Kate - Year One in Review (Part One)

Think back to Valentine's Day, 2005. What were you doing? Here's our story.....

Jennifer had a doctors appointment and was hoping he would admit her on the spot. Good news and bad news. The bad news was she was sent home. The good news was she was going to be admitted at 4:00 am the next day to be induced. Well, we never made it that far.

Jennifer opted for a delicious and romantic Valentine dinner from Wendy's. I think I got back with the food, put it on the table and her water broke. Seriously.

So, being the saavy child birth veterans that we were, rather than panic, we took our time, ate our dinner, got cleaned up and planned on leaving when Gunny and Pappy got to the house to watch Justin.

Well, things got more intense. We left around 10:00, sped our way through the area formerly known as New Orleans and got to the hospital. Right out of a TV show, Jennifer is taking a break every five steps and clenching the railing. Once we got to the nurse's station, within an hour or so, we were primed and ready...everything was in place.


Except this baby wasn't coming. Night turned into day, and 15 "examinations" later, things got closer. After a brief spike on the baby's heart monitor, a small hospital power surge that put the elevator out of service and some minor pacing by dad, the doctor arrived just in time and let us know we were the parents of a little girl -- Kate.

Here's the best part. The waiting room of grandparents, Mary Beth and Justin had no idea the baby was coming at that moment. They had just found out the baby was out when I was walking out to tell them. In typical Jennifer/Ryan fashion I handed them the name card and they all screamed......Kate Lauren.

Here are some pics of Kate from the VERY beginning. It's funny now, but this baby was way too bug to be in that belly any longer. Some of these early pics look more like a sumo wrestler than a newborn.