Violet is 1

365 days ago I gave birth to Violet. It was pretty easy and fun. Except for, you know, the last 30 mintues. Then my placenta was so attached to me it just couldn't bear to leave but my uterus was trying its darndest to evict the reluctant placenta. The result being that my impatient uterus was merely forcing voluminous amounts of blood through the tenacious placenta's open vessels. Since this experience I would never be afraid to bleed to death. Minus the painful uterine contractions bleeding to death would be a very tolerable way to die. Just a ringing in the ears and some tunnel vision then...nothing. The only really uncomfortable thing about it (again, minus the painful uterine contractions) was fighting to maintain consciousness. For Grant, who looked scared but stalwart, but mostly for my baby who'd just been born and who I wanted to meet and nurse and coo over. It was many hours (8 to be exact) after her birth before I really had the presence of mind to be her mother and I miss those hours immensly. She has been such a joy since those first moments when I finally got to be with her and I wish that I hadn't missed any of it. I wish I had been able to enjoy her from the first second when her outside body temperature was still the same as my inside body temperature. Here she is a year later with her hair constantly in her eyes and her brothers and sisters constantly adoring her.