Whirlwind

Wow, life has been a whirlwind lately but oh, what a joy! There are tons and tons of pictures and little time to take a look at them all.

Here are some highlights from our hospital stay. More pictures to come.

THE DELIVERY DAY

Rachel Elizabeth was born on October 20, 2008 at 12:17 PM. She weighed 8 lbs, 7 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. She shares her birthday with her Granddad Owen and she shares her initials with her Grandfather Chance.



The delivery was a scheduled c-section and being the photographer that he is, Stuart was prepared to take lots of pictures of the whole event. Stuart knows all the technical stuff to take great pictures - ISO settings, aperture, lighting, etc. He was even asking a nurse beforehand about the type of lighting that would be in the operating room so he could go ahead and fix the correct settings on the camera. I asked him to just set the thing on automatic so he could focus on the delivery because I didn't want to hear any talk about camera settings once we were in the operating room.

The procedure went incredibly well. Stuart was great at keeping me posted about what was going on. He also took quite a few icky pictures of parts of my body that I'm not supposed to ever see. As he was taking pictures of the doctors sewing me back together, our doctor asked, "Hey, is that the new Nikon D90?" Well, that was it. Male bonding began as the two of them got into a full discussion of the enhancements of the D90 over the D80 and the D70. Of course, the doctor assisting with the procedure had to chime in on things too since he has the D80. All of this is taking place while I'm being stitched up. I couldn't help but laugh because I had specifically asked Stuart not to talk about camera stuff in the operating room but who knew that our doctors would be conspiring against me on that plan. It was all very weird. Of course, I had to interrupt at one point and ask Stuart to please check to see if there were some things happening with the baby that he should be taking pictures of!

One proud Daddy!







Of course, the proud Daddy got to take care of Rachel's first diaper change! He talked so sweet to her the whole time and was very gentle with her. While he has changed hundreds of Nicholas' diapers in the past, this was his first time to ever change a girl's diaper.



NICHOLAS LOVES HIS LITTLE SISTER

Nicholas is so proud to be a big brother! He couldn't wait to meet his little sister for the first time.







Each time Nicholas was in the hospital room, he couldn't help but run over to Rachel from time to time to check on her and talk to her. He was especially excited the first time he got to hold his little sister in his arms.





When he wasn't playing with Rachel, Nicholas also enjoyed climbing up into the hospital bed with me and going for a ride to see how high up the bed would go!



Although I was in the hospital for several days I didn't find much quiet time for myself. I was able to get online one time during my stay to check email and post the first pictures of Rachel on the blog.



Mostly I just spent my time enjoying our new little baby girl and thanking God for the many blessings in our lives.

Our Second Little Blessing, Rachel Elizabeth

Welcome to the world little Rachel Elizabeth. She is sweet, snuggly, and perfectly healthy. Mom and all are doing great! Thank you all for your love and prayers.

Big Day Tomorrow

Well, the big day is upon us. Tomorrow at 12:00 noon I go in to surgery for the c-section and in about 30-45 minutes we'll have our little girl in our arms. Wow! I can't believe she'll be here tomorrow. We're so excited about this little blessing that will be joining our family.

Do we have a name yet, you ask? No, but we've narrowed it down to a top three - Rachel, Rebecca, or Heather.

Granddad Owen flew into town yesterday and he has been a great help with Nicholas while we get last minute things done for the hospital.

Still Picking Out a Name

Ok, so our little girl will be born on Monday. It's Friday now. Do we have a name picked out yet? NO! We started with a pretty long list and we've narrowed it down to five names - Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, Heather, and Lauren. Yes, we still have a some work to do but we're slowly making progress.

Nicholas has decided that we should name her Heather. If we suggest one of the other names and makes an annoying buzzer sound and says, "NO!".



We like Heather. It's a pretty name and it isn't overused. Besides, we have some mexican heather growing outside our front door and the flower on it is of course purple which goes along well with Nicholas' original name for his little sister which was Purple Leaf.

However, we can't seem to come up with a middle name that flows well with Heather and our last name. We kind of like Heather Elizabeth but then her initials would be HEC as in "heck". I'm not so fond of that.

I personally love the name Rebecca but again I can't come up with a middle name that I like. Is Rebecca Elizabeth too long for a first and middle name? And although I like the name Rebecca, I wouldn't have chosen Becky for her name and you know that is what her nickname will be when she gets older.

We also like Rachel Elizabeth a lot.

Oh, decisions, decisions! It's so hard picking out a name that someone will have to be stuck with for the rest of their lives!

Nicholas and Mommy as Super Models

Nicholas loves being a ham in front of a camera. He sat still on a stool for quite a few pictures and posed like a great little model.



Then the boredom quickly set in and he had to get up and dance!



Then it was Mommy's turn to pose. We made this simple picture with some of Nicholas' blocks that reads "BABY".



Then we went a little wild with an fun idea that Stuart had. He painted my belly to look like a pumpkin! How cute is that?!