Blessed, Honored, Pioneers: Trip to Martin's Cove Day 3 of 3of 3

So we start the morning off with some breakfast and we are all hurrying to be packed, loaded, and gone by 8am so we can make it back in time to go tour the Fort Seminoe museum near the visitor center.

I though this would make a cool picture. So during the whole trek there were youth companies. There was one company that had around 300 people in it! The children in our company watched in awe as the parade of youth went trekking by. Seeing such a large group made the trek seem more real considering that was really how large the companies were back then.


Kenya geared up for the trek back to the loading area. Here she is giving the sign for "I love you."
She wanted to walk so bad. We let her a couple of times, but for the first mile or more the pace was so fast that she would have been left in the dust.
Lois and Brother Strupp were leading the way. Lois didn't get to push the handcart much during the trek so she got to the whole way back! Looky how burnt her face is! :)

Here lies the skeletal remains of a covered wagon at the turn off for the cove.


A picture of Devil's Gate as we were approaching HQ.


Devil's Gate
So we had made it in time to visit Fort Seminoe or what remained of it. The Fort is not the original, but was made in almost the exact fashion of the original not far from the original foundation...originally.

This is what it would look like if we were giants.
Here are some wax figures depicting the harsh winter they had to tough out in the fort. They had to make soup out of the leather hides of their skin and bone oxen in order to survive.

Kenya and yet another friend are stalking a little, white butterfly to try to get a picture. They never got that picture. Oh and check out the sweet sharpening stone!Now that's an old buggie!


Before we made our journey home we stopped to have lunch and a some pioneer stories at the Willie Handcart Company site. It was pretty cool. I wish we could have gone on that trek too!


We had finally hit the road and decided to stop in Dubois to go potty and get pictures of the world's largest Great American Jackalope!



There are the Grand Tetons. We did not see them on the way in to Wyoming because it was already dark and so we didn't even know we passed them, but the drive back was magnificent! We were practically right next to them, but couldn't stop because we needed to get home at a decent time. This was the only picture we got of them from far away.

Blessed, Honored, Pioneers: Trip to Martin's Cove Day 2 of 3 (Continued)

The Square Dance

So after some r & r at the campsite we had to take a walk down to the corral where the square dances are held. The pioneers would have square dances, even after tons of walking, for two reasons: One to help break up some of lactic acid build up in the body and to raise the spirits. Some good music helped to reinforce the morale and thus helped them to push forward. Kenya ditched us for other people and was dancing in a different group. She had a blast! We danced the Virginia Reel and another one I don't know the name of but we said, "O Johnny, O Johnny-O " as the chorus.
Check her out! She was kinda dancing with a large group for a bit, but then decided it's time to make a kid's group.



Even though it was still hot and we had been on our feet all day it was still nice to dance!

Blessed, Honored, Pioneers: Trip to Martin's Cove Day 2 -Women's Pull

Women’s Pull:

There was a part of the trek where the women had to push and pull the handcarts without out the aid of any males.

What the women didn’t know: The missionary leading the women’s pull took all of the males to the top of the pull and gave us a prep talk on how special these sisters are and how they should be treated and that they are our treasures. He also said that this is the most spiritual part of the trek and he can’t figure out why. He had all the males stand in two lines across each other and had us take our hats off, hold our right hands over our hearts and remain in complete silence. (This pull is the hardest pull they trek offers). The reverence that we men and young men displayed was unheard of. However, not being able to cheer my wife on was probably one of the hardest things for me! I was almost in tears. I felt so helpless and useless…standing there doing nothing!

Now the pull wasn't as hard for the handcarts toward the rear of the company because by that time the women from the front of the company were going back and helping the others.

Something about seeing my wife take on this pull reassured me of how happy I am to be married to such a strong woman and for all eternity! That we are growing a forever family together and that she is so talented in so many things she doesn’t even know makes me feel so happy.

Blessed, Honored, Pioneers: Trip to Martin's Cove Day 2 of 3

Day two started off with breakfast and walking! Both girls slept well through the night and Kenya was up at her usual 6am. We hung out around camp and then left at 9am (much later than the Saints would have) on our journey to Martin's Cove, to do a river crossing and a women's pull. We had a lot of walking to do ahead of us!

