Welcome to our family, Sophie June!

Sophie June Vincent was born at dawn on October 13th- the day a cold front blew in and turned Charlottesville's leaves their beautiful autumn reds and golds. The perfect day for a birth day.

All together, it was 12 hours of labor (after 2 false starts in past 2 weeks) with the first 6 hours so easy that after Lucas was dropped off with friends, Laith and I went out for a leisurely stroll and then ate dinner out! Contractions were 2-5 min apart the whole time! I suppose I could have gone on for another day like that but we were ready to get the show on the road so we checked into the hospital. By then, Laith's mom arrived from WV so Lucas had her to stay the night with him. The intensity of the contractions didn't ramp up until the Dr broke my water. 6 hours later (30 min of pushing), Sophie June arrived! It was so nice to be mentally present for this birth. With Lucas I was so exhausted from the 29 hrs of torturous back-labor and 4 hrs of pushing that his birth is all a surreal blur. Luckily we have pictures of him from those first several days! I still vividly remember seeing Sophie for the first time. I couldn't believe she was out of me already- it was too simple! We had a REAL baby! I saw her back and chubby (!) legs first. And then her CUTE face! I noticed right away she has Laith's (and Lucas') nose. And I think my eye-shape. Her head was perfectly round like a ball and her feet were so tiny. I love Lucas so much that I couldn't imagine loving another baby but as soon as I saw Sophie, that love was instantly there. I was just amazed by her simple existence. I got to hold her for a few seconds while her mouth and nose were suctioned. She had swallowed a lot of amniotic fluid. Then the nurse took her to a little isolette where a mechanical suction machine was used for a few minutes before she was returned to me. Later that morning, Lucas and Grammy arrived to meet Sophie for the first time. I was ready with my camera and caught Lucas' expression upon first seeing us. The rest of the photos were taken by the talented Laith as I lay in bed recovering.