Katherine Allyn Rosemary is Here

It's been less than 3 days, and it seems like so much has happened that I'll never catch up.  Slowly....

I want Katherine to know one day what a special day her birthday was.

Morning preparations.

On the afternoon of the 28th, we got Gracie ready to go play with Mila and Owen, and their dad picked her up.  Mike and I drove to Bellevue to the hospital, Overlake.  We were going in blind, but found it without too much second-guessing.

I'm not sure about these pictures - I know it's Bellevue but not if that strange second picture is the hospital.

We got there right at 5:00 and just had to wait in the waiting room until someone told us what was going on, and the receptionist could only tell us that she was in the OR when we got there.  Knowing it was supposed to take around 30 minutes for the procedure, we expected to hear by 6:00 that she was here.  But 6:00 passed, and we tried not to worry.  Finally, around 6:30 we got a text from Emily that we could go back.  That's when we learned that Katherine had been born at 5:35 but had swallowed amniotic fluid and aspirated some into her lungs.  It was a really scary thing for Emily and Ryan to see her looking so blue and so many people working on getting her breathing.  They whisked her off to the NICU, but Ryan was able to stay with her the whole time and send some pictures.  Emily wasn't allowed in the NICU until she had stabilized in the recovery area for 2 hours (maybe a little less).  It was such a tense and worrying time, trying to make small talk with the nurses, all the time praying and hoping so hard that the little baby would start getting rid of the fluid in her lungs.  Everyone was reassuring about how common it is with C-sections - but we wanted guarantees she was going to be okay!

Finally, we were allowed to go to the NICU, and I'm not sure where we went, just followed the nurse (who was excellent, by the way, at keepiing our spirits up).

They were so sweet to allow the grandparents in to see her.  It's a beautiful new NICU, and the employess couldn't have been nicer.

Little baby working so hard to breathe and mom and dad working so hard to will her to get better.  

We went home and got texts during the night and early morning about her progress, and at around 5:45 a.m she got a bath and got to go to a regular room.  So many people praying.  Such a scare.

On Friday morning, we got Gracie ready to go to the hospital.  She was perfect from the very first, saying, "Dacy go see Mommy.  Dacy go see Daddy.  Dacy go see baby sister."  She dressed without fuss and even wore a little hair bow and sang and talked on the way to the hospital.  We parked, went up in the elvator and went through the waiting room to Mama's room.  

It went better than any of us expected.  She seemed to take it all in stride and was interested in and gentle with the baby, loving toward her parents and actually left with Mimi and Pop Pop to go home with no tears.  She again sang and ate a bagel on the way home.

Since Mom, Dad, and Baby Katherine were all doing so well at the hospital, the 3 of us at home enjoyed many stories, mainly the Little Mermaid, lots of playing, a trip or 2 to the park, and a trip to the grocery store for Gracie to get Mommy some flowers.  She chose these tulips and wanted to get her a Mermaid ballon, but we decided to wait until Gracie's birthday.  

Getting ready to look both ways and cross the street.

This park is across the street from their house and is so convenient.  

 And this path goes from the park and makes a circle back to their house.  It's beautiful but still makes me nervous because Mike talks about bears.  It doesn't help that there was a bear sighting 3 times in one day in Snoqualmie.

The rhododendrons are just about past their prime, but they are so pretty - like azaleas but maybe a little showier.

Right before Em, Ryan, and Katherine were expected home, Karen came over and was greeted enthusiastically by Graysen.  We sat on the deck and ate lemon popsicles while Mike smoked some meat for supper.  

Home coming pictures.

That's a pretty worried look.

Whew, that catches me up somewhat on my focused little world of right now. Maybe I can do better on the day-by-day things.  So thankful to have Katherine here and thankful for her special big sister too, even if she told me "See ya," when she was ready for me to leave the baby's room.  I'll have to try some new tricks to get back in her good graces.  I do have lemon popsicles and maybe the zoo and, if we get desperate, some Daniel Tiger videos to watch.  I have my work cut out for me this week!

Baby Day

All the waiting is finally going to be over this afternoon.

Emily was not allowed to eat anything after 8:00 a.m., so Ryan made strawberry French toast, so her last meal could be special.  SO good.  Wish I had taken pictures, but I didn't think about it.

Mike and I took Graysen across the street to the park, and she is just a joy, walking along and chattering nonstop, but she will stop at the street edge and look both ways and hold hands.  Mike put on her my least favorite shoes - the fishy princess hello kitty crocs.  No one knows where they came from, but she loves them.  Unfortunately, she can hardly run 5 steps in them before she trips.  And this is a running child.

She climbed on all the climbing things and slid down the slides and had such a good time.  A little boy named Baker pushed her, and she just pulled her arm back protectively and stared at him, like she was saying - "Unbelievably rude."  Baker's dad made him apologize, but he wasn't sincere, so when I told Gracie to say, "It's okay," she didn't.  

She ran all over the soccer field in the grass and then through the shaded path where Mike always talks about bears.  

It's time to head to the hospital.  I have a few more pictures, but they'll be out of date when I post next.

Wednesday morning relaxing

So this is the day before New Baby arrives, and I can hardly remember the last two days since I've been here..

Ryan went fishing early, so Emily, Graysen and I had a relaxing morning at home.

Emily had been wanting to make a tomato-based soup like her grandmother used to make, so she worked on that first thing this morning.

Gracie ate her breakfast and got to watch a movie for her electronics time today.  She chose "Little Mermaid" and followed it pretty closely.  It's really the first time I've ever seen it too.  Emily fast forwarded through the scary parts, so we got to enjoy it without being scared.

She and I spent some time on the deck playing with some of the little animals.  It was a little chilly but not enough to wear shoes.  

I took this picture of the rhodendrons from the living room window.

What a nice porch to enjoy the nice weather.

Emily and Graysen took a walk.

New Baby's room is still in progress, but you can tell how pretty it's going to be.  The glider, crib, and changing table have come from Graysen's room, and Ryan just painted the chest to go with the crib wall.

Grand-kitty Jack and grand-Corgie Griff.  

One reason I don't get more written is this:

Whenever I sit down and start to type, she runs in and says, "Mimi, Imma making G's."  And never tires of it - 13 pages of typing this last time.

Pop Pop got here this afternoon.

Pop Pop still has a little energy.  Pop Pop run!  Pop Pop play toys!  Come here, Pop Pop!  They have read numerous books, run a LOT, played ball, eaten pizza, laughed a lot.  He's fascinated by how much she is changing and learning as much as I am.

And someone wants to be a tiny baby again.  She needed Mommy to hold her and Pop Pop to read her a bedtime story.

These are doll  baskets that I brought up for her, the same ones Emily and Elise played with when they were little.

She can also be a big girl too, riding so nicely in the cart at Target and looking at princess sheets.

 Not so much the big moose and the Spiderman.  "Stay up dere."

Ordering something in the Greek restaurant.

Feeding her babies.

Making more G's.

I'm not sure how tomorrow will go, but this is her last day as an only child.  I think she'll be fine.