Here's Kenya gettin' ready for the trek to the actual cove where the Martin Handcart Company stayed.
...and here she is not even 10 minutes after we left! She wanted to walk and probably could have, but she was kinda board in the hand cart and it was time for a morning nap.These next few shots are of the terrain that the early saints had to endure, but all of this with 18+ inches of snow!!

Sister Doby and her daughter, Cat, were having fun with Kenya as we walked the trail to the cove.
We had so many people who were wanting to help out with Kenya. She even rode on Bishop's shoulders the entire walk back to our handcarts from the cove. (At least 1.5 miles.)We left our handcarts at a picnic area and walked into the cove. There some missionaries told stories about the pioneers and we had a sweet devotional.

The next pictures and videos are of The Crossing of the Sweetwater River. Now even though our company was looking forward to this part of the day, because it was so blasted hot, we still remembered what the saints went through. They had to cross this river multiple times in the dead of winter. When we crossed the water level was just to the tops of our thighs, but when the pioneers crossed it was not more than two feet deep. However, they did it while it was freezing cold and there were ice chunks floating around in the water cutting peoples' legs. This is where we crossed.

There were 4 young men that helped hundreds of saints cross all day long. This memorial was built in their honor. We heard stories about these young men here.


This is a closeup of the previous one. He is holding an infant in his coat!

Here is a series of short videos of the Drapers crossing (the camera setting wasn't changed when we passed off the camera. the person holding the camera thought she was taking stills! Our bad!)


This was great to be able to feel the special Spirit there at the water and know that we were honoring these people by attempting to understand what they went through. There would have been several handcart companies that would have crossed about the same time of year that we did. It was the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies that got caught in the storms and went through in winter like conditions.

Daddy totally sport the Dad Life! check out the following link to a video to understand! This was at the only rest stop on the trail more than half way back to the tents.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=DOKuSQIJlog



Kenya and Jasmin were a little worn out at this point ;) We got back to camp between 2-3pm. Then we all just rested until we found the creek!


I know it looks like were baptizing folks, but there was a little creek nearby that was great for swimming and cooling off a little. Truth is the water was just a few degrees different from the air outside, but enough to give some relief from the heat.

Jasmin is watching Kenya and Lois play in the water. We wanted to take her in but the current was just a little too swift.Next was dinner and then to square dancing!

Over all impressions and thoughts of our trek.

Looking back at our trek there are many things that I learned, but really none of them are things that I was expecting.
We went on the trek hoping and thinking that we were going to deepen our appreciation for the pioneers and understand a little bit about what they went through and how they felt. When we talked to others who had been on the trek they often told us how hard it was physically and that they could not imagine have to walk so much. So, naturally we thought we were getting ready to go and burn ourselves our physically, especially because it was in August when it is was really hot!

PLEASE UNDERSTAND WE ARE NOT COMPLAINING AND WE ARE NOT SAYING IT WAS NOT HARD SO SOME, BUT IN OUR EXPERIENCE THINGS TURNED OUT DIFFERENT.

Robert or I did not find the physical part of this experience demanding or even challenging. We did think it was ridiculously hot and we did more than our share of sweating and of course I got a good sunburn, but each night we did not feel the trek was hard physically. Our feet did not hurt nor were we exhausted.
I thought taking 2 kids would really make it difficult mentally and more physically demanding because come on a toddler walking all day and such. But this was not so. Our trek family and our ward was so amazing that they helped with Kenya so much! Jasmin was awesome and just slept the most of the time. So, really the kids did not make it more difficult. Even when sleeping at night both girls did really well and we did not loose much sleep.
We felt that we were rushed through the places that would have let us feel the Spirit and let us get closer to those who pasted before us. Our group was trying to stay ahead of some youth groups there so that we would not be caught behind them and that we would not have to wait so long. In fact on the second day we finished at least 2 hours early and so we all just sat in our tents and then played in the water a bit and waited for dinner. This was fun and refreshing, but we feel if we had spent more time reflecting at those sacred places we might have gotten more of what we were expecting.
Well, here is our experience and what we realized while we were there.
The night of the first day Kenya was so tired because she was up late that we decided that she could not go to the fireside that night. We wanted to go so bad because it was the missionaries there dressed up and acting our stories of Ephriam Hanks, which we knew were going to be inspiring and amazing! As I sat out of the tent and Robert was putting Kenya to sleep in the tent I had an impression that our sacrifice was not going to be physical, but it was going to be that we could not partake of those extra experience while having a young family. Then it was sometime on the morning of the second day that I was getting people telling me how seeing me there with my family made them feel. People were telling me that it made things so much more real for them to see our young family out there walking the trek with them. There were a few families that went who left their smaller children at home because they did not want to deal with their toddlers on the trek. After a short reflection I was told through the Holy Ghost that our part of this journey was not going to be physical, but it was to be adding to the experience for others. I was able to think about this all day and it helped me feel as though I was there doing my part. Robert however was kind of disappointed all day because he was feeling the same way I was before about not being able to really get anything out of the experience. Then when we had a moment to ourselves after square dancing that night I shared my feels and impressions and he said that as he looked back he could see what I was saying was true. He began to feel a little better things. One other thing that I learned was that letting others help you, even if you don't NEED the help it is okay. Letting other help with Kenya and Jasmin was on this trek I think helped other to feel of worth and that they were serving. It was good to see them find join in serving us and have fun with my girls. People were genuinely worried about me just having a baby they wanted to help and that was nice to see! (Maybe without there help things would have been harder.)
We learned a lot, but just not what we were wanting/expecting to learn. Our journey was very different than most. We are just fine with that. We learned what the Lord needed us to learn and hopefully someday we will go back and get a different experience.

