More Minerva

This is Amy and Tenney a few days before the baby arrived. If Amy had known that Minnie was going to show up a week early but still weigh 8lbs10oz, I think she would have been in a little more of a hurry. Although he looks extremely pregnant here, Tenney's baby mysteriously never showed up.


When a contraction woke Amy up a a little after 1am she started thinking it might be happening. After getting over being a little bummed out that it was coming in the middle of the night, she waited until around 1:30 or so to wake me up. By that point she realized it was really happening. On the way to the hospital (which was a 20 minute drive or so) she kept saying things like "Why are you stopping at these red lights?" By the time this photo was taken she was much calmer as we had made it to the hospital, had filled out all the paperwork and were settled in (and definitely weren't going to have the baby in the car).


At around 3am the midwife suggested breaking her water to keep things moving which Amy thought sounded good. From the time her water was broken to when Minnie made it out was around 5-10 minutes. The midwife was almost trying to hold Minnie in so she could get into postition, but she did not want to be held in. It happened so fast that everyone in the room (except Amy) burst out laughing.


Here is Minerva a few seconds after she came out. She was immediately looking around and seemed strangely aware of everything. Amy had gotten a rush of endorphins from the whole thing and was super happy. The midwife and nurses, who were a little overwhelmed by things happening so fast, handed her right to Amy (so they could do other things) and they had some good bonding time.


Minnie ate like a champ right away. She stretched and wiggled as she ate. She must have been waiting months to finally stretch out her monkey toes fully. Like all of our kids she is able to use them to grab things or communicate- it almost looks like she is shaka-ing us here. Her feet were still a little inky from the nurse footprinting her.


These were taken the next morning when the kids were up and came in. Ada is a great big sister and Minnie's No. 1 Fan. She keeps saying things like "Minnie is number one on my list of babies- on the cute side of the list" (i asked her if there was a "not cute" side and she said "of course"). At least 10 times a day she'll say something like "do you know who I think the cutest person in our family is?" She never passes up a chance to hold her and she is (suprisingly) gentle. If she ever hears a whimper or cry she is the first one on the scene offering comfort, a binky, or a diaper.


Ezra is great with her too. He makes sure everyone has washed their hands and that they aren't too rough. He has also been super sweet with Amy. That first morning, after we had visited for while it became clear that Amy wasn't going to get any rest with us around, we started to get ready to leave. Ezra decided that he wanted to stay, and I didn't get back to pick him up until late that night. Amy said he never got bored and was super helpful in taking care of her- making sure she was comfortable had everything she needed.


Tenney loves his little sister so much that we don't think that she takes it personally that he doesn't remember her name. If you ask him what her name is he says "Penney". He loves to hold her and needs some help not being too excited. Lately, he has become a little bit of a chatterbox, and as soon as she does something (anything) he asks if you saw it and starts explaining what happened in case you didn't. In the next picture he is telling the story of the funny face she made when I was taking her picture and showing us what it looked like.



Here is Minnie and I. She may have inherited my out-of-control hair, but she'll never have my bushy sideburns (we hope).




So here she is! We aren't sure who she looks like most. These were taken on the first day and she does seem to keep getting cuter and cuter (as Ada keep reminding us). These photos ended up black and white because the light/color at the hospital was so terrible. More photos to come, but hopefully these give you a pretty good introduction to the cutest person in our family.