Sunday, March 25, 2007

Where does all this love come from?

"The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy" --Psalm 126:3


As many of you already know, our new love, Finley Grace, arrived Monday morning (3/19) at 9:33 a.m. and weighed 6 lbs. 4 oz. and is absolutely perfect. I am so sorry that I haven’t posted before now but I am just too busy staring at my beautiful baby. I am so overwhelmed with how much I love this little 6 lb. bundle and I can’t imagine life without her now.

I have loved every minute of this past week. From spending time with family to just being with my baby at all hours of the night. I love seeing Richard cradle and kiss her and believe it or not he’s even pretty good at changing diapers. Below I wrote the Story of Finley and how she arrived into this world... enjoy.


Finley’s Story
We feel so incredibly blessed! After a really easy labor of only 2 hours (yes, start to finish) Finley arrived and was extremely healthy. I spent the night in the hospital on Sunday night so that I would be ready to go in the morning when they were to start the pitocin (drug that induces labor) at around 8 the next morning. They gave me a cervadil the night before to help get my cervix ready and I guess that was all I needed. I woke up the next morning just in time to start watching the Today Show and noticed that I had a few light cramps. Then at around 7:30 they began to get worse and in the matter of 10 minutes I was having full on contractions. The nurse came in and checked me and found that I was already 7 cm dilated. She ordered my epidural and the anesthesiologist came in around 8:30 and I think I have decided that whoever invented that should win the Noble Peace Prize. By 9:10 I was completely relaxed and feeling no pain. Shortly after I was comfortable the Dr. came in a checked me and found that I was ready to push. My water had not broken yet so she broke my water and I was ready to push at around 9:30. After just 4 pushes Finley had arrived at 9:33! It was such an amazing feeling to finally lay eyes on her and we all fell in love instantly. Richard and my mom were such great coaches and I’m so glad they were there in the room to help welcome Finley into the world. I’ll post some pics below but finleyvanhook.com has the whole scrapbook.

Thanks to everyone who has prayed for our daughter. Your prayers were heard and the Lord has blessed us beyond our imagination.

My mom with Finley

My dad with Finley

Ready to go home

Richard's mom and sisters

Richard's dad and stepmom

Her cute mittens

Going home outfit

1 comment:

Martha said...

I could just absolutely eat her up, Rachel! And you look beautiful...I'm really happy for you that it didn't take long for her to get here. Isn't being a mom the most amazing feeling you've ever had. And having such a wonderful husband to be her daddy is just perfect. He looks so proud of both of his girls! I love you and can't wait to swap mommy stories! Give her a huge kiss for me!