Maybe Matilda: Welcome, Baby Girl!

Friday, November 1, 2013

Welcome, Baby Girl!

Our little lady was born last week!

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We named her Darcy Kathleen Brown, and she is such a sweet little peanut. I wish I could say there was tons of personal meaning behind her name, like there is with Forrest’s, but the truth is, I’ve just loved the name Darcy for years. In college, I worked a receptionist job that involved me making dozens of phone calls to a bunch of camp counselors over the course of the summer. There was a Darcy on my call list that I ended up talking to on the phone over and over throughout the summer, and every time I called her I thought to myself, “What a happy name.” I thought the name Darcy just sounded so sweet and nice and happy, and I’ve loved it ever since. And I happen to like the subtle Austen literary nod (although that wasn’t a reason for us choosing it—just a nice perk). We tossed around a few other names early on—I liked Hannah, Elise, and Grace, and Jeff suggested Alexandra or Quinn—but in the end, we couldn’t get Darcy out of our heads. It was the name we planned to give Forrest if he had been a girl, and it’s hard to imagine anything else when you’ve imagined having a girl named Darcy for years! Her middle name, Kathleen, is after my own mom, who is wonderful and deserves to have a whole bushel of grandbabies named after her.

I was induced at 39 weeks to try and avoid a repeat of Forrest’s birth (over a week late, a grueling marathon of a labor/delivery, and a huge monster baby that was nearly impossible to get out of me), and was so, so, so nervous about Darcy’s birth. I really can’t overemphasize how difficult and traumatizing Forrest’s labor/delivery was for me, and how much I did NOT want to repeat it a second time. I guess I shouldn’t complain about it too much—we both ended up healthy and well, and there weren’t any major issues or complications, but it was just not what I had imagined birth being like, and I would be thrilled to never have to go through something like that again. So, needless to say, I was very nervous about getting this little girl from the inside to the outside.

(Here I am the morning of Darcy’s birthday—39 weeks, 2 days.)

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I’m not really one for long, detailed birth stories, so suffice it to say that things went really, really smoothly. I could not have dreamed up a better labor and delivery, especially compared with my very difficult experience with Forrest. From the time the pitocin started running to the moment she was born was about 9 hours total (which is less than half the time I was in labor with Forrest), I was smart enough to ask for an epidural early on before things got nasty (a mistake I made with Forrest was waiting too long to ask for it, then having to wait 2+ hours for the anesthesiologist to arrive, so I was in agony for far longer than I had ever planned), the epidural worked like a charm (not the case with Forrest . . . it was much, much closer to a natural birth than I ever wanted), and I pushed through a whopping two contractions to get her here (about 5 minutes total vs. 3 hours of pushing with Forrest . . . that poor boy is going to have to live the rest of his life hearing the horror story of his birth compared to the easy ride that was Darcy’s birth).

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Don’t let that cute picture fool you—he did not want to hold her, but I had to have a picture, so we more or less just plunked her on Forrest’s lap and snapped one quick before he realized what was happening. He is not terribly interested in his little sister, which I actually think is probably a good thing. He certainly doesn’t dislike her, but he more or less ignores her and just goes about his normal day, so I don’t think it’s been a big adjustment for him so far. He does, however, like to be in charge of pacifier duty, and helps to put it in her mouth when she’s crying:

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He also gets very concerned if he can’t find her (she’s definitely never hidden, he’s just the world’s worst searcher and will walk straight past her saying, “Oh no! Where Baby Daw-see?! Where she go?!”), and thinks every little sound she makes, from hiccups to grunts to cries, is hilarious. We’re all doing well so far—Darcy is a sweetheart, and I’m recovering nicely and feeling a little closer to normal every day. I’ll definitely be happy when she starts to sleep a little longer at night, but I’ve managed to get at least one nap in every day so far, thanks to a mom who lives close enough to swing by and give me a breather, and Jeff having a nice break from work, so I’m doing okay so far.

