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Our sweet friend, Danita Vander Kodde, came over to take some pictures of Hannah today! Here's a few pictures of her at just 4 days old!      Hannah We chose the first name "Hannah" after the Biblical character. In 1 Samuel 1-2 we read the story of Hannah. She had no children and chose to cry out to God amidst her pain. She asked God for a son and vowed that she would dedicate him to service for the Lord. God answered Hannah's prayers and gave her a son, Samuel, and she kept her vow and returned him to God by having him serve in the temple. God blessed her with three more sons and two daughters. Hannah is an amazing example of turning to God in prayer amidst pain. We hope that our sweet daughter will always turn to God in prayer amidst the trials she will face throughout her life. The name "Hannah" means "gracious gift." We deeply appreciate this meaning because our sweet baby girl was a complete surprise, but we cannot imagine our lives without her. Hannah is truly a gracious gift from God. The only one in our family who was not surprised by Hannah's conception was our older daughter, Abbie. Abbie prayed for a sister every day for a year. We tried to gently tell her that we didn't plan to have anymore children, but she was persistent in praying for a sister. When we told Abbie that we were expecting another baby, she confidently said "God answered my prayers - it's a girl!" When we find out that we were having a girl, Abbie wasn't surprised at all. It has blessed our hearts to see Abbie's faith grow as God answered her prayers and gave her the baby sister her heart so desperately desired. Abbie is another example of turning to God in prayer just like the Biblical character, Hannah.  Grace Hannah's middle name is "Grace." Grace means "unmerited favor." Hannah was a gracious gift. A gift we did not merit or deserve. In the same way God gave us the ultimate gift we don't deserve when He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. We hope that at a young age Hannah will accept God's gift of grace and become a follower of Him. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9 We love you Hannah Grace!  Thursday, January 8th in the afternoon I went to the doctor for my weekly exam. My OB/GYN told me that I was 4cm dilated and 50% effaced, and that baby girl could arrive at anytime. She particularly warned Greg and I to be prepared that she could even come that evening! As we were all anticipating a huge blizzard that night, she warned us to be sure to pack blankets, towels, and string in the car in case we got caught in the snow! On the way home that afternoon the snow began to fall. At around 7:30pm the contractions began, but for hours they were inconsistent 5 minutes apart, 15 minutes apart, 10 minutes apart, so around 10pm we called the OB/GYN and she advised us to wait until they were consistently 10 minutes apart. At 11pm the contractions were slightly more consistent so we decided to head to the hospital. There was already around 6 inches of snow on the ground and the visibility was low, so Greg was feeling very nervous as he packed blankets, towels, string, and laboring me into the minivan. He drove carefully and we arrived at the hospital around midnight. After a few hours I was able to get an epidural to help with the intense pain, but unfortunately it was spotty so I still felt a lot of pain with each contraction. Around 3:15am I told the nurses I felt like I needed to push, but I was only 8cm dilated and my water hadn’t completely broken. The doctors quickly decided to break my water because I was in so much pain, so they pulled back the sheet to discover that Hannah was nearly crowning! They were shocked that in a matter of minutes I was now 10cm dilated, water broken, and ready to push baby girl out. I pushed through just two contractions which were just a few minutes apart, and Hannah arrived at 3:27am on Friday, January 9th weighing 7lbs 14oz and 19.5in long. We had our OB/GYN appointment today and I'm 4cm dilated and 50% effaced....with the storm brewing baby could come tonight! The OB/GYN thinks she'll likely come before Monday - fingers crossed that we'll meet her soon!
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