It’s hard to believe that Leyana is already 14 months old. Everyone always says time flies when you have kids but sometimes I feel like it’s moving at warp speed. We have experienced so many of her firsts already, cooing, smiling, rolling, laughing, crawling, tooth, climbing, pulling up to stand, walking.
This was the first picture we got of our little lady. At the time we called her our little gummy bear, thanks to the ultrasound technician.
She was born at home, our first and only home birth. I really wish that I could have had all the babies at home but grateful for the one experience. The birth was uncomplicated and all natural. I called my midwife around 8 pm on the 18th of February to let her know that the contractions were finally feeling real and the baby was coming. We went to sleep and around 4 am I woke back up and called my midwife again to let her know to make her way to the house. My midwife also caller her assistant.
I also called my mom to let her know to come over. The kids were fast asleep in their rooms and so we left them sleeping. By 4:30 my midwife, her assistant and my mom were at the house preparing everything for the delivery. A little after everything was set up my water broke, something I had never experienced with the other babies. The doctors at the hospital were always quick to pop the bag of water for me. The loud rubber band popping sound everyone says you hear when your water breaks, that is exactly what I heard. Followed of course by a gush of warm water. Leyanna was born at 6:13 am, just before the sun rose. The kids woke up around 7 to a brand new baby sister. We weren’t able to find out the sex of the baby at the second ultrasound so we were all surprised, except Gabriel, he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would have a baby sister. The look on his face when he met her for the first time was priceless. It was like opening presents on Christmas morning.
Leyana was born at 10 pounds 1 ounce and 21 and 1/2 inches long. Had she been born in the hospital the doctors and nurses would have been quick to say that I had undetected gestational diabetes and would have put her through so many unnecessary tests. (This happened to Gabriel in the hospital and he was only 8 pounds 10 ounces).
I studied my heart out the entire pregnancy. There were times when I worried I wasn’t getting enough sleep, drinking enough water or getting enough exercise because I was glued to my study material and computer. I knew that it was do or die time for the CPA exam. All of my friends on twitter continually encouraged me through my study time. When I had taken my last exam, we were talking about the baby and the need for a custom onesie. So I created a ‘My momma’s one hot CPA’ onesie for the baby. Since I didn’t know for sure if I was going to have a boy or a girl, I used black and grey to be on the safe side.
Fast forward 10 months and here is Leyana right before Christmas.
She is crawling everywhere, trying to keep up with her sister and brothers. She has even figured out how to climb up and down the one step we have in the house. She is also finally sharing a room with her big sister. It was tradition for me to move the babies cribs out of our room when they turned 6 months old. Knowing that Leyana was our last baby, I kept pushing back moving her out of the room. Then one night last week it hit me, Naomi and Leyana are 9 years apart. By the time Leyana is 9 Naomi will be 18 and on her way to college. These girls don’t have a lot of time to spend together as kids. It was at that moment that I realized I had to stop being selfish and give Naomi and Leyana time to bond with each other.
Leyana has done great in big sisters room, she didn’t even skip a beat and is still sleeping through the night. I am still adjusting to an empty room but I know I made the right decision and will adjust.
*The picture of the sunrise was taken the morning Leyana was born, it will forever be known as Leyana’s sunrise. So beautiful, just like she is.