She's here!!!

Our Grace (Gracie) Amara Kitchen was born on November 13th at 5:00 pm (on the dot!). Her due date was the 24th, but we went in for an appointment on the 11th and the doctor thought that I might have pre-eclampsia because I had elevated blood pressure. He said that I needed to do some tests, and if that was the case they would induce me on the 14th. The next day, after getting the tests done, they said that plans had changed and they would induce me that night!!! We were a bit in shock, but we were just trusting God.

I check in at 6:00 pm on the 12th and was put on Pitocin and magnesium something or other. I had an epidural at 1:30 on the 13th because I had been contracting for so long and knew that I might not be able to push once the time came because I was so tired, especially since I was only at 3 centimeters. Once I got the epidural, things really progressed and I started pushing at 4:35. I pushed for 25 minutes and out came our beautiful baby girl weighing 6 lbs 10.5 oz and 19 1/4 inches long!! It was an AMAZING experience and I wouldn't change a thing.

Because of the magnesium, I had to stay in the hospital for a few days, so we finally got to come home on the 15th. Gracie has done amazingly well, even letting mommy and daddy sleep a bit! We both finally caught on to breastfeeding, and daddy is a wonderful diaper changer, so we've got a good thing going!

Her first pediatrician appointment was on Tuesday, and she had already grown one quarter of an inch and gained back almost 2 of the 7 ounces she lost in the hospital. The doctor was very impressed and said that babies very rarely gain that much in that little time, especially breastfed babies. So we were very encouraged!

I'm hoping to take a picture of her every day and post them on here as soon as I can, but please bear with me as I'm a little busy getting used to being a mommy!

Hope you all are well and that you enjoy these pics of our sweet little blessing.