I have two babies

Hello from the mother of two Jones girls.

Right now there is something really special happening: both Anne and June are asleep.

Anne has really been fighting the naps lately. This tortures her with sleeplessness both during the day and night. It tortures me with fatigue and tries my patience. We are working on it. At first a bribe of a sucker would convince her to lay still and snuggle her blanket long enough to sleep. Now, she outright says, "I'm not taking a nap!" She is a totally different person without her routine 1–3pm snooze. Wanting Anne to nap, hoping Anne will nap, and how to get Anne to nap are some of my most frequent prayers. I miss my happy napper.

June is a superb napper—during the day. Her long ol' three hour snoozeroos are during daylight hours. About midnight to 3 am she is bright eyed and curious. Hopefully soon she will figure out that we want to play in the day and sleep in the night. I am careful not to wish any moment with her away, though. She is so precious and small and fills my heart with gratitude.

Bringing Anne into the world was a lot of painful work. Birthing June was totally different.

My labor with June was gradual over the three weeks leading up to her birthday. By the time I wondered if my water had broken and maybe thought my contractions were getting to be something like labor I was already dilated to a 5. The nurses at the hospital didn't really take me seriously, though, because I was so chill. It just felt like cramps. I was admitted around 10pm because my water had indeed broken (they had to test twice to be sure). Some bouncy ball action, a nap, and a nice long hot shower took me to about 5 am.

Only shortly after that did I start to have contractions painful enough to request an epidural. I got some intravenous pain medication to help me hold still for the epidural, and let me tell you, the combination of those two forms of pain relief was amazing. I slept/concentrated on relaxing my entire self for the birth without feeling a bit of pain. Hours of this wasn't doing the trick to get me open enough to push, though, so I got me a little pitocin to help.

By 11am, I was a full 10 and ready to push. June's head was practically peeking out by this point, and I was giddy and ready to deliver her. The room was calm, the nurse and doctors were relaxed and helpful. It was rewarding and exciting and painless to push my baby out. She came quickly (by 11:30 am) and was healthy and beautiful. I would do it all again.