy buns and sweaty skin are a way of life for me. 

the troops have given their approval,

but babies are only so cute for so long before other entertainment devices needed to be employed:

we're home now and we are starting to fall into the familiar pattern of feeding, sleeping, pooping and wearing sweatpants. the only thing that makes it different is that we now have a baby. 

we've been very blessed. so many people have stepped up to help us. i am ESPECIALLY grateful for those who have watched reagan and scarlett while i was in the hospital. their care was my biggest concern and i felt so much peace knowing they were taken care of. even when reagan threw up at school and thomas had to go pick him up. it wouldn't be a family event without a little vomit. scarlett had already made her vomit contribution on sunday during church.