Mica

Newbabyniece has been born, joining her fierce grubby sweet-smiled older sister Maya, in the world. Her arrival was a little precipitous -- at home (planned), Sunday (unexpected), with no one there but my sis, her husband and my 2 y.o. niece. The midwives had been signaled but they didn't arrive until a few minutes after Mica did.

Mica's way of slipping herself into the world had already weathered one big sandstorm, back in December when my sister had to have an emergency appendectomy when she was 12 weeks pregnant. The quick, two push Sunday afternoon birth was a remarkably calm and casual way of sliding into our space, really, and greeted by her resourceful parents with a kind of warm matter-of-factness. (Of course, this is my sister who contemplated the appendectomy without anesthetic).

I'm amused by the contrast between my sister's perspective ("it was all natural and I did spend my whole pregnancy working on opening up my hips, it was a lot easier than Maya's birth, with the two hours of pushing"), her very seasoned midwife's perspective ("most births happen with this kind of flow, this one was a little fast, all is well") and the rest of the world (How dramatic! Weren't you on the phone with 911!). I admire my sister's groundedness tremendously, the way the swirl can swirl and she just lets it go. No big drama about the fact that, despite the intense anticipation of the new baby, the one set of grandparents (who were supposed to look after Maya if necessary) accidentally had their phone off the hook all day (Loopy drove over there with Maya after the birth to find out if his parents were dead on the kitchen floor -- they were reading in the backyard, oblivious to the fact that they hadn't heard from their sons on Father's Day) and the other grandmother was in the casino in Windsor with her cellphone off.

And so I enter my Aunt Cate role, reading to Maya, holding the baby in the crook of my arm as we eat thai food, beaming at my sister and her gorgeous, rooted little family. So happy to be part of this seasoned little micro-climate.