Boom Goes The Baby.

Mary Katherine, Born Sept. 7th.
8 LBS. 14 OZ.

The Boys and their Little Sister. They seemed rather proud.

Mmmm..Delicious baby.

Patrick was the more interested and curious, not having gone through this before. Philip wants to help and hold her, but he understands that babies aren't much fun till they can do something.

The only unusual thing that occurred was when we arrived at the hospital the maternity ward was running on emergency power. We had a minor storm last night which might have caused the problem, but know one knew for sure. Anything plugged into a red outlet worked, this did not include the computers so the majority of the forms to be filled out was done on notebook paper. It also put the delivery in question. They could only perform 'necessary surgery,' and since our C-Section was considered 'elective,' we might have to wait.

I did make a mental note that the hospital would be a good place to hideout in case of a zombie outbreak, but that didn't really help the situation at hand. Luckily, it turned out to be no big deal.

It never gets any less amazing when they pull a person out of another person.

Well, I'm back to the hospital. I do recommend the cafeteria if you ever happen to be hungry in Elmhurst.

False Alarm.

Dirty Laundry had requested a baby update but before I could get one up, she gave us an update of her own in the form of Braxton Hicks contractions and a trip to the hospital for some monitoring. The Wife has never progressed through labor so when she felt the tightening she wasn't completely sure what it was she was feeling. After going back and forth on the phone with our doctor it was decided we should stop by for them to check things out. She, the baby, did not like the monitor resting on her and violently kicked at it the whole time we were there.

Everything is fine and this is perfectly normal. If she had been dilated at all we would have had the baby last night. Currently our C-section is scheduled for Sept. 7th.

It's A Girl! We Think...

This is the latest sonogram we had done yesterday. All indications are that the baby is perfectly healthy. Right now we think it is a girl. The top image is our evidence. It is difficult to be sure. It's easier to see something that is there than to see something that "isn't" there. In this case, a penis. How many times have you heard that guys?

Sonograms are a strange thing. Though I have no reason to think anything could be wrong, and I have been through this twice before, it can still be taxing emotionally. As the nurse works the scanner around my wife's tummy, she stops and moves, massages and works the angle of the sonogram to get different views to record the info she needs. They intentionally place the view screen out of the mothers view. If anything is wrong, they would rather the doctors see it before the mother does. This isn't the case for me. I see everything as she does it.

So every time she stops to focus on something particular, I freak out a bit. I don't know what she is looking at. I don't know what I'm looking at. It's what I don't know that gets to me. Every blob that I can't identify. Every collection of white in the image makes me pause. Why is the nurse spending so much time looking at that? Has her posture changed? Is her body language indicative of a person seeing something bad? It makes me want to scream.

Those feeling are juxtaposed against feeling of wonder and amazement. I can see the heart beating. The stomach is visible, this is because, as I learned with my first son, that the baby will swallow the fluid which aids in forming their internal organs. When you can see the stomach, she has a full belly of fluid. All this is going on in my wife's belly. It makes me want to cry.

It's crazy. I can't recommend it enough.

Alien Baby.

So there it is. The new baby.

It's a little early to tell the sex, we have another sonogram scheduled in two weeks.

Cute the way it looks like it's resting its head on its hand.

We're Having A Baby.

This is not our baby, but we have one just like it.

This will be baby number 3, due for release in September.

We don't know the sex yet, but if it's a girl, her name will be Mary Katherine. The Wife has always loved this name, but never had a chance to use it. If it's a boy, well, I'm not sure, I've run out of family names. Any suggestions are welcome.

Needless to say, we are very excited.