My mother, the eldest of eight children, grew up in San Diego, where, by the time the youngest were born, the family lived in a house with a large garden. In that garden grew a pomegranate tree that had never borne fruit.
My mother was grown up and married when her youngest sister, Annie, decided she knew what the tree needed. Perhaps inspired by the nest eggs used to encourage the chickens to lay, Annie took a pomegranate ornament from the Christmas boxes and hung it from the tree. To show it what to do, she said. Her older sisters laughed indulgently, as I imagine it. Only Annie would think of something like that.
The next year, the tree bore fruit.
Perhaps I am a little like that tree myself: not 24 hours after Sugar gave me the necklace in the previous post, our daughter arrived.
Jackalope, born February 8, 2014, at 2:36 in the afternoon. Seven pounds, 13.6 ounces of healthy, beloved girl. Her first name is for my mother and her mother; her middle is for Sugar’s maternal grandmother.
I am tired and a bit beat up, but happy. I will tell you the whole story one of these days, but I feel I owe it to you not to leave you wondering about whether I’ll be in therapy for this one, too. And I won’t. Everyone was wonderful, everyone. There were times I was frightened or upset, but never because someone was frightening me or trying to upset me. College Friend was perfect. Dr. Joy, the OB I was most afraid of when coming to this practice, told me I was safe and held my feet in her lap while she stitched my tears.
And you all, you were wonderful, too. I mean it.
February 9, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Perfection! Congratulations!
February 9, 2014 at 3:43 pm
How wonderful! Congratulations, and welcome to little Jackalope!
February 9, 2014 at 3:47 pm
Congrats! π She looks wonderful.
February 9, 2014 at 4:01 pm
Congratulations! So glad to hear everything went well, and your daughter is here. Rest when you can, and enjoy this miraculous arrival.
February 9, 2014 at 4:05 pm
A thousand congratulations! I’m so glad she’s here!
February 9, 2014 at 4:15 pm
Joy to the world and your family especially! So very happy for you. What a testament to motherly love. Best wishes to all.
February 9, 2014 at 4:47 pm
She’s gorgeous! Congratulation, moms!!
February 9, 2014 at 5:08 pm
oh, I am so so so happy for you – a general lurker but I’ve followed along for so long that I’m in tears reading this. I hope the next few days are just as lovely, and you are all able to enjoy being a family of 4 at home, soon. Congrats on a good delivery, and welcome to the world Jackalope – you certainly are cute.
February 9, 2014 at 5:26 pm
Well, hooray all around! congratulations!
February 9, 2014 at 6:23 pm
Such great news, I’ve been thinking about all of you!
February 9, 2014 at 8:29 pm
Her first name is the same as my sister’s! And she’s adorable. Collect the whole set of Bionic-Sugar babies.
February 9, 2014 at 8:44 pm
Congratulations! She is perfection. And while I saw news of her arrival earlier, elsewhere, I have been holding my breath hoping this birth experience was a better one. So glad it was. Hugs to you.
February 9, 2014 at 9:06 pm
perfect baby. perfect post.
February 9, 2014 at 9:22 pm
I am so delighted for you! A beautiful daughter, and a not-awful birth.
I am strangely proud of Dr Joy for her comforting words and I am so so glad that it was not the experience you were dreading.
Hugest congratulations. Now go snuggle that baby and don’t worry about us internet peoples. We will keep!
February 9, 2014 at 9:48 pm
I’m a lurker who was brought to tears here, and so I have to say, congratulations, and welcome, Jackalope! I’m so relieved to hear that this was a happy birth.
February 9, 2014 at 10:44 pm
She’s lovely. Congratulations.
February 9, 2014 at 11:44 pm
What a radiant girl! I’m so so happy for you! How marvelous!
February 10, 2014 at 4:20 am
Congratulations! Oh she is absolute perfection. I am so very pleased to hear you had a positive experience this time. Xxx
February 10, 2014 at 8:01 am
this brought a tear to my eye. I am so happy to hear there was kindness at your birth.
she is lovely…congrats to you all!! β€
February 10, 2014 at 9:47 am
hooray! She is beautiful! Congrats on the labor — and delivering such a cutie.
February 10, 2014 at 1:03 pm
Congratulations on that gorgeous baby!
February 10, 2014 at 1:38 pm
I cried reading this. Congratulations, my dear. She is beautiful. I’m so glad it has all gone well. I hope it continues to be so.
xoxo
February 10, 2014 at 2:45 pm
WAAAAAAAAH! She’s so lovely and I’m so, so happy and tearful! So happy she is safely here, and you are safely alive, and so in love with her beautiful serene face… I wish I could give her a big unsanitary kiss. Congratulations, mamas and brother! Magic. Jacklope, to me, is a store I went to back home. They sold stuff from Mexico, and for a kid, it as a total wonderland. I lusted after these little clay tea sets, totally crude, but tiny and brightly colored and amazing. Which is all just a long winded way of saying I’ve been imagining her as a girl (uh, not because only girls can play with tea sets, but because I was a girl, see?) and am glad not to have to make an adjustment.
February 11, 2014 at 4:50 pm
Jackalope! It the best store, and so hard to describe! We must be from the same area as I loved it as a kid too. And now! My daughter has one of those little tea sets. π
February 10, 2014 at 5:44 pm
Oh she’s beautiful! Congratulations! I’m so glad to hear that the experience this time was so much better!
February 10, 2014 at 9:32 pm
She really is delectable. I can’t wait to meet her. Hope you all are settling in well together.
February 10, 2014 at 10:34 pm
Oh congrats! I’m a lurker, but I’m so very happy for you and Sugar and the bean and the new, precious, perfect Jackalope.
February 11, 2014 at 1:19 am
Congratulations!! I’m so very very happy to hear this.
And I love the pomegranate tree story.
February 11, 2014 at 10:31 am
Lovely story. So delighted to hear all went well.
February 11, 2014 at 4:47 pm
So, so many congrats! She is absolutely gorgeous and I am thrilled for all of you.
February 12, 2014 at 9:59 am
Perfect! Just perfect π
February 13, 2014 at 4:31 am
Awesome job, Mama, I knew you’d be fine. xo
February 14, 2014 at 12:05 am
Welcome little one! Good job Mama!
February 15, 2014 at 8:13 am
Lovely! I keep coming back to look at her picture, mesmerised… I think that when you feed her, and the angle is just right, you can see her tiny eyelashes?
I feel strangely connected because our daughter was also named for (after?) my mother and her grandmother, and her middle name for her fathers mother. oh melancholy.
Good luck taking more of these beautiful pictures of this beginning life.
February 17, 2014 at 8:34 am
so wonderful. The biggest of congratulations to you all!
February 18, 2014 at 4:46 am
I know, no sleep etc. but just a tiny tiny picture, pllleaeaease?
March 4, 2014 at 2:58 pm
Very, VERY belated congratulations!
March 8, 2014 at 9:47 am
BABY!!!!! LOVE!!!! Congratulations!! So happy for you! Sorry so belated!