Dude, we have a baby!
On Feb 27, at 15:54, Chase Giuseppina Manley was born.
Today she is 9 days old.
Labor was the hardest thing I've ever done physically. It also ranks among the hardest mental challenges I've faced. I expected that. I did not expect how difficult it would be for me to stay prepared as our due date came and went. Every day I would wake up and have to find the energy to be READY and it got harder and harder as each day went by. When both of the people who had flown across the country to help with the birth and meet the baby ran out of time and had to go home and I was still pregnant I lost it a little bit. I was not ready to let go of the birth that I had imagined and prepared for before labor even started. Luckily I had a couple of days to mourn before labor started.
The team that came together when labor started was not what I had planned for but worked out beautifully. Martin, Matt, Terra, and my sister all did amazing work supporting me throughout. I am really happy with the experience that I had.
And now I'm in the whirlwind of my life rearranging itself around this new creature. I feel like we are doing a pretty good job of taking care of her and taking care of ourselves. Now we just have to figure out how to add back in how to be functional adults in the world. That thought is still pretty overwhelming, and the crazy hormonal roller-coaster I'm on doesn't help.