Lana Mae Wichert

The LORD your God is in your midst,

a mighty one who will save;

he will rejoice over you with gladness;

he will quiet you by his love;

he will exult over you with loud singing.

Zephaniah 3:17

Lana Mae Wichert 7lb 7oz, 20"

Our sweet Lana Mae is here! Lana is a name that Brent and I agreed on a few months ago and it stuck. We just liked it. I've had several people ask how to pronounce it- and I say exactly how it's spelled but I realize that's not so helpful. The easiest way is to say it rhymes with banana. :) Mae was my Grandma Flossie's middle name and there's a funny story behind it. Her legal middle name was spelled May, but after my Grandpa passed away she had their gravestone made up and spelled her middle name Mae. I think it is so fitting to her personality to do something like that in literal stone so it can't be changed. (If you're interested in more about my grandma, here is the tribute I wrote after she passed away). Our hope and prayer is Lana Mae will also grow to be a woman who doesn't always "fit the mold". That she will rise to what God has called her to do/be and do it confidently "in stone" without apology. 

Leaving for the hospital- bright and early.

She's here!

Daddy and his littlest girl. 

 Her birth story: We checked in at 6:45 Monday morning for a scheduled induction. The day before I had the stomach flu- it was awful and I was worried we wouldn't be able to go ahead with meeting Lana the next day but I stopped throwing up around noon on Sunday so felt good enough to go ahead. I knew from my previous birth experiences that I wanted my epidural as early as possible. So as soon as my water was broke and Pitocin started, they put that in. I'm not positive of the time, but I would guess around 9:45 once all that was done. The epidural worked on my left side only, but there wasn't any time to adjust that. I was complete and ready to push. My doctor came in and asked if I wanted to push. I did and one and a half pushes later Lana was here. After she was on me Brent said through nervous laughs "I don't think I was ready for that". 

Going home!