Cora Louise Hendrickson

4/06/2024

And she's here! Born right on her due date, which was 2 weeks too late for her host body.

Lucia 39 weeks pregnant:

Lucia at any social event 9 months pregnant:

Cora is 5 weeks now so I think, hope, pray **knock on wood** that we are in the clear. When she was first born I was shocked at how much she looked like Avery.

By now she feels like a different baby and has her own sweet little nature

Everyone says different things about having kids and how life is. You'll hear

"3 kids is the hardest, after that it gets easier"

or "After 5 kids, it gets easier"

The thing is, its a different experience for everyone because there are so many factors.

but to me the transition from 2 to 3 is has been easier than transitioning from 1 to 2.

We already had the van, the baby things, the experience, and the executive costco membership when Cora was born. Avery and Thomas are the best of friends and don't seem to notice that mom is checked out, although Avery is very annoyed whenever I sleep in. And you run the risk of waking up to a mess, but good sleep is worth the cleanup.

And the biggest thing for Potato Farmers Wife, is that although she has extensive knowledge in irrigation systems, pesticides, combines and the Irish Potato famine, she did not know much about the postpartum phase. With the last two, she did everything wrong once the baby was born. So learning about what actually takes place biologically, getting advice from friends and doing things differently this time has made a world of difference.

I think I might have read too many books about them strong pioneer women that birthed a baby bouncing along in a covered wagon and the next day were back to business.

ain't no thing!

I saw birth was the end. The end of pregnancy, the end of hormones, the end of the struggle and the beginning of regular life. Which isn't how it is at all. (more to come in another post)

A baby being born is a beginning and an end.

but truly, it is the end of an era.

Cora's birth marks the end of me and Avery and Thomas bobbing around running errands.

The end of being a family of four, its the end of a lot of things.

Its a bit of a panicky thought, like Oh no I wasn't cherishing our grocery store outings when both kids could fit in the grocery cart.

I didn't realize this was so temporary, and now its over. forever.

Lucia processing that she is no longer a mother of two:

Brad reminding Lucia that she had 9 months to prepare for this change

Why is it, when you are in one phase of life, that you just want to be in the NEXT phase.

For instance, right now, all I want is to feel normal, to be sleeping through the night, to have lost the baby weight, and feeling productive. But when that time comes its not as great as you previously fantasized. Then before you know it you are looking at newborn pictures, and all you want is a tiny squirming newborn to snuggle with.

And you forget that reality is not as easy as those pictures. I think God purposely put in delete code in women's brains. All the experiences of pain, sleepless nights, fog brain and unbalanced hormones are set to set to self destruct as soon as your baby reaches 6 months. Then we look at newborn pictures and only remember it as a rosy cozy time.

The female brain looking back on pregnancy :

1 month postpartum:

never again

12months postpartum :

it was kind of fun, actually

But yes, hopefully this post has more meaning than joe biden's speeches because it was written by a foggy mom brain. In which the headquarters have been hijacked, the nucleus is not firing at standard rate, and and the processor is somehow connected to the Sprint network.

Love, peace, happiness and snuggly newborns!

Potato Farmers Wife