Providence...Sweet providence

God is beyond good and today I know that again in my life. Today, September 15th, 2006 we were able to bring Katherine "Kate" Grace Martin home from the hospital just 2 days after she was born. This is the day we have been praying for that we would be able to walk out the doors of Willow Creek Women's Hospital with our precious little baby girl in our arms and today God has allowed us to do that.
Providence encompasses our delivery of this baby girl from the beginning of this pregnancy all the way to the time we pulled up in front of our house to welcome her into a home that is full of love for this gift from God. Providence is defined as divine guidance or care.
Providence, Tamara decided on a feeling to call the clinic on Wednesday due to the contractions she had been having and a few other symptoms that were different than days before, when she called the clinic Dr. Partridge-Hix said she would wait for us at the clinic and we could slide right in. Providence because Dr. Partridge-Hix is married to Dr. Hix that delivered our baby and had seen us throughout this pregnancy. Providential in that Dr. Hix has 4 children all of which were premature so he knows what he is doing as does Paige his wife also an OB/GYN.
When we went to visit Paige she examined Tamara and discovered that she was already dilated to a 3.5 and informed us that Robert (Dr. Hix) was on call and would be waiting for us downstairs to do a c-section "pretty quick".
More providence, Dr. Hix doesn't usually do call on Wednesdays but this Wednesday he was on call and knew every bit about this pregnancy and how we wanted to proceed not to mention was able to walk us through every step of the way.
After Kate was born she was having some issues with her blood pooling in her extremities, nothing serious but unsightly and what do you know in comes more providence. Our wonderful nursery nurse for the first day was a sweet lady named Lorraine who "just happened" to have had several years of Neonatal ICU training. Kate was experiencing some discoloration due to the fancy word that I can't remember, we called providence...oops I mean Lorraine and she came right down. Lorraine told us that if it was ok with us she would take Kate back to the nursery and put her on monitors to watch her and make sure everything was still stable, which it was. While in the nursery Lorraine taught Kate how to improve her suck/swallow reflex necessary for proper nourishment by lovingly working with her through the night.
Thursday came and we were able to have Kate in the room with us all day as we continued to pray that we would be albe to all leave together, and Kate and Tamara would be ready sooner rather than later. We had a good day on Thursday and Kate stayed in our room for all but about 1.5 hours in the early morning Friday.
Then the news came as Dr. Davis the pediatrician came by to tell us that Kate looked great and that if it was ok with Dr. Hix to be discharged today then it was ok with him too. We got excited that we had received clearance to bring this little girl home, and then Dr. Hix came by with more great news...GO HOME!!!!
We drove home thankful that exactly what we had been trusting God for had now come to pass. Cooper and Jack are so excited to be big brothers though Cooper understands more and is sooo sweet with her. We are home and excited to be here. Check back more for more pics. Providence...sweet providence. Like I told Lorraine during a special story she shared with me, it's like God really does know what is better for us than we do. Home sweet home.