So where have we been? Oh, just having a baby is all!! Our daughter Marlie Bea Lagstein arrived on November 20, 2009.
It was very surreal bringing a new family member home and realizing that our lives have changed forever. She has filled our home with more love than we could ever have imagined.
We want to thank everyone for your support and outpouring of well wishes. For all the love we have received from friends and family – our hearts are overflowing – and Marlie is soaking it all up.
So what happened? Well, I went into labor at 3:30 am and I was in complete denial. I spent a really long time having contractions all by myself before waking up Eric. By the time I woke him up my contractions were only one minute apart and we had to race to the hospital. Eric was so shocked and in such a slumber he couldn’t remember how to get to the hospital which is only a 5 mile drive. It was a scene for the movies. I was giving him directions in between my contractions and telling him to pass cars and go through red lights. At least we showed up at the hospital laughing. Although he started out a little shaky he quickly got himself together and proved to be the most amazing and supportive husband and labor coach in the world.
I will spare you all of the wonderful details of my labor – I wound up having a c-section. Thank goodness we had such an amazing team of nurses and doctors – I feel I owe my life to them all because they brought our baby into this world safely.
We were in no rush to name her. We spent a few days getting to know her. With 10 names in our pocket, no other name ever came to mind. After about 2 days we knew she was Marlie Bea. Marlie is for my Grandmother Mariel and Bea is for Eric’s Grandmother Beatrice.
After the c-section I had to spend a long time in recovery while Eric was with the baby. The picture above shows the one moment I got to see her before they took her away to check her vitals. Recovery was really tough because all I wanted was to be with her. Eric insisted that they bring her to me. He actually stood up to a line of 5 nurses who were saying that the baby needed to stay under the warmers for another 2 hours before she could come to me. Eric did tons of research before our birth and knew that mom was the best warmer over any stupid machine, he insisted and off he went with her – GO DAD! The photo below is when I really got to meet her. I was in heaven and when I looked up all of our parents had snuck into the room to see this moment. I was so happy to see them all there, all 8 of them and not a dry eye in the house.
The first picture of the new Lagstein family!!!!!!!!!!
Eric took this shot the next morning and it’s one of our favorites. The first of many mornings waking up to these eyes.
Unfortunately when we got home Eric came down with the flu. It was sooooo awful and soooo sad, he had a very high fever and he was banished to “exile island” (a.k.a the guest bedroom upstairs) for 4 full days. It was heartbreaking that he could not be with us in the beginning but he was more sick than he has ever been before. He did not want to pass it on to Marlie. The morning he came back to us Marlie gave him the biggest smile in the world – it was crazy and brought us to tears. She has an amazing connection with Eric. She lights up when he comes in the room, looks at her, talks to her, holds her…
Before we could blink our eyes Marlie was showing us her personality. She is such an expressive little one. She makes little noises all day long (and night too). She stares at you intensely as if she is computing everything that you are. And best of all she has been a smiling fool since day 5.
I’m not going to lie that Maggie is a little sad that she doesn’t get all the attention any more, but she has completely accepted her new rung on the ladder without a fuss. She is so gentle and sweet as can be with Marlie and I’m sure cannot wait until Marlie is big enough to play with her.
And here are two shots from a little creative session we did with Marlie around 2 weeks.
We’ve had a wonderful beginning to parenthood. As we are finding some normalcy in our new lives as a family of three, we realize how blessed we are. Off we go on this new journey. More to come…
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