And time passes, and life changes...

Well, it's been almost a year since I lasted posted on here. My sweet Rachel just turned one last week! I can't believe how fast the year went! She has been such a doll, a cute and calm baby that everyone adores. She's walking a little bit and not saying any real words yet, but babbles more. It has been so much fun having a little girl! The clothes for one are much cuter and she has over 100 headbands, bows, and flowers. And she is such a cuddlebug still, and very much a mommy's girl. :) Here is a collage I made of her from her first year:

See, she's a total doll, right?!

Anyway, we have started thinking about having our next (and last) baby. It would be fun to have another girl so Rachel can have a sister, but obviously the odds favor me having a boy lol. We are not preventing so just letting it happen whenever. I've heard that the midwife who I had with Rachel no longer does VBA2C, which is a bummer. But we are planning to move soon so I would have probably needed to find a new one anyway. I'm already in the ICAN group for the area we are moving to, so hopefully they can give me some good referrals. I believe there is a birth center there that can take VBA2C so I'm going to look into that. We are planning to live in a more rural area so I'm not comfortable with trying a homebirth without a hospital close by, but a birth center would be wonderful if they'd take me.

I sometimes find it so odd to think that my last c/s was almost 6 years ago (Nathan will be 6 in a few months!) and my first was almost 10 years ago. Where has the time gone?! With the passing time I've found more peace with those experiences. I don't know if I ever would have done more research and learned more about birth if it hadn't been for that first c/s. And the 2nd one was truly necessary. Sometimes I still think back and imagine how it "should have gone" but it's more wistful instead of angry and sad. I know I would make the same decision over and over again for my baby. I have had so many different birth experiences that it helps me to be able to provide support and information for others during their pregnancies and birth. I can tell them what it's like to have an epidural or go natural, healing from tears, having a c/s with an epidural or general anesthesia, and what to expect from all those different recoveries. I have been with my sister through her deliveries to support and encourage. When my SIL had an emergency c/s I was able to talk to her about what helped me during my recoveries. My experiences have helped me learn and grow and be able to help others, and that is a wonderful thing!