Yes!  A baby for PotPieGirl!  Baby Luke made his grand appearance on April 2nd at a little over noon local time.

Ok - he's not MY baby....he's my grandson.  My son and his wife are the proud parents.  I'm just the doting grandma (or GiGi...as the kids call me).

My 19 year-old daughter and I were both in the delivery room along with my son and the other grandma.  It was QUITE an experience.  A very, very special moment in deed.

You see (not to get all personal, but that's how I am...lol)...

My mom was adopted so there is no family tree for me there.  I don't know my natural father and don't have any natural brothers or sisters.

In short, I am a "tree-less" person.

If this makes sense... my branches are my roots...my roots are my branches.

My kids are both my branches of the family tree *I* have begun...and they are also my roots.  They ground me... they are my "why".

Now I have 2 grandchildren.. Hanna and Luke.  I watched them both come into this world.  This time, with my daughter and my son by my side, I got to watch Luke come into the world.

A brand new branch... another root.  Another "why".

And I gotta tell you something... when that little man came out, HE REACHED FOR ME.

I'm serious.... he really did.

It was amazing (and no, I didn't snatch him and run...lol!)

Problems

Thing is, after about an hour following his birth we noticed he was having a hard time breathing.

Luke is apparently an impatient little guy (like his Dad...oh, and like his GiGi) - and he came about 3 weeks early according to my daughter-in-law's original due date.

We knew there was a chance something could be complicated - they warned us.

But NOTHING can prepare you for when they whisk that baby away and he spends a WEEK in NICU (NeoNatal Intensive Care Unit).

He was all plugged up with tubes and all kinds of scary stuff.  We couldn't hold him or feed him...and they barely wanted us to touch him.

It was the Week That Felt Like a Year

I know 7 days doesn't sound long, but it was endless...and gut wrenching..and heart breaking.

But day by day, Luke took little steps forward...slowly.  Some days we had steps backwards - and those were the REALLY rough days.

But he got better...and he was finally allowed to go home...

and then, this "tree-less" woman got to rock that baby in the very same rocking chair I rocked his daddy in the day HE came home from the hospital.

That moment even moved my son who grabbed the camera and took pictures so he and Luke would always have them (which made me feel old....am I going somewhere?  I'm really not that old...really.)

Luke is also a 4th generation baby on my son's dad's side.  Luke has a great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all carrying the same family name.

Now THAT is a great picture!

On The Road With PotPieGirl

Luke has been home a week now, but it's been daily trips to the doctor for check-ins (and also to check on his collar bone - which Luke broke during delivery).  Then we ALSO have had to take daily trips to the hospital for blood work (and they make that baby cry... I do NOT like them!).

My sons house is about an hour from me... the hospital/doctor is about 30 minutes from THEM.

It's been a long 2 weeks.

If I had a "real job", I would've been in the same boat as everyone ELSE in the family...and NOT be able to be there these 2 weeks.

I would've missed all this.  I wouldn't been able to help my daughter-in-law out (oh, did I mention that my son started a new job on Monday and he has about an hour+ commute each day...lol!)

Pictures??

We have pictures in all kinds of cameras from all kinds of people.  There hasn't been time to get them all downloaded and organized yet.

BUT... I do have one VERY special picture that I'd like to share.

Remember my roots/branches thing and how important it is to me?

This is a picture of me and my son, the first time my son got to hold HIS son.

I love this picture..totally spontaneous...it just happened to get caught on camera.

Life's been busy... but life is good.

To those of you that have known this was going on in my world - THANK YOU for your prayers and support.

I truly believe it made a difference!

To those of you that had no idea - I apologize for my absence lately....it's just been a rough time and my roots/branches always come first.

Thanks for letting me share!

Jennifer

~PotPieGirl