The first day of the rest of my life.

Yesterday was the first what will be "normal" day for me for the rest of my life. By this I mean it was me and the girls home alone all day by ourselves. Robert went to work and I got to stay at home. Just getting back from our camping trip there was lots to do and I was scared to start this whole being a mom of 2 without any help. There were plenty who had offered and I knew I could call for a rescue if things went too bad, but none the less I was on my own. Since Jasmin has been born I have had someone right there to help me and if I needed an extra nap I could go take one. But here is how it went....
It was wonderful. I could not have asked for a better day. Jasmin slept wonderfully (and a lot) and Kenya was her amazing self. Yes, it might have been better if Kenya would have slept for more than 20-30 minutes, but I was happy with my day! I now know that I can do this mom thing! (At least on the easy days.) I did not make it out of the house but I was able to get about 10 loads of laundry done, unpack the camping stuff, and get the house clean. I did great!
This was truly a tender mercy from the Lord.

Today is going good so far too! Jasmin is down for a morning nap and Kenya and I are enjoying our morning movie. Here is to another great day. Today we are going to go grocery shopping and I am praying it will go as well as yesterday it.

Blessed, Honored, Pioneers: Trip to Martin's Cove Day 1 of 3

Our trip to Martin's Cove started out on Sunday night. We drove half way while the girls slept. We ended up staying in Dubois, WY and stopped there about midnight. We got up the next morning and had a slow start, had breakfast and drove the rest of the way. This worked out great for our little family of 4. We hit Lander, WY and ran into the Strupps at a gas station. We then followed them to the site. We pulled into the site right behind the ward bus that had most of the people going on the trek. They had left the church at 6am Monday morning. When we got there we were to eat lunch and load our cart. Then we had orientation where we learned a little about the pioneers and were instructed on what to do and what the rules were. Then off we went. It was just before 3:30 that we began out trek to the campsite.

Lois and Jasmin sporting their matching bonnets. Thanks Mom and Sister Lundquist.
Here we are just before we started the trek. Look at those cute bonnets and skirts that were made for the girls in the family. They sure helped in keeping the sun off too! I don't know what I would have done without them!
This is a shot of Jasmin. This is how she spent most of her days. Just hanging in the front pack baby carrier, a sleep! What a great baby!


This is just shortly after we started off down the handcart trail!
Kenya walked at least 1 mile before even being picked up. I think it was more that the other adults thought Kenya walked to slow and offered to carry her rather than she was too tired. Lou Anne a lady in our handcart family is carrying Kenya here. Our family was so great at helping out with our children!
Here is the flag that Lois designed and made for our handcart. We had a wide variety of people in our handcart family and so this is what she came up with. It says, "From all walks of life, we all walk together." Then she put an outline of each of our feet. So, there was Robert's, Lois', Kenya's, and Jasmin's feet all on the flag. It turned out pretty good! Our handcart family was:
The Smiths: an older couple (Jane and Brother Smith) (he is in the bishopric)
The Strupps: middle aged couple (Karl and Kim) and sister Strupp's sister (Mona)
Sister Thompson: middle aged single lady (Lou Anne)
The Drapers: Robert, Lois, Kenya and Jasmin

Setting up the tent was a nightmare. It was by far the hardest part of the whole trek! The wind was SOOO strong that it was blowing all the tents over. It was so windy that a lady's sleeping bag was actually blow away in the wind. Daddy and Kenya put up the tent with a little help from others while Mommy had to feed Jasmin. They did a great job. Once the tent was up the wind was so strong that it was still blowing the tent so that one side was collapsed. Our tent was only half as big because the wind blew one side into the middle of the tent. Robert had to tie an anchor from the top of the tent to the near by fence to keep it from going completely flat.
Jasmin just chillin' while we set up the tent. She sure had a comfy seat!

