Eleanor's Birth

Eleanor Rosamund Grace Shepherd

Born at 06:08 on Sunday Morning, June 5^th, 2016

She weighed 9 lb. 3 oz and was 21 ½ inches long

When John 16:21 says, “ It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world.” It couldn’t be more right. Labor was so different than anything that I had read or heard from anybody; it was harder than I thought it was going to be. But, it is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. And the Bible tells the truth. After Eleanor was born…all pain from childbirth was forgotten in the indescribable joy of holding our daughter skin to skin, in awe of the perfectness of her tiny body.

I’m grateful that I was able to have a home birth with a midwife and a doula. They were wonderful. Joe was able to be there too and he was so supportive throughout it all. I couldn’t have done it without him. Eleanor was born in our dimly-lighted, cozy bedroom. She was born with loads of silky dark brown hair and the deepest blue eyes ever.

This photo was taken just before
Eleanor was born

When we were thinking of names for our children we wanted to pick some names that were in our families. Eleanor means shining light which we hope and pray that she will become, a shining light for Christ. Rosamund means pure rose, or protector of horses. Not sure about the horses part, but she is our beautiful pure rose. And then Grace is pretty much self-explanatory. Eleanor is a relative of the names Ellen and Elaine which are family names. Rosamund and Grace are as well. All together, our sweet daughter is a pure, graceful, and shining light, which is what we hope we will cultivate her into as she grows older.

One thing that strikes me about Eleanor is how full of life she is. She is so happy to be alive and lets us know through squeals and screams of delight. Whenever she is awake, she is very observant of everything that is going on around her. She is easy to please, and loves to smile. Rolling over and baths are her favourite things to do. I already know she loves her daddy very, very much. She will instantly smile when she sees him and if she hears him over the phone she gets really excited and wants to talk to him too. Speaking of which, Joe is a wonderful almost natural daddy. It warms my heart to see how much he loves Eleanor. She has really brought us together as a family. The other night God brought to my mind Psalms 8 when David writes, “My cup overflows”. I feel like my cup is truly overflowing with the joy of having a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, and together, we are a family.

It was a rather strange co-incidence that Laurie's Mum, Lisa and sister Heidi were staying with us at the time of Eleanor's birth. The two "Grandmas" together in the same house while she was born.