Round 32: October 2035 (Spring)
Narrated by Maia Novak
Right as Ethan was leaving for work one morning, Baby Novak decided to let us know he/she was ready to enter the world.
Narrated by Maia Novak
Right as Ethan was leaving for work one morning, Baby Novak decided to let us know he/she was ready to enter the world.
I was labouring on my own for a while, with just Dr. Sitko beside me, while Ethan was on the phone letting the station know he wouldn't be in that day.
As great as Dr. Sitko is, I was relieved when Ethan finally came back in the room. I was irrationally starting to worry that he'd miss the actual birth.
I was so glad to have him there with me but I won't say he was particularly helpful once labour really got going.
Ethan had never really seen me in pain like that before, so I guess it sort of freaked him out a little!
Luckily, that baby was coming with or without Ethan's help. 
Ethan and I now have a beautiful baby girl and she looks like just like her father as well!
We went to the hospital with a boy and a girl name already picked out but when we got our first look at her, she just didn't seem like a Lily. So we thought about it and decided to name her Willow Cassandra.Notes:
- I switched my hospital to a residential lot, on Maisie's advice and I really love it. Wish I'd done it sooner! I have a placeholder Sim living there, I moved Maia in temporarily (with InSim, so I didn't mess up their household funds), she gave birth and then she was out of there! It's going to save me a lot of time in the future.
- I think the EA labour animations actually look really good on the bed. It's very easy to do that with a shiftable OMSP and then one that tilts 90 degrees. It's the exact same method I use for pictures of the mothers holding their babies on the bed, which I've done several times.
- Willow has brown eyes and brown hair. I'm not as disappointed by that as I thought I would be. I'm very curious to see what she'll look like when she's older. Maia and Ethan both have genes I'm eager to pass on.
- I had written down Lily Cassandra for Maia and Ethan's baby soon after she got pregnant but at the last minute, I decided that they would pick something a bit more obviously nature-y than Lily. I also had a more subtle name picked for a boy and changed that to a more aggressively nature name at the last minute too. I'm saving that one, in case they ever have a son.
I love her name! I like Lily, too, but Willow seems to go better with Cassandra.
ReplyDeleteI've seen people attempt to use the labor animations tilted back that way, but for some reason they look a lot more natural the way you do it!
I noticed the new animations as well as well as increased details in the photos. Willow is a lovely name and congrats to the couple. Interesting that they didn't give you exactly what you got the first time :P
ReplyDeleteAww a girl! What a cutie! I'm excited to see who she looks like in a year and love her name!! I'm really curious on your boy name too. I have nature names down in my notes under Bea, which is literal years away!
ReplyDeleteIm excited to see them with their little girl, and now Aaron just needs his little toddler.
Awwwww I love that name! Beautiful name for a beautiful baby :). Those animations look really great on the bed, I'm still fighting laziness when it comes to setting up birth pictures lol. I may have to change my hospital to residential too, that would actually make it alot easier that way.
ReplyDeleteAww, she's gorgeous! I love the name Willow. Welcome to the world, little one :)
ReplyDeleteI've been thinking about changing my hospital to a residential lot too ever since reading that's how Maisie runs hers. I think you guys got me convinced.
S.B., Lily is pretty as well but I think I'm getting sick of it! Two of my friends have two-year-olds named Lily, so I hear the name all the time. Willow is much more unusual here!
ReplyDeleteWell, thank you! There are several points of the labour animation that don't look quite so realistic, so it's easy for it not to look so good as well.
Thanks for reading!
Apple Valley, glad you enjoyed the photos!
Yeah, I was only a teensy bit disappointed that I didn't get that boy again. I'm keen to see both Ethan and Maia's features on a girl, so I'm excited about that.
I should probably explain what you mean by "the first time", seeing I talked about it at N99 but not here. Maia had a blonde boy first and the game crashed before I was able to save, so I had to go in and have her give birth again. I was hoping for another boy but I let her go through the whole birth thing three times and still got a girl. So I figured it was meant to be and we have Willow. ;)
Thanks for reading!
Maisie, well, I don't really mind sharing the boys' name in this case, because had I been able to save, you would have found out anyway. ;) My original boys' name was Reid (because I was thinking of reeds) and I changed it at the last minute to River. It just seemed like more of the kind of name Maia and Ethan would pick.