Our little one was only 2 weeks and 3 days old, but she is smiling and not just in her sleep. We are amazed that the things she can already do!

Daddy is having a huddle with the girls!
Kenya is gettin' some kisses from Jasmin...

So Kenya decides to reward Jasmin for her kisses by sharing some chocolate pudding with her for the .5 seconds we weren't looking!





Kenya was so tired that night that we missed the fireside about Ephriam Hanks who was a rescuer that saved so many people on the trail. It was nice to have a little quite family time though. We were tired and all asleep by like 10:30 or 11pm that night.

Update through pictures.

These pictures are not in any order. We just wanted to get them up so people can see our wonderful Jasmin and how things are going around the house.

Here she is just being awake. This is not something we saw for the first few days. It is getting more common now though!
Just hanging out around the house. Gotta love Lois's "new mommy" look.
This was one morning when Kenya came into our bedroom and asked to hold the baby. She just sat there and held her for at least 20 minutes as Jasmin slept.
Aunt Amy and our girls! She is such a big help with Kenya. Kenya gets the extra attention she needs because Amy loves to play and dance with her! Thanks Amy!
More just hanging out.
My brother Josh came up from Utah and brought his daughter Aly. It was so fun to have them for a few hours and let the girls play together. Aly was excited to hold the baby and play with Kenya! Thanks for the visit! Kenya is getting so spoiled with all these extra visitors I am a little nervous to see what will happen when it is just boring mom again.
This has already taken the same opportunities as she did when Kenya was born. Always trying to sit on or next to the nursing baby. I think the cat gets more jealous than Kenya does.
This is just as we are getting ready to leave the hospital.
Proud big sister!
Cousin Aly visiting. What a warm sunny summer Sunday.
Jasmin Elena.
Kenya helping the nurse take my vitals. She sure gets spoiled by people. All the nurses fell in love with Kenya and wanted to make her as happy as possible.

What a sweet tender moment.

Jasmin Elena Draper

It all started one day in China when I was thinking about....
Okay sorry to scare you this is not the story of how she began but how we started to think we wanted to name our new child. So back to the story.
how I wanted to honor my father. This was before I thought he was going to die before the baby was born. I was thinking if it was a boy we could use some or all of his name and then it came to me that we already have the D of his initials and and we just use his initials, but just mix them up a bit. I brought it up to Robert and he liked the idea. So we decided that it was a possibility to try and do so. Then as time went on we went with the idea.

Jasmin Elena Draper has a very special significance in her initials. It is not the names, but the initials. These initials are the same as my father. His initials were DJE. We mixed up the initials. We struggled to find a name. We liked several different names, but nothing seemed to stick. Robert finally said Jasmin Elena and I loved it. The name seemed to elegant to me and so we kept searching. Finally we decided that that is what it was going to be.
So, here is to you Grandpa! Jasmin Elena Draper, JED
I wish she could have had her grandpa here on this earth, but we know that we will see him again through the power of the temple sealing and Jasmin and Grandpa will be able to play and have as much joy as Kenya and Grandpa did here on earth!

Labor and Delivery the entire story.

NOTE: This is the whole lengthy story, so the beginning is stuff I have already blogged, but I wanted it all in one post from start to finish. There is plenty of details and it wont be gross at all, but there are plenty of details, so beware.

