Hanna Elise
She’s here! It only took the best part of my life, a miracle conception and 28 hours of labor before she made her debut; September 8th, 2015. She peeked over the blue curtain with her glossy eyes and slick pink skin, wailing and wiggling toward me for our first kiss. They say there’s a huge rush of oxytocin when you first give birth (the love hormone to help the bonding process) and I was swimming in it. But truly I was in love with her back in January when I first saw a flash of light in a Lima bean shape on the ultrasound. My heart didn’t have a chance. I’ve been waiting for this little one to enter my life for years. And she finally arrived—welcome Hanna Elise Newman Wieden.
Now she’s just over two months old and like many great parents before me I can say wholeheartedly, the world looks different.
As I watch the last few leaves fall from the vines I can’t help but wonder, how will I manage to enter this new career with a little one in tow? I mean, it seemed like such a natural, wonderful dream but the real day-to-day operations of it all are still a little bit of a mystery to me. Honestly, most days how to get a shower and pay a few bills are a mystery to me. I’m eternally grateful for the friends and family that keep us buoyant. It would be impossible to bring her into the world without the loving people around me. (Enter village cliché here.) I keep telling myself that people do this all the time, and we’ll figure it out. Start a new career and raise a child by yourself, no problem, right? Right.