two of 1,320,000,002ish: Emma's arrival

Dear Emma,
Welcome to the world and welcome to our family! It comforts me to know that no matter how life turns out, you were born to the world with our love and given the utmost care that we could provide. You are blessed with welcome from our extended family and friends around the world whom have been waiting for your arrival with great anticipation. You’ve brought joy to us and I expect that life for us will only get better.

Your birth was not a smooth one. You were a second away from needing to be C-sectioned out. It was as if you had planned to arrive exactly on your due date, perhaps to meet this Santa person who gives presents, but then at the last minute decided against it (did you find out about the naughty or nice list?) and dug your heels in. Right before it was time to for me to push, your back was to the side and you were refusing to turn over, slipping back into your spot despite our efforts. After 15 hours of labor, the last 5 hours were you digging in your heels, you finally arrived. You were 4kg exact (8.8 lbs), 53cm (20.8 in), and a head circumference of 36.5 cm (14.4 in). To put that in perspective, you're in the top 10th percentile of female babies in terms of weight and height, but your head size is in the top 5th percentile. I most likely will constantly remind you of this and claim that you owe me, but really I just hope for you to remember that we worked hard to have you in our life and wish for you to live it to the fullest.

People say that you look like daddy, but I think you look like me. Your full head of hair is definitely from me, but your hair style is daddy’s. Your eyes are mine, and maybe nose too. Your mouth is daddy’s, but we’re not sure who you get your non-eyebrows from. When I try to claim that you got my chin, daddy asks which one? (double-chin entendre) Regardless of who you look like, you’ve got personality of your own that we adore.