K. J. Walker arrived in the wee hours of the morning on September 21, 2022. His birth was finally what I wanted out of labor & delivery: quick, in the hospital, with a doula and wonderful OB, just gas & air for pain management, and most importantly, safe, peaceful and non-traumatic.
My first two births were pretty wild by comparison, but I finally feel at peace and honestly like I could have five more kids if my labors and deliveries were that wonderful! (Kidding, kidding.)
I chose not to share about my pregnancy publicly this time around because pregnancy #2–my pandemic pregnancy, precipitous delivery & baby who was born quite sick–did not make me excited to go through pregnancy and birth again. Just because I love having babies doesn’t mean I love what it takes to get them here! I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth everything went this time around, but I still liked that the pressure was off and I could deal with any issues that came up privately.
I had two minor health issues arise in the third trimester: pneumonia that took me over a month to get rid of and muscle spasms in my back that were seriously worse than labor! A big shoutout to my chiropractor at SUNU Wellness in Linden Hills for basically curing that, though–however you feel about alternative medicine, it really did work for me for this issue.
I feel like I should mention that this time around, my OB clinic (Clinic Sofia), doulas (Mama Sprout Doulas), chiro, my parents, Eric’s parents, and a few others were all involved in making this pregnancy and birth a great experience. It takes a village even before babies are born, and so many people showed up for us in big and little ways this time. I’m very, very grateful.
K is a chunky, easygoing baby who loves to nurse, sleep, and make grouchy faces at the rest of the family. My first was a horrid sleeper as a newborn, my second was awesome and K is somewhere in between, so I’m not too sleep deprived at the moment lol.
Overall we are doing well, life is VERY busy and as noted in the title, this is our first of three big pieces of family news to share this fall! I’ll be sharing #2 and #3 later this week/early next week. I don’t usually tease things like that but this news does deserve its own posts, and K deserves his. I won’t keep you waiting too long 🙂
And since the end of my pregnancy as usual turned into a long hiatus from blogging–tell me something that’s happening in your life right now in the comments! Let’s catch up!
xx Claire