She's here!!!

Hello everyone!

Meet the newest member of the family, and do pardon her yellow chunky make-up! :o)

Joy Corinne Langemann, about 20 minutes old.

December 7, 2010

5 lbs 12 oz, 18.5 inches long

This Tuesday, our little family of three became a little family of four, with two daughters! "Thumper" surprised a lot of people by being a girl, but she has brought nothing but j-o-y to everyone! In the last couple weeks of pregnancy, Josh and I both had the quiet thought that we were about to have a second girl, and WOO-HOO - we were right!!!

Psalm 105:43 was a rhema the Lord gave me right around Joy's due date. (which was Nov 28th) It reads: "For He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness." In the last tiring days of pregnancy, the Lord was gently encouraging me that He would complete the good work He began, and that it would be "with gladness."

Psalm 30:5 was given to me by my dear Mother-in-law two days before Joy was born. It reads "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning." Now, our Joy missed the actual morning by 56 minutes, but it was a very appropriate to describe the rest of the birth - through the night, and rather painful, due to her mostly posterior position.

Joy was born at home under the care of excellent midwives. As was much hoped for and prayed for, she was a good deal bigger than her sister Hope, weighing in at 5 lb 12 oz - a quarter again as much as Hope was when Hope was born. Joy measured 18 1/2 inches long, which is the same length I was when I was born.

My dear Mum and Hope getting their first look at the baby.
Joy was born at home, and born into water, which was a very good experience and one I will gladly repeat if given the chance! It is so special to have my Mum here with us, even though Hope's needs prevented Mum from witnessing Joy's actual birth. I'm so thankful for Mum's sacrificial giving, keeping Hope occupied, and fetching warm towels from the dryer to keep Joy warm once she got out of the pool.
After a long and painful 21 hrs of labour I was pretty spent. Tara, the student midwife who attended the birth, caringly helped me out of the pool. I must say this - midwives are very strong ladies!
She's all Langemann, this baby! I think she looks a lot like her Uncle Andrew.

For going from breech to head down, to head engaged for two weeks, to posterior to anterior and then to posterior again for most of the labour, Joy came out with an amazingly perfect looking head! She "cork-screwed" her way out, and did actually come out the right way up! Her little tummy was such a joy for me to look down and see!
She has a very strong grip already, and her fingers are very active if she's awake, doing a unique fanning sort of motion.
That's my midwife, Heidi, weighing the baby! Tara and I go for a high five at the announcement of 5 lb 12 oz, as that was our unspoken guess! Also pictured here is Cathy Harness, the senior midwife in this team of three.
As I fed Joy for the first time, the midwives sat down and tackled the paperwork. Talk about expert care! These ladies are amazing. Each one added such a unique element to the birth. I'm thankful for Heidi's energy, instruction, and friendship to me through our long night and full day together. Tara brought steady helping hands and ready conversation if I needed to be distracted. Cathy's peaceful spirit and demeanor and obvious experience brought an assurance to the whole atmosphere. Each of these ladies believes in our Lord, and what a joy it was to know that when going through something as amazing as labour!

Hats off to this crew who left my marathon birth and headed straight for another one, with the exception of Cathy who went home for a bit first.
As I was giving birth Lorrie and Amy were on an airplane headed our direction. They didn't mind waiting an extra while at the airport as all hands were on deck here at the house for a while. My Mum headed out and picked them up just before suppertime.
Hope's first time touching Joy - hand in hand, our two precious daughters. Now Hope thinks Joy should hold her finger all the time she sees her, regardless of whether Joy is awake or asleep!
If that isn't a picture of happiness, I don't know what is!
I really wanted my Mum to be the first one to bathe Joy, so after Hopey-Doodle was down for the night, the rest of us gathered in the bedroom to watch Joy get all clean!
She was peaceful all the way through the hair washing, and showed us all that she has good lungs through the washing of the rest of her!
Joy has those intent, focused, and bright eyes, just like Hope did.
And, just like we witnessed at Hope's birth, Joy is very attentive and responsive to her Daddy's voice, and turns her head toward him anytime she hears his voice.
Funny, I think I have a picture of Hope when she was about a week old wearing this same sleeper and blanket with Josh wearing this exact shirt.
Both my girls in my arms. I couldn't be more blessed!
Granny (my Mum) burping Joy for me before bedtime last night. Notice the finger action!

Enjoy Hopey-Doodle giving you a tour of Joy's little face. :o)