Welcome to the World, Lydia Ann!

I originally set out for this post to be a birth story of sorts. But the would-be narrative about a most blessed and holy event is simply not going to happen here and now. I guess I’m running with C.S. Lewis’s advice:

“Life is too deep for words, so don’t try to describe it, just live it.”

Right on, chief, right on. This little babe has brought new hope and true healing to our family — hope and healing I didn’t even know we (read, I) needed. So I’m not even attempting, for now, to put words to all this spiritual goodness percolating within me. I’m simply trying to live, learn, soak it up, and hopefully continue to grow into the mom God is calling me to be … the mom I want to become, too.

For now, enjoy some photos of Lydia’s first hours of life — {pretty, happy, funny, real} style.

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Lydia Ann Schmidt, born Saturday, October 26, 2013 at 7:52 p.m., weighing in at 9 pounds, 9 ounces and measuring 22-inches long. For those keeping score at home, her head’s circumference was 14-inches.

One quick mention about Cristin and Sam, the labor and delivery nurses on call at Mercy Medical Center the night I delivered. When the two walked into my birthing suite, Sam, a nursing student shadowing Cristin, proclaimed, “You’re in luck. Cristin gets it done!”

My kind of gal, and boy was she a gift. She appreciated and understood my strong desires to deliver Lydia via VBAC, and did everything she could to help me get that babe in perfect position as quickly as possible. And talk about quick. Joel and I left home at 3:00 p.m., checked in at Mercy around 3:30, got into my delivery suite at 4:00, and by 7:52 p.m. were looking at this beautiful face.

And then a few minutes later, this moment! Pure bliss!

Daddy had his moment, too!

While soaking up this moment here, Joel asked the nurses, “So ‘Cristin gets it done’ … what’s that all about?” Turns out Cristin has one of the lowest c-section rates of all nurses there and takes great pride in helping women naturally deliver their babes. Well played, Holy Spirit, well played! (And thank you for putting me along Cristin’s path!)

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I explained the Biblical roots of Lydia’s name to one of our mother/baby nurses (Acts 16:14), so the nurse “glued” a pretty purple bow in Lydia’s hair. Isn’t she lovely?

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“I don’t have to pretend I have a sister anymore!”

From the moment Lucy learned we were expecting, she started praying for a little sister. Every night during evening prayers, and I do mean every single night, she asked the Lord to gift her with a sister. If only I could have bottled up the squeals on the other end of the phone when we called Lucy from the hospital to tell her she now in fact had a baby sister.

With her lovely assistant by her side (my mom), our resident chef-in-training then baked her new favorite person an official “birth-date” cake.

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Our first family of five photo … also that moment when Jude figures out he is now a middle child and the only boy to boot!

Kiddo, given your dad and I are both middles, we’ve got your back. Hang on for the ride of your life! With that, I hear C.S. Lewis in my ear again. Time to sign off and enjoy living this sacred babymoon.

Post linked up with {pretty, happy, funny, real} hosted at Like Mother, Like Daughter.