Hospital Stay

Our first days in the hospital were as one would imagine, with lots of on-the-job training for Mom and Dad! Lydia had several visitors during her hospital stay and received lots of beautiful decorations for her room.

Rachael and Lydia were discharged on Sunday evening and everyone was more than ready to head home by this point. Bing was a champ getting Lydia all ready to go all snug in her car seat. She is much smaller than we expected, but we were able to get her into a newborn outfit for her journey home, even if it was still a little big.

We are very thankful to be in our own home getting settled into our new lives and appreciate all the prayers from family and friends during this new adventure!

She's Finally Here!

On February 26, 2010 at 10:16pm we welcomed Lydia Jeanne into the world and into our lives. She weighed in at 6 lbs 6 oz and 19 inches long.

Baby Shower

Much to our surprise (given the winter we have been having) Rachael's baby shower was scheduled for the most perfect weekend we could have asked for in January. Family and friends gathered together for afternoon tea, games, and celebrating the upcoming arrival of Baby Bing.

Here are a few photos from the shower although many more are posted on the Picasa site:

Three (Almost Four) Generations!

A sample of the afternoon tea fare (very tasty!)

The Cake

Rachael and Jeremy and the massive stack of gifts (thanks everyone!!)

4D Ultrasound

Today was quite the day. During the first snow of the "winter", we made our way to see our little girl with a 4D ultrasound. The trip out into the snow was definitely worth it! Baby Bing was so cooperative and entertaining throughout the entire 20 minutes session. We were able to watch her yawn, stretch, and play with her fingers and toes. We were shocked by her little upturned button nose and thought her little chubby cheeks were adorable and "just right". The technician was very helpful in explaining what we were seeing and was kind enough to double-check on Baby Bing's gender to confirm we had chosen the appropriate nursery color!

We both love getting to put a face with the name and have a hard time wrapping our heads around just how peaceful and amazing our Baby Bing is developing. (Given the amount of heartburn Rach has had, we were quite surprised, although pleasantly surprised, that Baby Bing did not have a mountaineer beard by now!)

Overall this was a much better experience than the first sonogram, with much better equipment, yielding MUCH better pictures. Here are a couple of our favorites (more are on our photo website):

Nursery

Over the Thanksgiving holiday Bing was quite busy getting the nursery put together. After some deliberation (or debate over Bing's color "blindness" with regards to blue vs. purple) the decision to go for the pink was made and paint colors were selected. In this "before" picture you can see that Bing had yet another wallpaper border to deal with in this room.

After many coats of paint and the addition of the chair rail, the room is adorable. While this is now probably the most bold color choice for the entire house, it seems fitting for out little girl. Furniture was delivered shortly thereafter and has really started to make this room feel cozy.

Kitty has already taken a liking to the glider, and hopefully will be just as pleased when the new arrival makes her appearance in February!

Next up, the window treatments and baby quilt will be Rachael's project over the Christmas holiday. Rachael's friends are also planning a baby shower in January which will really help pull all the odds and ends together!

Sonogram Day!

Today we had our sonogram. While Baby Bing was looking more like a Terminator than a baby, everything seemed to be in working order.

We were able to see just about everything in the first 20 minutes of the appointment. The coolest was probably watch Baby Bing's heart and lungs doing their thing. The one thing we really wanted to see however, was not available...so Rach wandered around for a while in the hopes that Baby Bing would roll over and then it was time for a second attempt. Without much hesitation or difficulty the tech was able to give us the news...

Baby Bing is a she!!

After our appointment, we met up with Rachael's parents to celebrate (hence the giant cookie)!

Sharing the News

Conveniently (or looking back, strategically planned) the Schwarz family had planned an impromptu gathering on Friday. This also, just happened to be the day the first doctor appointment was scheduled for Baby Bing. Jeremy and Rachael headed up after the appointment to meet up with Rachael's parents before heading onto the cook-out. Just before heading out, the comment was made that "We had something we wanted to say before we joined the rest of the family..."

Much screaming followed and of course, plotting on how to tell the rest of the family.

We did not think that Rachael's mom was going to be able to keep a secret for long and not long after we arrived at the cook-out, in typical Schwarz-fashion, a riddle of sorts was used to share the good news. Each of the women in the family were gifted with a wrapped photo of Rachael as a baby and instructed to open their packages at the same time. It took a little while before it sunk in, but it didn't take long for Rachael's mom to blurt out, "I'm going to be a grandmother!"

Much screaming, crying, laughing, and hugging ensued afterward and continued for quite a while. Phone calls and emails followed announcing the news to other family and friends and over the next few days and weeks the network of friends and family praying for Baby Bing's development grew exponentially. For that, we are truly grateful.