It's a girl!

Brynja Dawn was born on Saturday, July 23rd at 12:27 p.m. She was 7 pounds 14 ounces, 21 1/2 inches.

My midwife broke my water a little after 9:3o a.m., and contractions quickly followed so I did not need to be induced. Ryley and I walked down to the kitchen and I had some strawberry ice cream and peanut butter toast along with some milk. I stopped in between eating to rock back and forth during contractions. About 45 minutes into it I was no longer able to carry on a conversation. The amazing nurse Julie helped me into the tub where I labored for another hour or so to some relaxing music. Things got so intense and I just couldn't catch my breath. I remember the midwife and the nurse asking me questions and I just couldn't respond or couldn't think beyond the pain. I was glad to be able to labor in the water, but I got overheated and got out when I was starting to feel the urge to push.

I really loved that the midwife never checked to see if I was dilated after she broke my water. She just told me to listen to my body. I remember feeling uncertain and wanting more direction, but finally I gave in to what nature was doing and began to push. She was out in less than 15 minutes.

My brain was not able to wrap itself around the idea that it was over. I continued to brace myself for more contractions while my sweet baby girl was lying on my chest. I finally collected myself to ask if anyone told Ryley if it was a boy or a girl. I had known since January that we were to have a daughter, but he wanted to be surprised. The midwife said, "Why don't you have a look, Ryley?" He leaned over and said, "Yep, it's a boy." I snapped my neck in his direction... thinking "could it be?" But the midwife quickly said, "You better check again." And so it was, that Ryley finally had the daughter he has been hoping for.

We had discussed mostly boy names throughout the pregnancy since Ryley was thinking it would be a boy. But when it came to girl names, we each had a name that we were stuck on. And neither of us seemed willing to budge.

I actually came upon the name "Brynja" an hour before we left for the hospital. We had the name "Bryn" on our long list of girl names, but it just wouldn't work for me since the middle name would be "Dawn" after my late mother. "Bryn Dawn Blair," all one syllable names - I was not feeling that. Anyway, "Brynja" is a Scandinavian name that means "armor."

Sweet Brynja is 3 1/2 weeks old now, and we are settling into a new normal. She is such a blessing. I spent years worrying that I would be stuck with a daughter someday, but of course I knew that if I ever had one I would think back to how naive that was. I just love how God plans everything out for us, and while that doesn't mean life will be easy, I feel so loved that He planned this baby girl to be our daughter. We are in love with her, almost as much as big brother Sawyer is! And Sawyer is finally starting to warm back up to me, too... he was not a fan of mine since she was born.