As posted before my water broke around 8:30 the morning of July 15 while I was in the shower. When I got out Kenya and Grandma had gone outside to play and so the first thing I did was call Robert and tell him that my water had broken. I had a doctors appointment for 10:00 so I just got ready and headed to the Dr office. It took a little longer getting ready than planned because I had to make sure that I was not leaking all over the house when I was getting ready. I asked my mom what I should do until I got to the office because I was still leaking water and her first suggestion was to put a towel there to catch everything, which is what I had done and already soaked through 2 hand towels. Then as we were leaving she suggested a diaper. Yep, you got it I got a diaper and laid it in my underwear. It worked great!! Then off to the doctor we went. As we were just a ways down the road from my house I had to turn around because This was left outside. Knowing that this was probably my water that broke I did not want to leave her outside all day in the heat and possibly all night and the next day because I was thinking we would not be coming back to Rexburg, I turned around to go find her and put her in the house. Robert left from work and met us all at the doctors for our appointment.
My doctors appointment went well and sure enough confirmed that my water had broken. The doctor had a kit he was going to collect some of the fluid to test and see if it was my water and as he began to check it gushed out. Knowing there was nothing I could do I just apologized and he said, "Yep, that is the water." The nurse Karen asked if he wanted to have slide made to check and he said no. So, the doctor called the hospital and told them I would be coming in. He relayed the message to me that they already have 5 women in labor and that it might be a few hours before they start me on Pitocin. I asked about going to get lunch because I knew from experience with Kenya that when on Pitocin you can only have clear liquids. So as shown before we went to Pizza Pie Cafe. Then we ran to Wal-Mart and stopped by a friends house to talk to them about possibly staying the night, or at least Kenya and Grandma.
I checked into the hospital at about 1:00pm. It took them a little while to get me hooked up to the IV and get going on Pitocin. Toni who was doing my IV had a really hard time getting it into the vein on the back of my left hand. It didn't hurt much then, but she really dug around and then the vein shriveled up and she had to do it a different one anyway. She got one on the outside part of my wrist on my right hand (about the worse spot to put one, I think). I had a hard time bending my wrist and such and it was my right hand too. The back on my left had still has a HUGE bruise and is more sore now than any other day. She got me good! I think it was probably after 2:00pm when they started the medicine. So, then it was just waiting. The monitor began to show contractions, but I really didn't feel anything. Kenya and Robert went to our friends house at about 5:00pm so I could get some rest and Kenya could play with friends and get out of the hospital. Grandma was amazing and had taken her on some walks through the hospital to keep her entertained as well. It was about the same time Robert and Kenya left that I began to feel the contractions and was able to recognize them when they were coming. So, needless to say the rest I was wanting I was not really getting. I was able to get up and walk around with a portable monitor and I think that really might have hurried to contractions along.
Just after 6:00pm I was feeling the steady contractions and Robert and Kenya were going to be coming back for dinner. I decided to get the epidural because I didn't want Kenya to be there when I got it and I did not want her to see me go through the contractions. I think it might have scared her because she is sensitive to when other people get hurt. It breaks her heart to see other get hurt. Kenya and Robert got back just after 6pm and then Grandma took Kenya down to the cafeteria to get some dinner. The anesthesiologist came at about 6:30pm and we went through all the legal garbage and risks. Then away she went. Well, the first time she tried she hit a blood vessel and so she had to take it out and try again. (Of course we all know that I was having contractions through this whole process.) It took her nearly 30 minutes to get it done. At the end of it all she explained that she is the 2nd in line on the the on call list and that the man who usually does them was in a different case. Well, that makes sense now! Everything went fine though and it worked great! (Yep, I am going to do it again with the next.)
So, here we are at about 7:00 and I asked the nurse to check me. She finished up a few things and then did. I was dilated to a 6. When I asked her when she would check me again she said about 2 hours. I was fine with that I did not know how long it was going to take to dilate or how fast I would go. So, then around 8:00pm Kenya and Grandma went to go to bed. Grandma said that if it was after 10 or 11 not to call when the baby came. So, Robert ate dinner in the hospital room with me and I just waited in bed until time to be checked. Well, the nurse came in just before 9:00pm and said that Dr Hopkin had called and asked that I be checked because he was getting ready to leave town. The nurse checked and in a matter of just starting to check she said, "Your complete." Then she went and called the Dr and came back to tell me that he would be there in 10 minutes. I called Grandma and she said that they were just starting to get to get into bed and so she came back up. So, now in the room was Grandma, Kenya, 2 nurses, Robert, me and Pascal via Skype. Robert had been chatting with him for a while and so he just stayed on the computer. He lives and was in Shenzhen, China. I am not really sure what all he saw or what angle he got of the whole thing, but he was there. He like most others was just SUPER curious about the gender of then Baby Inside.
