Susannah Joy

As I write this entry, I am beyond tired, so this won't be a long one. Just wanted to get some more pictures up of our precious little girl. Being a mama is OVERWHELMING in every way. Words cannot describe the experience, but I do want to try in a few days when I am feeling a bit more settled into this role and all its beautiful demands. I will share our birth story, as well as gushings from my overflowing heart. I have never, ever known love like that which I have for Susannah Joy. She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen, and I am brought to tears every time I look at her or think about her! Bringing her home this afternoon made me weep...at her beauty, at God's faithful provision of her, and at the way her birth has completely changed how I see the world. And she's only three days old!

We are home from our extended hospital stay at long, long last. We were able to stay an extra day because Susannah is struggling to nurse, and the dr. and lactation consultant thought it best that we give her a bit more time to learn. She likes the "lazy daisy" way of breastfeeding: she latches on, sucks a few times, and then expects gravity (or mama) to take over and allow colostrum to drip down her throat as she sleeps. We are continuing to work and work on teaching her to suck more vigorously from my breast, but she may not succeed until my milk comes in and flows a bit more freely than does the colostrum. Hopefully by tomorrow or Monday, we'll have a little breastfeeding barracuda! In the meanwhile, we will keep up the finger-and-syringe feedings that the lactation consultant taught us to do. We are hopeful that her devoted daddy will not lose a finger to her powerful suck!!!

I am going to get in an hour of rest before her 8pm feeding. More reflections in the next few days! We are both soooooo enraptured by this little one...

Oh--For those of you who are wondering...it's hard to tell in the pictures, but her hair is indeed strawberry blonde!!!!!! In the sunlight, it looks even more red. She has officially lived up to her in utero nickname!!! Oh, I adore her...

You will notice that she is sleeping in almost all of the pictures. This is because sleep is something she has mastered beautifully (at this point, anyway!). It is not something I am familiar with, though, because her feedings take about an hour and a half...and happen every three hours (the three hours is timed from the start of one feeding to the start of the next). The pictures are in reverse order...from Grammy and Pop's visit on Thursday, to time in the hospital with Mommy and Daddy, to homegoing day (today). I can't get enough, so bear with me!