Mollie Has Arrived!

Well, it's slightly old news, but Miss Mollie Grace has arrived - and is a whopping 3 days old now! Praise Jesus! With the exception of a few sleepless nights, everything has just gone more perfectly than we could have even imagined (and it's not like we hadn't imagined the sleepless nights, anyway!)

Early Tuesday morning, Brad and I made our way to Lakeside and they were all ready for me. The surgery began on time, went quickly, and everything was great. Mollie weighed 7 lb 4 oz and was 19.75 in. She's a little smaller than I thought she'd be, to tell you the truth! I actually don't notice a huge difference between her and newborn Natalie ( 5 lb 13 oz, 19.5 in) - she is just a tiny bit longer, but she weighs about 1.5 lbs more. I guess she's just more filled out. Anyway, sometimes we think she looks exactly like Nat, and sometimes we can hardly see a resemblance. I think we can safely say that she has her own look, but they will definitely look like sisters. We think she's pretty adorable, but then we're pretty biased. ;)

My recovery is going really wonderfully. I asked to be discharged a day early than is the norm, and that was fine with my doctor. We could not have been happier with everyone we came into contact with at Lakeside, but there's just something about being in your own home and your own bed! So we were back at home by around 1:00 pm yesterday!

Everything has gone great with Mollie. She is a champion nurser, which is an answer to probably my second biggest prayer for her (#1 being that she be a big mover so NSTs would go well - also COMPLETELY answered!!). She had a reputation in the hospital by the second day for "not getting the memo" that she's a newborn, not a 3-month old baby. The nurses in the nursery could not believe the amount and length of time she ate! It certainly was reassuring and it helped my milk to come in superfast. Yay Mollie!

We did have two fairly sleepless nights in the hospital because Mollie didn't want to sleep on her own, and the hospital has strict policies about the baby being required to be in their bassinet if the adults are sleeping. The lack of sleep was wearing on us in a bad way, and we could not WAIT to get home, mainly because of that. What do you know, last night was sooooo good at home! Brad and I both got sleep while Mollie slept in the bassinet, and she only woke up when I woke her to eat every 4 hours. Her last feeding was right before Natalie woke up this morning, so the timing was great. Natalie was anxious to see her "baby Mahnee" as soon as she got up. :)

Things have been going really great with Natalie as well. She has had a total blast with her cousin Aubrey. We couldn't be more thankful for Lisa and Brad's parents who took care of Nat for us while we were in the hospital. Natalie and Aubrey are only 2 months apart and they get along really well. They wore matching dresses every day when they were out and about and visiting the hospital, and everyone asked them if they were twins. :) Natalie looooooves her "baby Mahnee" so much. She was taken with her from the moment she saw her. All she wants to do is caress Mollie, touch her, tickle her, lean her own head against Mollie's, and give her a million kisses. It's totally adorable and completely melts our hearts. She's a little too brave sometimes, so we're working with her to always be gentle (no poking Mollie's eye to demonstrate it's location, etc).

Well, Brad is questioning my description of this post as being the abridged version, but it really is! I could go on for days about all that's taken place over the past week, but I think I've covered it fairly well here. I'm also attaching lots of pictures. Enjoy! :) Hopefully I'll be back to posting lots of pics lots more often SOON!