Josie’s Arrival

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! u00a0That’s what I kept saying as I admired these precious photos, Red! u00a0:) u00a0Congratulations and much love to your sweet Josie!

Are you guys up to 30 yet?

Red, I am just so happy for you and your family, and looking through these pictures brought tears to my eyes. Congratulations, my friend!

Congratulations! Absolutely beautiful photos, too!

I love the photo of Gianna kissing her.

AHHH. Beautiful pictures, and what a joyful time. Love it, and can’t wait to meet Josie!

unreal. I am so proud of G! and so glad she could be there for her newest sister. Your family is astounding. A massive congratulations from your 35-weeks pregnant friend in Germany who is feeling inspired enough by these pictures to temporarily shelve any labor and delivery fears. Thanks for sharing, Miller Family.

What a beautiful story and pictures! Congrats!

These are phenomenal. Your closing caption “it never gets old!” says so much. This post is a true witness to me of the gift of life. Sometimes it all seems so overwhelming and exhausting. But we all really are blessed, even satiated, with life’s greatest riches. Thank you, Red.

Congratulations Red and family! Josephine is beautiful and your sister did a great job capturing her first moments ex utero! I have been reading a book on Catholic parenting recently that encourages bringing siblings along to births, and I was wondering how it would be done. I think the way you did it with Gianna is a good way to go. I am interested to know whether she feels somehow closer to her new after being there for most of the labour and straight after the birth, and whether you’d do it that way again?

Helen, I am sure that Red will expand on this topic at some point, but my 2 cents is that G is a very sensitive and mature child who has always been tuned in to pregnancy, praying for more siblings, especially little sisters.u00a0 I think she has felt very close to this baby all along.u00a0 Also, Red knew in advance that she needed an epidural for this birth, so the situation was a little bit more managed than some of Red’s other births.nu00a0 nWhen we told our oldest girl that G was going to be there, she immediately said that it sounded “gross and scary.”u00a0 Also, my gut instinct is that the few minutes following the birth are times that my husband and I get to be alone with that baby, while the rest of the child’s life will be intensely sibling driven.u00a0 Lastly, I sometimes have an emotional breakdown when my babies are born, something that I would not want another child to witness.u00a0 nnI don’t throw any of this out to criticize Red’s decision, which seems to have gone beautifully, but just to say that each family is going to come at this very differently.

Congratulations again! Beautiful photos. I too liked the statement “It never gets old”. As a parent I enjoy repeating events – I get better at handling them. It was exciting each time I delivered my daughters. Loved the photo of biggest sis/littlest sis. Your sister did a great job. Congrats and rest up while you can.u00a0

I just counted, and including Therese and Lucy, the builders have collectively delivered 30 babies!!!!u00a0 Josie officially makes 30!u00a0 Wow ladies, that is some good work

absolutely beautiful! u00a0So happy for you guys! u00a0God is so good!

Helen,nnI think it really depends upon the child and the family.u00a0 MA is right, Gianna is very mature and sensitive in this particular department.u00a0 I think the loss of her big sister Therese has very much impacted her, as we talk about Therese and Kat’s baby Lucy a lot, and she has a very real sense of the gift of a sibling and how special babies are.u00a0 So for her age (just shy of 8), she is mature.u00a0 I thought she might want to be there for some of Josie’s first moments, so I asked her about it a couple of months ago.u00a0 She immediately lite up and said she wanted to come, no matter how late at night and no matter how long she had to “wait” at the hospital (she brought a book and read).u00a0 We talked about how it may take a long time, how she would be asked to leave the room when I started feeling really yucky and for the actual delivery.u00a0 She seemed to have an understanding of the “plan” and be excited about it, so we contacted my sister and asked her to be a “support” person for Gianna.u00a0 We then contacted the hospital and made plans with them to have her present.u00a0 nnI knew I would need an epidural b/c of a postpartum complication with my last delivery, and this impacted our decision as well.u00a0 I talked to a few other moms whose daughters attended their births, and that also gave me a good idea of what to expect and areas of concern.u00a0 From their reports, girls as young as 9 did very well present for the actual delivery.nnI am thrilled with the way things went!u00a0 Gianna is thrilled to have been there, and I think her presence will only help form a strong bond with Josie.nnBut as MA stated, every kid is different!u00a0 I think our kids can often give us a very good idea of what they want and can handle. u00a0u00a0 nn

Congratulations to you and your family!u00a0 What a beautiful baby girl and I love the name!

Congratulations, Red! I’m so glad everything went well for you and Josie and that G was able to be there. I’m sure she will remember itu00a0 forever. nnOur first, who was 2.5 at the time, was there for the birth of our second. We had a home birth which made it pretty easy for him to be there. He was great during the whole thing and was even there for the delivery. My sister took him out of the room because she thought it would scare him but he got mad and wanted to see. I remember how wide his eyes were and that he kept saying baby, baby, baby. He is very close with his sister and I do believe his presence at the birth helped to make their bond so strong. I can foresee a time in the future, however, when he may not want to be there for the birth of a sibling and I will respect that. Heck, there may be a time when I don’t want my other children there I’m sure the age and tempermant of the child play a big part in it.

Thanks MA and Red. Good point about children’s personalities being an important factor in deciding whether to bring them along or not. I’m glad it all went so well for you!nnI agree with Kathy – “it never gets old” is a great statement! A good one liner for theu00a0naysayers who question large familiesu00a0:0)

Congratulations to all of the Millers!u00a0 I’m so happy for you.u00a0 Josie is a very lucky baby to be born into your family.u00a0

[...] Some of the pictures (taken by Red’s talented sister) are too cute for words, so go see them here.  I especially like the “screaming at the top of my lungs” shot, and the “proud [...]