At first I  went through so many emotions, I felt happiness, worry, excitement but mostly, I felt secure.  I knew I wasn’t ready for a second child but it would  be okay because I have such a strong wife.  She is the most solid person I know and has the patience of a saint. She put my mind at ease and made everything feel right. The only thing left in my mind was excitement.  Was it going to be a boy or a girl?  Would daddy get to play house with two beautiful girls or house with one and baseball with the other.  These are seriously the first two things that went through my mind – I’ve never played baseball in my life and have played house more times then I’d like to admit.  I come from a large family with lots of sisters.

Feb. 19th, 2014 1:32am.

I was woken suddenly by my wife, “it’s time,” she said. “I think she’s coming soon.  We need to leave.” This was after her being in a slow labor all day long.  I scurried to get my camera bag together and all Rachel’s belongings in a daze.  There’s always that thought that you’re going to forget something important and remember after you leave. 5 mins later her water broke, at that point I was worried, the hospital is a 20 minute drive without traffic from our house.  I’m not a doctor but I’ve put bandaids on cuts before, I really did not want to deliver our baby girl (yes another girl!!) at home or on the way to the hospital.  2:25am we were in the car, I wasn’t thinking and made the mistake of taking our mini van, I was thinking comfort… not the ideal vehicle when you’re in a hurry.   We made it to the hospital at 2:40am got rushed to the birthing center and our baby Violet was born 11 minutes later at 2:51am. Our little girl, weighing in at 9lbs  and 21inches long.  She is the cutest little thing WITH A FULL HEAD OF HAIR!! Our first daughter, Penny, came out pretty much bald and at 6.5 lbs, we were both scratching our heads.    Now our world consists of a Penny and a Violet – We’re so happy and excited.

Our first child is a wonderful little girl and if you’ve met her, you’ve been able to let a little bit of happiness into your life.  She is the center of our world and is a biggest ball of happiness – we couldn’t live without her.  So naturally when we first found out we were pregnant again, we worried.  Would we love our second child as much as our first?  Would Penny fell abandoned? Would we be able to do it?  Now that she is here, she sleeps through the night, looks at you with funny faces and melts you with her beauty. Didn’t take much to take all our fears away.  Penny loves Violet with the love of a older sister but the curiosity of an alien.  She is an older sister in learning and loves every minute of it.  So much to take in but it’s our chance for seconds and we both love seconds.

Big thanks to the lovely staff at Howard County Hospital and Nicole, Rachel’s Doula.

-Ian Dawson