Howe Home: I'm a Grandma!!!!!!!

Wow! I am on day four of being a new Grandma and I am loving every minute of it! What an incredible joy and blessing this little guy is! Jeremy Joseph Howe III (who will be called Joey) was born on Tuesday February 23rd at 5:36pm and I was there! Joey was 8 lbs 5 oz and 21 3/4 inches long (so we'll say 22 inches). I had no idea I was going to be so lucky to get to experience the whole thing but I did! I got a call from Junior on Monday night that he and Rachel were headed to the hospital just before 6pm and then we found out shortly after they got there that her water had just broken (she'd been in labor since about 3am that morning and timed getting to the hospital just perfectly!). So we knew it was going to be time! Junior called and asked me to bring him some food and so I did and got to talk to them both and volunteered to stay if they wanted-either in the room or in the waiting area-and they both said I could stay in the room if I wanted. Yea me! It ended up being a VERY long labor--like nothing I've ever done before and Joey wasn't actually born until after 5pm on Tuesday like I said. I stayed up all night with Rachel, letting Junior sleep a bit because he'd worked 2 jobs for the moving company on Monday and was exhausted. No rest for Mommy though! Rachel's labor progressed but very slowly and I think it was by 10am Tuesday that she finally asked for an epidural since she was still just between a 5 and 6 I think. I am so glad she did! I think he may have been a C-section if she hadn't gotten that relief because she had already been laboring for so long. Such a champ! She finally got to the point where she could push at just before 4pm and I thought ok--in about 20-30 minutes he'll be here--but no, it took just over an hour and a half of pushing to get that sweet baby here! I seriously don't know where Rachel got the energy after being in labor already for so long. Her team of nurses was fantastic---Lauren and Laura in particular! They really knew how to help Rachel through this whole ordeal and to get Joey safely here. So impressed and thankful! One of my favorite things about Joey being here (other than the obvious--holding a precious, sweet, adorable, tiny perfect baby who is my grandchild!) is that his very existence made a whole lot of people grand and great!!! Four new Grandparents, seven Great Grandparents (his Great-Grandpa Cichoski passed away late last year but I bet they had a good time talking in heaven--maybe he even prepared Joey a little for what was to come!) and lots of Great Aunts and Uncles as well as regular Aunts and Uncles who are truly delighted to have Joey here. I've always heard people talk about how great being a Grandma is although lots of other people also say it makes them feel old. I just feel awesome!!! I've also been asked many times what I'm going to be called (such as Nana or Meemaw or whatever) but I've always thought of myself as "Grandma" so unless Joey decides to call me something different, then that's what I am! He is one lucky little guy to have such wonderful parents as well and to have a mom that went through what Rachel did just to get him here safely--about 40 hours of labor--whew!!! Lucky, lucky him and lucky, lucky all of us!!!