The Happiest Day of my Life...Again.

Grace Ellamae Gardner is ours to keep. Yep, we cut off all the ID bracelets and hospital monitors and busted her out of the hospital. It felt so amazing to get wheeled down to the hospital entrance we so proudly walked in early Monday morning. This time, Grace was on my belly instead of in it. It seems like we were there forever, yet also it was a like a blink of the eye. 

Hormones and emotions have run high (more than EVER in my life) and I've been very verbal when it comes to expressing my feelings. If you've seen me in person this week, chances are I told you just how much I love you and everything around me is better than ever. Each day since she's been in my life has been "the happiest day of my life". I have never felt so beaming with joy, and it comes out in tears and sobs. I remember my mom telling me how she felt when I was born. She had described it as being more alive than ever. Colors seemed brighter, food tasted better and the sky was more beautiful than ever before. My senses are so alive and it's true. I feel the same exact way. I have so much happiness and love... it's seeping out of my pores. 

I have sooo much more to update, all about my experience and many more pictures. It is however, time for me to get my new little daughter and myself to bed. I can't wait for tomorrow... I have the feeling it might be the best day of my life still.

Grace is HOME (to the room)

So we got to bring the baby back to our room finally.  We will be able to go home Friday.  We really don't care that we have to be in the hospital for Thanksgiving.  We are pretty sure this is the best Thanksgiving to date.  We love all of you and will see you all in due time!!!  In the mean time, enjoy the pics.

Pictures Anyone???

So I hope that anyone that I have not personally talked to has checked, and continues to check the baby page.  Mainly because I want to convey that I wish I was able to have all of you here.  But for those who can not be, here are more pictures.  Most are of the baby, but one is of the Tommy Ray Turkey that we think put B in to labor.  He will be charging $100 to prepare Turkeys for anyone who needs to go in to labor!!  Thanks TRay and Max Creds for the early Turkey Day dinner!

PICS!!!

Our Baby Is Rad!!

So Grace is out of that silly little oxygen hood and hangin out.  She will be in the NICU for a day or two because she needs some IV antibiotics.  But she is doing great.  The nurses here are the best.  Will post again soon!!!

Ahhhhh....Epidural!

Brenna went about 4 hours and said "give me the Epidural."  She has done so great and I expect to have Grace by 4pm!! Love Luke

Here she comes!!!!

We are at the hospital and things are going great.  3cm right now and contractions every 2 minutes.  I will try to keep posted!! Daddy.

Sunday morning....

Luke and I are awake earlier than we expected. Now enjoying a cup of coffee and trying to wipe the sleep from our eyes. We stayed up just a bit too late last night playing Guitar Hero 3 with our friends and man was it fun. Over the last week we have been trying to "keep busy" so we don't think too much about waiting for the baby. In a desperate attempt to entertain ourselves, we headed to Target last night to buy the video game. We justified the large expense by telling ourselves we earned it, or that it was a bonus for Luke's official promotion that he got on Thursday (Oh, I'm so proud of him!! He's got the go ahead to run his own store!!!). It did the trick, and the baby was the furthest thing from our minds as we rocked out till the wee hours of the morning (midnight).

Today we will be having an early Thanksgiving with our friends Tommy and Kelly. Luke and I have no real interest this year about the actual holiday. As far as we're concerned, we'd be happy to be in the hospital staring at our new baby and enjoying a meal from the cafeteria. She'd be our little Thanksgiving turkey, and we'd be the most thankful parents out there.We know our parents will gladly give up (in my opinion) the most delicious meal of the year to see a new grandbaby, too. Next years Thanksgiving will be back to normal, but we'll have even more to be grateful for. 

