Introducing Olivia!

Hello friends and family... this is actually Matt doing Abby a favor. She asked me to post this because she is at the hospital with our new daughter! Olivia Renee Hope Brandenberger (yes, our poor daughters are now tied for the longest names in history without a hyphen) was born Thursday, April 29, 2010 at 10:30 PM at Parkview. She was 6lbs 7 oz and somewhere between 12 and 112 inches but I'm not really sure. Guys don't really pay attention to those details. We knew last night the birth mother was in labor but didn't hear anything until this morning. We were able to go see her this afternoon and the hospital was very cool to give us our own room! The birth mother was somewhere around there too but we didn't see her today.

She is planning on signing the papers sometime tomorrow morning. We are still a little anxious about if everything could still fall through, but our approach is to love this little girl with all our hearts as if she's our own until we're told differently. Our prayer (and yours too if you would) is that everything would go smoothly tomorrow as well as in the upcoming week that they father still has to claim paternity. Above all else, our prayer is that God's will would be done and we would bring Him glory through it all. If that means raising this little girl, perfect. If that means dealing with the heartache of beginning to love her and have her taken away, then that will be really hard but still we will give Him the glory. We just ask that the Lord would spare us from that potential heartbreak, but it is a risk we both feel confident in taking.

Going to the hospital and getting to hold little Olivia brought back several memories of 15 months ago with Hannah. We both commented on how we felt many of the same feelings all over again. Joy mixed with questions mixed with an overwhelming feeling of ineptitude. We know we can do it, we've done it before. But it still seems crazy to think about starting over with a newborn. Despite looking like most babies, she really is cute. Her chubby little cheeks and squinty eyes are adorable. She has a ton of dark black hair just like Hannah did when we first got her.

We hung out at the hospital all evening. My mom and dad (Nana and Papa) brought us dinner and Hannah who had been over at their house taking her afternoon nap. It was so much fun to see Hannah with O. She gave her lots of kisses, head-pats, eye-pokes, and even tried to help Abby burp her. It was so cute. Mostly Hannah just looked at her and said "Baby". I can tell already that she is going to be a great big sis. I can also tell already that we are going to have our hands full. Hannah already was not happy that O was getting a bottle and had her own pacifier. How dare we!! We laughed quite a bit tonight just watching Hannah interact with her. I'm sure it will only continue to get even more fun. As much as I would love to have a boy someday, I'm really thankful Hannah is going to have a sister, especially one as sweet as Olivia.

Well, I am off to bed. It's getting late and I'm playing ball in the morning. You could also pray I don't get hurt. Injuries seem to coincide with newborns in our house. Hoping this is a trend that doesn't continue. Sorry for the long post. You can see why I'm usually not the one who does this...