Gus! Gus!

There are a few things that make me happy; things I look forward to no matter what. Giving birth is one of them. Not even just my own births, but the births of those I love. The anticipation of meeting the new soul sent to our crazy family is one of my favorite feelings. Even the panic and confusion I felt when delivering Makenzie (au natural) was replaced by the complete euphoria and excitement of the whole process when she was born. FORTUNATELY I have been blessed with pretty much the cutest nieces and nephews and cousins EVER (sorry for the rest of y'alls second-place cuties [lol]), so meeting them and watching them grow is a real blessing in my life.

Of course, as my sister-in-law Stacy's pregnancy has progressed, I've been excited for her and Nate and Zoee. She's such a beautiful woman and great mother and to know she'll be raising another one of my nephew's makes me very happy. My dad said once, and it's so true, that when Nate scored, we all scored. I'm grateful, even though their route may not have been so conventional, that they're together and happy and having a baby GUS! As the first sister-in-law in our family, I imagine the transition of two new sisters has been hard. Luckily, Stacy's been SO patient and loving and SOOO stinkin' fun and willing to hang out with us. Erin and I couldn't wait to be part of Stacy's party when she was laboring with Gus. It was awesome!

Stacy and Nate went to the hospital to be induced at 7:30pm Sunday evening. Like a true Garrard sister, she was already dialated, so they hooked her up to all the tubes and with all the paperwork and fixed her on the pit. Stac's mom and Zoee were able to hang out for a bit Sunday night and Mom, Erin, and I got up there between 9 and 10 to do the support thing. Dave stopped by later than that, but the dude cannot hang, and after passing out on the floor, left about 1:30am to go home. Here's the happy Mama:

Stacy's contractions were fairly consistent (thank you pitosin), but when the nurse finally checked her, she hadn't dialated much. The contractions were intense enough that they gave her some rockin' IV antibiotics, and by rockin' I mean Stacy was full-on Lindsey Lohan-ing it just moments after the Staydol hit her system. She was totally looping and slurring and then pretty much out of it. The rest was good (I mean it WAS the middle of the night by now), and I was hopeful that she'd wake up in an hour and be at a 6 or 7. The reality of being the support system was starting to wear on me as I knew I had to still be mom on Monday morning, and so by 4:00am when they had broken her water, gotten her an epidural, and she was at 4 cm, I figured it was time to give up the ghost and go home for a few hours sleep. Nate and Stacy, both, luckily, were ready and able to rest a little bit. Stac did say that the bells and whistles kept her from really zonkin' out, but I think for the most part they were able to rest up for the big show.

All day Monday we were like vultures all over our phones and Nate's blog. How cool is it that St. Rose Sienna now has internet capabilities from the hospital bed in the delivery room??? It totally made me excited for my delivery in May. Tyler is already predicting too much blogging and not enough pushing. Anyway their blog kept us pretty updated and we were hunkered down for slow, but steady improvements. Sure enough, at 3:23am baby GUS HOWARD GARRARD was born at 8 lbs. 11 oz. (SO BIG to me!) and 20.5 inches long. He has a head full of curly, dark hair and is really adorable. And I'm not just saying that because ALL my nephews are cute . . . HE IS A DOLL! He as these round chubby cheeks, great skin, and is just the right size to make all the newborn outfits look perfectly sweet. He came out of the shoot crying and I think he's gonna be able to communicate quite effectively. The family all came back to the hospital last night around 7:30pm and he cried whenever he was moved from his warm snuggly position to a take-a-picture pose. See, here's my cousin Jerolyn, sister Erin, Me, and Gus:

So, you can't tell on THAT picture how cute he is (from so far away and with the beaming family and all), but my mom's blog has some good shots. Of course, Nate and Stacy were beaming too, so I want to include a shout out and huge HIGH FIVE to the momma and the poppa! We're so proud of y'all and thrilled for the Garrard foursome!

Happy Birthday our little Gus, Gus!