The other day I was checking orders when someone came into the soaproom and told us that Valley was starting to push. I finished the order I was working on and ran to grab my layers. I have two sweatshirts, a hoodie, and then a fleece that I wear. It’s a good system, keeping me warm, but it takes a while to put it on.

When I got out there, Valley was having trouble. She was pushing really hard, but there was nothing coming out. Dad got ready and checked her out.

Valley licking Dad after he checked her out

“There’s a bubble, but it’s pretty far back.” Dad said, sitting down in the corner.

“That’s not good. She should have it right there. She’s been pushing too long.” Mom sounded worried.

“We’ll let her push again, and then I’ll see if there’s been any progress.” Dad closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

Emery letting Valley lick him

Emery and Valley

A few minutes later, Valley pushed a couple of times and then took another break. Mom called “Jim?”

Dad didn’t even move. “Is he asleep?” Mom asked, looking at me and Emery. “Dad?” Emery said, a lot louder than he should have. “Shhhh! I would have woken him up if I wanted him woken up.”

Probably about five minutes later, Dad woke up. He checked Valley and told us there was some progress.

I don’t really remember what happened after that. Sleep deprivation will do that to you. 😀

I remember when the baby came out. There’s more pictures here. We checked, and it was a girl! We started throwing out names.

Valentine, Vanessa, Vatican, and a couple of others. Eventually, we decided on Valencia.

Drying her off

We brought her into the milk room and fed her as soon as we had Valley’s colostrum. She ate quite a lot, so there were no worries there!

A still wet Valencia

We were a little worried about Valley. She looked like she had another kid in her, but there wasn’t anything when Dad checked. She wasn’t acting like she was done either, which made us wonder. But eventually we decided she was done.

Valencia’s portrait

After a week with no kids, we had hoped that there would be more than one kid born in a day. But Valencia was it for that day. 🙂