Arrival of Our New Niece

This past week has been especially exciting because my sister, Ariane, gave birth to the first grandchild in my family! Her name is Olive Rylee and she was 6 lbs 14 oz. They had a nice relaxing home birth with a midwife and they had such a great experience. Labor started around 5 in the morning, she was ready to push by 12:30, and baby was out by 12:45. Randy, Ariane's husband, kept saying that Ariane was "such a boss" because it only took her 2 or 3 pushes to get the baby out. I drove up a few hours later to meet my new niece. Here are some pictures from a few hours after she was born:

You can see that Ariane was a little tired.

I just love her little face!

I spent the night at my other sister's house and then went back to visit the next day before heading back to Denver.

Ariane looking a lot more rested.

You can't really tell from this picture but her eyes are actually a dark blue.

This is her holding my thumb. Her Auntie Mermaid (that's me) picked out this outfit for her to wear.

 Welcome to the world, Olive! You are one loved baby girl!

It's crazy to think that we will have two new members in our family before Christmas (my other sister is due in November)! I think it's really great that Ariane chose to do a home birth (if you ever want to watch a wonderful documentary about home birth, check out The Business of Being Born. It's streaming on Netflix!). Robbie and I would love to do a home birth, but we will probably still be living in this apartment when we get pregnant with our first and I think I would feel really uncomfortable. The tubs are pretty small and I would constantly be worried that the neighbors would hear me and think someone was being murdered (I've actually read stories about women whose neighbors called the cops while they were giving birth because they didn't realize she was just in labor! hahaha). The option we're leaning towards instead is going to the midwife clinic on campus and hiring a doula (so that we have a non-hospital-staff person there to advocate for us). Then when we have a house down the road, we could consider home birth again.

I think the main thing women should think about when they decide where they want to give birth is where they feel the most safe and comfortable because that is where the birth will go the most smoothly. If a woman feels fearful or anxious, it can slow down or even stop her labor. I just want to have a peaceful room with a big tub for me to relax in with a midwife whose not going to push interventions on me that I don't want or need. I have a lot of confidence in my body being able to give birth and I don't want my birthing process to be treated like a disease that needs to be cured. I am just so excited for when the time will be right for Robbie and I to have children! Until then, I will dote on my niece (and next niece/nephew that comes in November) to get my baby fix.