He's Here

Rory Peace Evanoff, born June 26th at 12:55pm, weighing 7 lbs 3 oz (the EXACT same as his brother) and 18 1/2 inches long. 

He's here! I was very lucky that it was a pretty quick labor with no complications. I was given the medication to start labor at about 7pm Monday evening and the contractions started in the middle of the night and unfortunately tailed off by morning. Tuesday morning the doctor broke my water and that was pretty much enough to getting labor started again. After all of 20 minutes of pushing he was here! We were really lucky that everything went so smoothly and we're so thankful he's healthy and well. 

When he was first born we thought he had dark hair like Sean and Aiden but pretty quickly we realized it's sort of light brown or blonde. His eyes are that mysterious steel blue that all newborns have, so no telling about eye color yet. As for the name, we just like Rory, it's Gaelic for "Red King" and Peace is a family name on Sean's side although we've already been teased that we're just big hippies, which may be kind of true too. 

Although I've been a mother to two for all of two days and can't exactly make a sweeping statement on how easy or hard it is, it's gone beautifully so far. Aiden came to the hospital right after Rory arrived and was very nervous around the baby. The next couple of visits he was still hesitant but, as I assumed would happen, he is quite in love now that we're home. He sings to the baby, he puts his hat back on when it falls off and he generally stands as chief protector. Naturally, Bo has already welcomed Rory into the flock. When we first came home we let him come smell him and he kind of wandered off in disinterest. Later on I was nursing the baby and Bo leaned over and gave him a little lick and suddenly he realized that this was a genuine little person and has refused to leave him alone since. He was up all night last night every time Rory sneezed or cooed trying to asses the situation. 

Rory has been a great sleeper so far. I know enough this time to know that despite what the nursery nurses say, do not wake a sleeping baby. They'll wake when they're hungry. One of the labor nurses actually said to me "I know they're going to tell you to wake him up every 2 or 3 hours but please just let him sleep and sleep yourself!". I also could care less about whether his outfit matches so long as he's dressed, I've learned to say "yes please" every time I'm offered help and to sleep early and often. All these things have made our brief time as parents to two that much easier than the first go around. 

Another thing that I've noticed this time is that physically, I kind of feel like I've been hit by a truck as opposed to the way I felt like skipping around after Aiden's birth. Emotionally though I feel beyond wonderful. The anxiety and uncertainty and general turmoil of learning to essentially give all your thoughts and attention to another human being is gone. Having already grown and stretched to accommodate for one child kind of makes it feel like I've thrown the door to my heart wide open. I've got enough room for anything and anyone now and I feel pure unadulterated joy instead of  fear. It's been very apparent to me that to two or so moments of unease I've had so far stemmed directly from hormones rather than any real anxiety and it was such a relief to be able to step back and say "this is a temporary feeling" rather than feel like it was a true reflection of how life is going. 

Again, it's been such a short time, and I'm sure there will be moments where we feel like everything is crazy and out of control, but for now it's been unbelievably beautiful. We are beyond lucky to have each other and can't wait to learn more about this new little life.