So, when will she get here? Our doctor says that we'll need to induce between 41 and 42 weeks, but she is willing to wait it out and see if the baby comes out on her own per our request. On Friday, we had a doctors appointment and ultrasound. I haven't really dilated much, but the baby has "dropped" a little. The ultrasound showed that the amniotic fluid levels are still good and the baby looks like a healthy size for 40 weeks. If the baby hasn't arrived by our Wednesday appointment, we will schedule a time to induce. Our doctor gave us the option on Friday to schedule the induction on Friday for anytime this next week, but we wanted to wait. I'm not really uncomfortable, and we don't have any time restraints, so we're hoping to do things "naturally" if possible. COME ON GRACE!! GET OUT OF ME ALREADY! YOUR DAD AND I ARE SICK OF WAITING FOR YOU!!!!! WE WANT TO MEET YOU!

In other news....

I mentioned that Luke got his official job offer on Thursday. He will be the new general store manager of the Casper, Wyoming store. We've been waiting sooooooooo long for this and couldn't be more excited. We will have to relocate (are you sitting down?) before the end of year. We've been to Casper and it's not so bad. It's only an easy (NO TRAFFIC) 3 hour drive from Fort Collins and the town is charming. Target will be making the move as easy as possible for us; taking care of the packing and moving, helping us with expenses, etc. We have a couple who put an offer to buy our home yesterday, and we're waiting to hear today if they accepted our counter. Keep your fingers crossed. We haven't even listed our house for sale yet, and we have an offer on it!! Let's hope that works out! So, more waiting.... we'll let you know more when we find out. 

Keep on the edge of your seat, it's a feeling we've all grown very accustom to. 

Baby Update

Nothing new to report. No, we haven't had the baby and forgot to tell everyone. We'll let you know when she arrives!!

OFFICIAL DUE DATE

So, where is she?

SHE'S GONNA BLOW!!!!

I can't tell you guys how excited I am getting. We are truly there!  

I was sitting across from her tonight and realized just how big, beautiful, and ready she is for Grace.  I had to take pictures!

We will send out the mass text here in the next few days to let you all know when she is going in to labor.  We have a doctor appointment tomorrow too, so hopefully we will have some insight on when she will be ready!!

Waiting....

There are still five more days until I reach my due date. I go from feeling so ready to have this baby out of my body to realizing it's much easier to be pregnant than taking care of a newborn baby. I'll have the baby eventually, it's the not knowing just WHEN that is so hard for me. I spend my days waiting and dreaming of our daughter and fearing the delivery. I'm not really scared for the delivery, it's just fear of the unknown really. I have an idea of how it will go, but there is no way of knowing how long it will take, or how my body will handle it. I AM excited for the process, and wonder if I'll deliver with or without medication. I know one thing; Luke will be an amazing support coach throughout the process. He has been the best husband, making sure that I am as comfortable as possible at all times and not doing too much to strain myself. He insists I keep my feet up and relax, even draws me a hot bath or rubs my back without me requesting it. He's been training for his new promotion out of the area for the last couple of weeks and I can tell he just HATES leaving me each morning. He really wants to take care of me all the time and not miss a minute of this pregnancy. I'm so lucky to have such a sweet man! 

    

Some things I've been doing to pass the time while I wait for Grace:

• Enjoying not working, I'm so lucky to have this time to relax!
• Eating spicy foods (I get heartburn no matter what I eat... so why not?)
• Reading more pregnancy books
• Got my hair done (thanks Julia!)
• Finished pink faux satin curtains for the nursery
• Reviewing baby names for the still undecided middle name
• Soaking in my way-too-small bath tub (my body looks like giant flesh islands poking out in a shallow little ocean) 
• Looking at the clock every time I have a Braxton Hick contraction- just incase it's real
• Watching TLC's A Baby Story and Bringing Home Baby and crying my eyes out
• Sitting in the nursery daydreaming
• Giving the kitties extra attention
• Rechecking my luggage for the hospital
• Going to the doctor... once a week now.
• Sleeping in (I know that won't happen anymore soon)
• Telling friends and family "No, I'm not in labor/had the baby yet" every time we speak on the phone

When will she arrive? Grandma Lulu (Leslie) and our doctor have suggested she may come out with tonight's full moon. I'll keep my fingers crossed! Maybe I'll make that Red Velvet birthday cake I bought stuff for on my last trip to the market just incase.

Happy Halloween!