Jeneric Adventures: Shannon Clare

Shannon at her first checkup. One of my favorite pictures of her so alert.

Four years ago, the summer Eric and I got married, the World Cup was played in Germany. I wasn’t a huge soccer fan but ended up watching the games during the times I was running madly on treadmills with my too-snug wedding dress my top priority. I found that even though I didn’t quite understand soccer (what’s up with this off-sides and not being able to beat the defense down the field to receive a pass??!) , the World Cup stage brought electricity to the sport, much like the Olympics. So I watched it, liked it, and we decided we’d be going to South Africa in 2010 to watch it in person.
Ah, little did we know that in 2010 we’d have little Shannon Clare and our lives would be a bit hectic to travel to South Africa for the World Cup. We are so excited to have her that missing a trip to Africa and watching the World Cup isn’t a big deal. She’s that great. Even after the non-stop feedings, lots of crying , lack of sleep, and the anxiety and worry that come with taking care of a someone completely dependent on you, we love her more than we’ve ever loved anything. A distinct line separates the two parts of our lives-life before Shannon and now our lives after Shannon. We gage time with phrases like, “Shannon is a week old today, can you believe its been a whole week?” or, “Shannon took a two hour nap today.” It’s almost like we’ve forgotten what it was like not to have her, even though it’s only been 8 days. We no longer think about ourselves much at all and sometimes even the essentials of life (eating, sleeping) go overlooked while we rock her back to sleep or make sure she has enough to eat.
Someday we’ll go to Ireland and show her the place Eric proposed to me, near the river Shannon in County Clare, and walk through Rossmanaher Castle and tell her our story. These days of sleepless nights will be long past and she’ll be all grown up before we know it. I’m just going to enjoy each day and take lots of pictures to share.

I wanted to give birth naturally, as many of my friends have, and I asked Deborah, Sara, and Natalie to help me through the process. I couldn't have done it without their support! Here's Sara holding Shannon.

Erin is going to be like a big sister to little Shannon.

Natalie was able to be Shannon's nurse! It was wonderful knowing that the person who was taking care of Shannon the first moments of her life and showing Eric how to give her a sponge bath was a very dear friend who I knew loved Shannon as much as we did.

Here's Eric giving Shannon her first sponge bath.

Deborah holding her.

Here's Eric cutting the cord. What an unbelievable feeling to have her laying on me still attached. She was so content.

We are trying to breast feed but it's been a little bit of a struggle. We decided to supplement with a small amount of formula until she begins gaining so here's Eric giving her a bottle. Eric is amazing-he gets up with me at each feeding (at least every 3 hours around the clock) so that after I feed her he can get a bottle ready, change her diaper, and then finish feeding. I couldn't do this without him!