Catherine Bernadette

Welcome to the family Catherine Bernadette.  Our little girl was born on Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 4:16PM.  Weighing just shy of 6 pounds (5 pounds 15.8 ounces) with a length of 18.5 inches, the best way to describe her is beautiful and perfect!

Wednesday started a little bit different than other days. Right from the morning Sarah could tell that her body felt a little "different." Upon hearing that, I asked if I should drive to work rather than ride my bike.  Sarah response was, "I'm not going into labor, but my body is getting ready for it, go ahead and bike."

The sentence that followed alarmed me a little more since I knew my schedule would have me in meetings in a location where my bike wasn't.  "Just make sure your phone is on you or you are on Gmail chat in case I need to contact you."  I was kept up-to-date throughout the morning as the contractions started to get a "bit more mild, but nothing to worry about - I don't think anything will happen until tomorrow."  Then just before our weekly Planning Team meeting I got a message wondering what meetings I had left, how important they were, and when I thought I'd be able to get home.  Of course, no meeting is that important.  We decided I'd attend this last meeting, and head home after that.  About halfway through the meeting, I reminded her I still needed to get back to our office, and Sarah asked me to leave so I'd have enough time.  "No need to rush, you can still bike, but I'd feel better if you got home."  Our friend Maria who I work with gave me a ride home anyway so that then I didn't have to shower and had time to get the dishes cleaned, fix up a few things, etc.  The midwives clinic told Sarah to hold tight as long as she could talk through the contractions - we were also waiting for Sarah's mom to come watch Gabriella.  "Alright, as soon as my mom gets here we need to head down."  I totally supported that since we were nearing the timing of afternoon traffic on I-405.  We left about 3:30 and still, I knew that the contractions were getting closer, but Sarah did not lead on how imminent this really was.  I knew Sarah really needed to use the bathroom, but that is all I thought when she said "thank God that light wasn't red."

I parked the car and we got into the hospital at 4:10pm.  That's right, 6 minutes before Catherine was born.  What an intense, but yet peaceful moment.  No worries about medical intervention, we didn't have hours upon hours of physically, mentally, and emotionally draining labor.  It was such a different experience than our labor story with Gabriella.  All of a sudden, it was just done; our baby was in our arms ready for her first bath - healthy as can be.  Her apgar scores were 8 and 9, but to Mommy and Daddy, she is a gorgeous, perfect 10 just like her big sister.  It all happened so quickly, that we had time to order dinner before we got moved to our postpartum room.

Catherine is a very mellow and peaceful girl.  She gets startled easily, but we've noticed that she is adjusting to that quickly; I think that is a response to Survival of the Fittest when you have an energetic older sister making a bit of background noise.

Gabriella is a fabulous big sister.  She LOVES to hold Baby Catherine and has been doing a good job being gentle with her.  She is still a toddler, but overall the transition to this point has been great.

I feel so incredibly blessed to have 4 of the most amazing and perfect girls in my life (yes Nikki is included in that group of 4).  But really, it brings me so much joy to look at, think about, and talk about my daughters.