Friday, June 17, 2011

Introducing . . .

We had a baby!!! Yes I know I'm a little late in updating. However, our little Caitlyn Renae was born June 9th, 2011 after almost a day and a half of contractions and labor. Poor Scott had to sit down just after she was born I don't think he had sat down all day.





We were able to deliver naturally with just under an hour of actually pushing. I was certain by 4 o'clock they were never going to let me push and started asking Scott to request the C-section because I was done! Thankfully however he put his foot down and told me to relax I would be pushing shortly and we were. Shortly after asking for the section they decided I should be on oxygen I'm not really sure why. Anyone know if it is standard to put women on oxygen that mask was a pain when you try to push!



After she arrived it was wonderful! She scored all 9's on the apgar scale, was eating like a champ just 20 mins after being born and weighed in at 8lbs 4 oz and 20 1/2 inches. Scott snapped a couple of pictures then passed out on the little sofa for a 2min power nap. Earlier in the day I gave in and asked for an epidural so we had to wait for feeling to return to my legs before being moved to our postpartum room. Feeling didn't fully return until the next morning (it was a very strong epidural and not much fun) however with a lot of help from our amazing nurse I was able to shower and get moved to our room for the night. The hospital has a 1-1 ratio for nurses and patients so our nurse was pretty much in our room the whole day and did I mention she was wonderful!



After a very restful night Scott brought the girls over to meet their new sister. They fell in love immediately and I was very surprised at how well they did with her. They were very gentle and didn't push her away when they tired of holding her, they would ask us to take her and wait for someone to get her. Even now they love holding her, I have to watch Bri as she thinks she can pick her up when she cries.




The hospital staff on the postpartum floor was also wonderful, everyone we met was very laid back and professional. We both recalled how in Florida the staff was very strict on feeding every 2 hours and telling us the baby would die if we didn't attempt to feed every 2 hours. However, Providence hospital had the policy that as long as the baby was healthy and you documented when you attempted to feed they didn't pressure you to follow a specific feeding schedule. Caitlyn followed, what our nurse called cluster feedings, she would eat roughly every 3 hours during the day then give me a longer break at night and make up for it in the morning between 5 and 10 when she would "cluster eat" every hour to 2hours.


After a full day of recovery we were discharged to return to Kodiak. We left Anchorage that night in order to catch the ferry. We had tried to catch one later in the week so I would have more time to rest however all of the ferries were already booked up for the the next several weeks due to transfer season. So we loaded up and headed home. Thankfully we had calm seas and a large berthing room so I was able to still mostly stay in bed. We also met a couple of new families that were new to the island. Overall it was an amazing experience and we have an amazing little girl. She has so far been the most laid back and easy going, even more than Alisha and I didn't think that was possible. She is already back up over her birth weight and easily 10lbs now. We have been so blessed with all of our little girls I can't wait for her personality to start shinning through.