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Thanks for all your kind thoughts and well wishes as we prepped for her arrival, and your congratulations via Instagram. Feel free to follow me there for more sweet baby pictures—my name is maybematilda :-)

24 comments :

  1. Congratulations! She's adorable! My first birth was very difficult and a bad recovery. With my second, it was so much easier and better. The recovery was so much easier and fast. I wish I didn't have to have bad memories from my first one and compare but birth stories are just all unique and different! Like you said, in the end the mom and baby is healthy and that's what matters! Again, congratulations! I hope she enjoys all of your crocheted goodies you made her ;)

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  2. Yay! She's beautiful, and I'm so glad that the second go was a more pleasant experience! Sounds awesome. :-) I hope you guys continue to adjust and that sleep lengthens! Sleep sure does make for happy moms, right?!

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  3. Yay!!! I think her name is lovely! I'm happy for you that this birth was what you wanted, especially given your first experience. Congratulations! She is beautiful.

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  4. Adorable! They will be best friends! Hope you are getting lots of sleep or as much as possible! Congratulations again! Darcy is a wonderful and beautiful name just like that precious little girl of yours!

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  5. Congratulations Rachel and family :) She is absolutely beautiful. So happy things went better for you second time around....you look great i would never have believed you were about to have a baby lol.
    Kate xxx

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  6. She is beautiful! And I'm so happy that you all are doing well :) Wil is also the worst searcher ever he askes "Where's Harper, Mama???" she is in the pack and play making plenty of noise most of the time *sigh* 3 year old boys what can you do with them haha.

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  7. Awww--congratulations--she's just beautiful!! Blessings!

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  8. She's so cute! Congratulations! And, I totally know how you feel about being worried about the whole birth process again. I think sometimes people forget that yes, while the ultimate goals is a healthy mom and baby, that it is important that it is a good experience for the mom since it is such an important experience. My first I ended up having a c-section which was really hard for me so now I'm hoping to have a VBAC with my second. We'll see what happens! It's always good to hear how different every birth is though so that I know there is hope that things will go differently!

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  9. Congrats, friend! She's super cute. I also really love the name Darcy!

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  10. Congratulations! You're all beautiful!

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  11. Congrats! She is so beautiful. I just read the story behind Forrest's name and teared up. That is such a beautiful way to honor an incredible man. I love the name Darcy, too!

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  12. She is gorgeous and her name is perfection. So happy your birth went more smoothly this time.

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  13. I think that's aan awesome name and a great story to go with it. Enjoy her little face, toes, ears and nose. Especially all the fun that comes with girly things! Congrats to your family !

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  14. Congratulations--she's just darling!!

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  15. Congrats to you and your family - Baby Darcy is adorable!!

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  16. Congratulations on your new bundle of joy!!!! :) ~Stephanie

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  17. She's beautiful! Congratulations to all of you. :)

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  18. Oh my goodness, she is toooo cute! Congratulations mommy!!! Seeing these pictures is just increasing my desire to meet my little girl! Time for me to start makin headbands & to finish her blanket! Congrats again!!!

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  19. Yay! I'm so glad to hear that her delivery was so much easier. I was really rooting for you to have a nice labor (oxymoron?) this time around. Enjoy those naps while you can though. She and Forrest will be torturing each other before you know it! :-)

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  20. Congrats Rachel! She is a sweetheart! I still haven't gotten my peanut's pictures online...oh procrastination. And J LOVES to be on pacifier duty. Every time she cries, he says "I will! I will!" Stay well, and I hope you get lots of rest and cuddles!

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  21. Aw yay! Congrats on the little nugget! She's a cutie and big brother sounds like he's doing great. Congrats mama, enjoy that little snuggle bundle! -Jen

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  22. Hi, it's Elaine (Allred) Jackson. Congratulations! She's beautiful, Forrest is handsome, glad it went well and we're really happy for you!

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  23. Aww, congratulations! Our babies are just a month apart. And wow, am I feeling you on the whole "getting induced a week early and having a much smoother experience than with the #1 elephant baby." Darcy is beautiful and I'm so glad things went well!

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