Successful First Week!

Mary Caroline's first week at home has been a great success. She has had a wonderful week getting to know her Mommy and Papi as well as getting lots of love from her sisters. She is on a pretty good schedule of sleeping for 2 hours and eating. Nighttime has been her more active time so at around 9:00 Tami has been going to bed and leaving Mary Caroline with me out in the family room. She can hang for about an hour and then she crashes again. So she sits in her bouncy chair while I try to do a little work and watch TV. At around 11:30 she gets hungry again and Tami takes over. From then on out it is reported that Mary Caroline gets up every 2-3 hours and eats. It must be very quietly because I have been sleeping right through it!

Things she's done this week: sleep, eat, cry, first bath, keep eyes open for a while, poop, pee, hiccup, burp, sleep, eat, cry...(I think she smiles at me but I know it must have just been gas...)

Thanks to Chrissanne and Craig for the beautiful (and delicious) cookie bouquet. And thanks to all of you for all of your gifts and kind words and prayers.

Home!

Mary Caroline arrived at home on Easter Sunday at around 4:00 PM. Her sisters were with their grandma so she was greeted by Barkley with a few sniffs and a wagging tail. Poor guy is so outnumbered now!

After we felt the house was ready I went to get Kate and Anne and Tami stayed home to feed Mary. When I got to Grandma's house the girls were being treated to an Easter celebration to end all Easter Celebrations. The Easter Bunny tracked the girls down and left baskets and eggs galore.

All the way home Kate kept asking about Mary Caroline and if she would be able to hold her. She told me that she really loves Mary Caroline and can't believe that she's ours! Anne said the same thing but with much fewer words. "Baby!" she said over and over!

When the girls got out of the van at home they both ran into the house and went directly to where Mary Caroline was. They both begged and pleaded to hold Mary. Then Kate saw that the Easter Bunny had also come to our house so she let Anne hold Mary first. Anne did great holding Mary this time and was very gentle and sweet. Kate is a natural. When it came to be her turn she was just wonderful holding her and after a while she got to give her a little bit of a bottle. Anne of course wanted to feed her too. She said "me me me Milk" until finally it was her turn. She did great too.

Mary Caroline slept in bed with Tami and me and did pretty well. She was hungry a lot and woke up every hour or so but she is very mild natured and didn't wake up the whole house. Anne did wake up in the middle of the night and asked Mommy about the baby. It is so cute just how curious she is about her new baby sister. I think the first day at home was a wonderful success. Everyone is healthy, happy and content.

Happy Easter!

Well it's Easter Sunday and we are preparing to hop home with our newest basket of joy! Mary has done very well in her first 24 hours of life. She is eating well and meeting all the necessary milestones. The pediatrician came in this morning at around 9 o'clock and said she was in perfect shape to go home. Mary has really bonded with Tami as she is quickly comforted by her voice and her touch.

Kate and Anne came here yesterday to meet Mary and they both fell in love. Both of them had a chance to hold Mary and neither wanted to give her back. Anne is still a little rough around the edges when it comes to how to treat Mary but she gave it a good try. Kate was wonderful with Mary and cried when she had to leave. She said over and over, "I'm so going to miss Mary Caroline!" I think she's more excited about being at home with Mary than that the Easter Bunny is coming! Other visitors yesterday included: Abu Yiya (Yaya), My dad (Pop-pop) &Dallas (Tio), Tia (Titi), My mom (Aba), Dick (Papaw), Colby (The Godfather) & Alix, Andrea, Carol (Grandma).

Epidural IN!

Tami is resting comfortably after having her epidural placed. She is much happier now and is talking on the phone with her friends even though she doesn't realize they are all sleeping! It's 12:30 AM! We're expecting smooth sailing from here on out. I'm gonna try to catch some zzz's. Nothing to watch on tv now that the basketball games are over. Damn Hoosiers...losing in 1st round again...sigh.

Good night! We'll all meet Mary in the morning!

Well, we're here! We got here at 5:40 and got admitted to our room at 7:00. So far everything is going well. We have a very nice nurse, Ashlie who will be with us through the night. She got Tami all hooked up and started her pitocin at around 8:00. Dr. Bartfield came in and broke Tami's water at 8:25. At 9:30 Tami started to feel some mild contractions. When the pain gets to a 5 on a scale of 1 - 10 she'll be calling for anesthesia - STAT! Mary has been moving around a lot. She is ready to come out!

My dad got here first at around 7:30 followed by Carol and Ames who are having a late dinner in the cafeteria. Alix is scheduled to come in later if things start to progress.

Here are a couple of pictures from the hospital. More to come!

Good time to start

I've been wanting to start a family blog for a while now and the time has arrived! As some of you know we are expecting our third daughter very soon. Tami, being the planner she is, elected to be induced today so we would have kid coverage and some time to get settled in with the new baby. Well, this morning we got a call saying that the hospital is full and we have been placed "on call". The person on the phone said that we could expect to be admitted at some point this afternoon. I will be posting pictures of the baby as soon as possible so check back!