Timeline

So, a little rundown for all who are wondering what's been happening....

Thursday, November 7

• 7:43 pm - A 7lb 6 oz. baby girl enters the world.
• 7:50 pm - We get a call from Candice, the birth grandmother congratulating us on the birth of "our daughter." Very exciting, and encouraging and meaningful to hear from her personally.
• 7:51 pm - While Janelle is still on the phone with Candy, Derry starts by calling his mom and dad. The next hour is an absolute phone frenzy.
• 9:00 pm - We stop to watch The Office.... (nice priorities, huh?) Actually, with the realization that we would not be heading to the hospital until the morning combined with the past hour of absolute pandemonium, this was a good breather.
  
• 9:15 pm - Neal and Leslie Yoder do a drive-by-diapering, drop off some diapers, big hugs and a few cheers and screams.
• 9:18 pm - Back to watching The Office.
• 9:30 pm - Commence with the packing of the clothes and the preparing of the dog to go spend some time with his Grandma and Grandpa.
• 10:30 pm - Lay down, put on Transformers (once again, something to kill time.) We're both asleep by 11:30 pm.

Friday, November 8

• 6:15 am - Up and going.
• 7:15 am - Drop Barnabas off with my mom and dad. Hugs and gifts.
• 8:00 am - On our way to Fort Wayne.
• 9:30 am - Arrive at the Hospital.
• 9:35 am - Walk into the room to see Emily (birth mother) and Candy (birth grandma).
• 9:36 am - Candy pulls a baby girl out of the bassinet and hands her to Janelle.
• 9:38 am - I hold my daughter for the first time. Surreal moment.
• 11:45 am - We head out to give Emily and family some privacy with the baby as they prepare to sign the papers.
• 3:30 pm - We arrive back at the hospital and wait for our appointment with Gina, adoption coordinator. We wait, and wait, and wait.
• 4:00 pm - Gina comes out (while I'm in the bathroom, of course) and let's Janelle know the papers have been signed..
• 4:05 pm - I come out of the bathroom (hey, the toilet was really sensitive and kept flushing on me, totally threw off my rythym).
• 4:05:30 pm - I find out I'm officially going to be a dad.
• 4:45 pm - We finish our signing of the papers.
• 5:00 pm - Crazy amounts of phones calls over a Roast beef sandwich at Arby's. "Hey, it's official.... Katylynn Ivy is ours!!"
• 6:30 pm - Meet back at the Hospital for a special dedication service in the Chapel. Terry Linhart officiates as Emily hands over Katylynn to us. Unbelievable.
• 7:00 pm - Spend a little time up in the hospital room with Terry & Kelly Linhart, Candy & Emily, and the star of the show, Katylynn. The significance of this moment was powerful as Terry and Kelly were the ones that made us aware of the situation and opportunity with Emily.
  
• 8:00 pm - We head to our hotel room and Katylynn stays one more night in the hospital with Emily
• 9:00 pm - We're actually asleep. I wonder how many parents get to sleep through the first two nights of their baby's life.

Saturday, November 10

• 9:20 am - Back into the hospital to look at pictures.
• 9:45 am - Janelle and I get our own room where we watch some videos on parenting newborns (fun stuff)
• 10:45 am - Janelle, Katylynn and I get our first time, just the three of us together (for about 3 minutes) as we take her to the photographer to get pictures.
• 11:30 am - A little more time together in Emily's room.
• 12:00 pm - Lunch
• 12:30 pm - More parenting videos
• 1:43 pm - Started typing this post.

What's to come?

• 6:00 pm - Emily checks out, Katylynn comes to our room
• 7:00 pm - Katylynn meets Grandma and Grandpa Lister.
• 8:30 pm - Blood tests for Katylynn, then we check out and head home.
• 10:30 pm - Arrive home and Katylynn meets Grandma and Grandpa Prenkert, along with brother Barnabas!
• Sunday - Sorry folks, but the only Prenkert making an appearance at NMC will be Derry. We are extremely excited to celebrate and share our joy with you, but we are also extremely excited to have a little "family time" tomorrow.