BABY!!!

We had scheduled an induction for Wednesday September 3rd.

When I hadn't heard from the doctors office or the hospital on Tuesday regarding a confirmed time I called to inquire. The doctors office said they would call back upon confirmation. I never received a call back. I called back at 4:30pm and left a message. I never received a call back. I finally called the hospital. The L&D unit was closed for the day but was left a number to call if I had questions. I called the number. It was a completely different operating unit within the hospital but they were able to help. The woman had to search through some screens to figure it out but determined we had a 4:30am induction time set.

I received a phone call around 9 or 10pm Tuesday night from the hospital telling me that the hospital was full. No more capacity. Our induction time was canceled. They would call Wednesday.  My doctor called on Wednesday to apologize and to tell me they had scheduled an induction for noon on Thursday.  She said someone would call back with confirmation. I never received the call.  I called the doctors office around 4:30pm. Same song and dance. The hospital was still full. They would have me put on the wait list.

I had accepted that we would just let the baby come naturally b/c the alternative of going to the hospital and having them break my water and then going to the hospital didn't feel quite like the right thing to do. I was okay just not having a baby this week.

Then the phone rang at 7:30pm Wednesday night and they told me I had been moved from the wait list to a scheduled induction time at 11:30pm that night. It was all a bit overwhelming and made me a little anxious. I was mentally ready to not have a baby as the roller coaster of on/off inductions was exhausting me. I didn't have time to get a nap in so I just hung out until it was time to head to the hospital.

The induction process started around 11:45pm with petocin and the antibiotics starting around 12:35am.  They broke my water around 4:30am. I got an epidural around 7:37. I always wonder why I didn't get it earlier. It's pretty heavenly once it starts working.  I started feeling uncomfortable and like it was almost go time around 9:15-9:30. I told the nurse and she called the doctor.  My doctor was not the on-call doctor on Thursday but she was kind enough to leave the office and come deliver the baby if she could make it on time.  She essentially walked in the door and I was pushing within 5 minutes. Baby Girl came quick. She was ready to make an appearance. She was probably out within 5 minutes.

She was so little. 7 lbs 7 oz. Almost a pound less than Mr. Man and almost 1.5 pounds less than Miss M.  Miss M was probably larger due to the excessive amount of donuts I ate.

She had a name within the hour of being born. Impressive for us. As most like to comment that our kids go nameless for at least 24 hours. Andrew told me a few weeks ago we had to come up with a name before we went to the hospital.

Her name is Catherine Claire.  I have always really loved the name Catherine.  We will probably call her Cate.  Or CC. Or Claire. Or Reva.

Miss M has been convinced the baby's name is Reva for a few months (or six) now. We have no idea where Reva comes from but she becomes very emotional and upset when you tell her it's not her name. So we're going with Reva when necessary.  Miss M also thinks her first name is Reva, her middle name is Madelyn, and her nickname is Catherine.  So we have that going for us right now.

Really her name is pretty much a free for all.

 She has such dark eyes.  They are almost brown already.

 She seems mellow. Unlike her siblings. Let's hope she remains that way. At least until she's 2 or 3.

 She's so tiny. Her security bracelet keeps coming off her ankle. Not good.

We love her face. It's essentially all we see of her b/c she loves to be swaddled. She is quite fussy when she's not swaddled.

It is official though...we're keeping her.