Love that you're already picking out names for Bea's babies! I don't let myself do that unless the Sim is already pregnant, or else I'd never stop.
Thanks for reading!
Mizzgin03, the more I think about it, the happier I am that they had a girl.
And do it! You'll love it and it will save you so much time. Even if you wanted to set up pics at the hospital while you were playing another family, without moving them in, it still wouldn't be that many more steps. And you'd have all your pose boxes which you haven't bothered to categorise for community lots. Or is that just me? LOL.
Thanks for reading!
Sari, I love it too, though it's not something I'd ever have the guts to use myself. That's what Sims are for, right? ;)
Like I said to Mizzgin, definitely try your hospital as a residential lot! When you move a pregnant Sim in, I noticed that their pregnancy will regress back to the first trimester for a while and then you have to bump them up again. But that's actually an advantage, because you can get second trimester bump pictures somewhere besides their home!
Thanks for reading!
Ooh I like River and Reid too. I think River fits perfectly for Maia and Ethan too. Maybe they need twin boys! ;) And yes, Bea is the only one, generally I don't until they are pregnant ether, but I just adore Bea, and a few names have come across my path/mind and I thought,oooh Bea!
ReplyDeleteMaisie, oooh, I'm hoping I get another pair of twins soon! Grace and Everett are my youngest. I wonder who'll be the "lucky" next Sims to get two for the price of one, lol.
ReplyDeleteHeh, who wouldn't adore Bea?
I like the name Willow and I'm happy for Maia's pregnancy to be over. The poor dear. I'm sure Josie's waiting for the same relief.
ReplyDeleteI love the hospital advice. I think I shall do the same since I downloaded a few clinics/hospitals that I'm going to try out soon.
Choco, heh, it's funny that Josie and Maia have never got along but they probably could have been bonding over their awful pregnancies this whole time. But Willow is here now, so some definite relief for Maia.
ReplyDeleteI hope one of the medical lots you've found works for you. I never found anything perfect, so I ended up building instead. ;)
Thanks for reading!
Aww, Willow! I can't wait to see how she will look like!
ReplyDeleteIt's a great idea that Maisie had about labelling the hospital as residential lot, indeed!!
(I've already said it, but OMG, those labours look soooo painful!!! *lol*)
Sandy, me either! I'm curious to see how Maia and Ethan's genes have mixed with Willow.
ReplyDeleteI know, the EA labour does not look like fun! But it always makes me laugh how it just suddenly stops when the game is generating the baby and the Sim just stands there grinning and waiting, lol.
Thanks for reading!
Everty time a sims is pregnant I'm counting down to the delevery, and when the baby is finally here, I'm so looking forward to see him/her grow up and see who he/she looks like! This isn't any different with Willow, I would love the see who she looks like :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the pregnancy is over for Maia, but I'm really hoping the fact that the pregnancy wasn't too easy on Maia isn't going to stop them for having another one :)
Ah look at me, she only just gave birth, and I'm already thinking about another one :)
Aww, welcome Willow! The pictures of the labor look great!
ReplyDeleteTanja, I'm always doing a countdown as well and then I just wish their whole babyhood away, dying to know what they'll look like as a toddler!
ReplyDeleteEthan is probably having similar thoughts as we speak. They're not allowed to use BC, so the decision to have a second kid may be taken out of their hands. But Maia is older now and if she didn't get knocked up accidentally at any point during her 20s, I would be surprised if it happened now. We'll see if they try for a baby next time I play them.
Thanks for reading!
Rachel, I'm glad you like the labour shots. I'll definitely be doing births this way again in the future.
Thanks for reading!
Aww, Willow is a pretty name and perfect for them. I can't wait to see what she looks like. Oh and Josie's baby is coming soon too! :D
ReplyDeleteThe pics of the labor look great! I'm not even close to being caught up on Maisie's blog so I missed the talk about a residential hospital. But I'm sold! I'll give it a shot the next time I have a pregnant sim.
Danielle, it's all I can do not to age Willow up right now and check what she looks like! But I need her as a baby at least one more time this round, so I have to wait. Josie's baby will probably be born in the next week or so. :D Exciting!
ReplyDeleteI think Maisie might have always had a residential hospital - her labour pics have always been better than mine! The minor annoyance of moving Sims around households is outweighed by the advantages of having so much more freedom to use the Maxis birth animations, pose boxes or both. It's really great!
Thanks for reading!