So, he goes the delivery. (With Kenya I got a slight tightening in my lower back with each contraction and so I knew when to push.) As soon as the doctor was there and ready I pushed on the next contraction. I did 4 pushed with that contraction. They said there was black hair. The next contraction 1 push and than another. With that second push a hand and the head. The third push, a baby! 9:20 pm IT A GIRL! She screamed and I smiled! (Kenya did not scream. In fact I did not hear her make an noise until later in the NICU.) I was able to hold her right away and love her. Then the placenta delivery actually took longer than the baby. No tearing, woo hoo!! Then the clean up of course. 9:35ish, the doctor left. What a job he was there for less than 30 minutes. I bet he is thankful for the quick easy delivery as well. He mentioned at his office that he does his best work before dark and it was twilight when Jasmin was born. What a great team we all make! I nursed her right away and it only took one try for her to latch on. She has been a great/strong nurser ever since.
Kenya was in the room the entire time. She did not have a direct view of what was going on, but she did see everything. She just sat on a chair and excitedly waited for Baby Inside to become Baby Outside. I was worried about having her in there at first, but she handled it so well as they were prepping that I told her as long as she stayed on the chair she was able to stay in the room, but if she wanted to her and Grandma could leave and wait outside. She did ask a few times what was going on and we would just tell her. When the baby came out she came right over to see. She was able to see all the aftermath and just asked me things like, "Mom, you got blood on your "bingo"?" (This is the word she uses for vagina.) I would just tell her that I was okay, but yes I do. I would tell her that it was just part of having the baby come out. Crazy thing is I am fairly sure she understood and felt comfortable with it. She went over when they were cleaning the baby and watched her get weight and cleaned. All, she kept saying was "I want hold her! Please, may I hold her!" It was instant love from Kenya! This was a very sweet part of the experience that I never would have wanted to have, but it was amazing!! I am so glad Kenya was there and I think it made it a little more special for all of us!
The baby never left our room or sight really and that was great! Kenya and Grandma left just after 10:00pm to go to bed. That girl was tired! So, we were getting ready to move rooms and it had been about an hour and a half (11:15pm). The nurse said that I could shower if I could stand and support myself. Well, my left leg buckled ever time I tried to stand on it. It was the weirdest feeling trying to move it and stand on it and then all of the sudden it would buckle. So, I was wheeled to the "mom and baby" unit for recovery. Baby Outside nursed great through the night and slept with mommy most of the night. She had her first BM at about 4:00am.
The next morning at about 8:00am Kenya and Grandma came back. Kenya shared breakfast with me and then Robert Grandma and Kenya went down to get there own breakfast. After everyone ate breakfast everyone left Baby Outside and me to get my sister Amy from the airport. While they were gone Dr Hopkin came and check on us and gave us the go ahead to leave at dinner time.
Everyone got back to the hospital at 1:00pm. Around 2:00pm our friends the Hunts came to see the new baby. Amy and Grandma left at about 5:00pm to go home and get a little rest or whatever and we stayed for our dinner and to try and name this baby. It took us 2 and half hours to finally give into the name Jasmin Elena Draper. We left the hospital at 7:30pm and drove our new family home!
It was wonderful!

The Drapers have landed!

So we are all home and doing well. We were supposed to stay one more night, but the Doctor okayed Lois and the baby, finally named Jasmin Elena Draper, to leave anytime after dinner. We could have left the hospital by 6:30pm, but it took us over 2 hours to choose a name! There is no more deliberation. Jasmin Elena Draper is the new edition to our eternal family and we thank our Father in Heaven for blessing us so greatly!

Update from Mommy!

So, I will hopefully be able to write out the details of the labor and delivery process soon, but to keep everyone updated better now that the baby is here here are a few updates.
The baby has picked up nursing well, although she has been sleeping and has not fed every 2-3 hours like "normal" but I am sure that will change. She has been doing a great job at it too! She has had to bowl movements (this is important for new babies!). And the doc checked on her this morning and said that we can most likely go home this evening around dinner time.
Now, the only problem is.... She does not have a name.
Kenya's suggestions: Baby Sister, Baby Outside, Baby Inside Draper, Sister, and K E N Y A (she spells out her name)

Thank you to all who have congratulated us and given us support. We enjoy seeing your comments and reading your input or feedback!

PS I am doing very well with no pain meds (I only used those for the delivery) and am up moving around and feel great!