Luciana "light" Elisabeth "pledged to God"

This has been the BEST week ever! We are so very thankful that Luciana is finally here with us! We have sooooo enjoyed getting to know her these past 7 days. She is absolutely PRECIOUS!!! We can't get enough!

Luci's arrival was a bit unexpected ;) Well...I say that because we had just scheduled to be induced Friday the 11th. We had come to the realization that little Luci had to be pretty comfy and may need some assistance with her arrival. When I got home from school on Monday I felt a little funny (but don't most at 39 weeks?) and went about my normal routine. When Chad got home from work I told him that I thought "something" may happen. We laughed because we both thought it was wishful thinking. Later that night, after the Bachelor of course, I realized that my water may have broken. As we got ready for bed that evening we realized that I was not just "feeling funny" but that I might actually be in labor!! Yahoo! We took our time getting ready, said goodbye to our pup and left for the hospital.

Peyton knew something was up :)

We arrived at the hospital at midnight. We were admitted and were told that my water had in fact broken!! (I was nervous that we would be sent back home...nope, we were going to leave with our BABY!)

When the doctor on call came to check on me he said that I was way too "chipper" to be in labor so he sent us for a walk. We walked from 12 - 12:30 and during that time my contractions were 3 minutes apart! OUCh!!! The anesthesiologist had just started a c-section so they had to get in contact of the doctor on call. This process took us until 3 in the morning! 2 1/2 hours of contractions 2 minutes apart. ahhhh!

As soon as I got my epidural life was GOOD!

I was able to dilate on my own and by noon on Tuesday was ready to push! I pushed for a little over an hour and by 1:06 Luciana Elisabeth blessed us with her presence. It was so enjoyable....our delivery could not have gone any better. We enjoyed the entire process.

We lucked out when we got Niki as our nurse! She was AmAzInG! She made our experience so enjoyable and we are so thankful she was with us!

Now that's a proud Papa! Love you Chad!!

Luciana came into this world three years to the day my grandmother Viola Lucille went to Heaven. My grandma and I had a very special relationship so it makes February 8th just that much more meaningful. (picture from Christmas 2007)

It is our prayer that Luciana will be a "light" to those around her. Thank you God for our precious baby girl!

p.s. More updates to come! We have LOTS of picture to share!