Lauramae Kathryne

Lauramae made her big arrival on May 5, 2009 at 12:38 PM.... as scheduled. :-) She was 8 lbs 0.3 ounces (a little shy of her siblings' 8 lbs. 2 oz.) and 20.25 inches long. I think it was the easiest c-section yet. I could tell that Dr. Seeker was getting close to being finished while Lauramae was still in the OR with me. They brought me to recovery and it seemed like I waited there forever all by my lonesome. We finally all got to a room and I got to really hold my baby girl. I had a little trouble with bleeding and got an extra visit from Dr. Seeker because of that. The kids didn't get to spend a whole lot of time since it was 4:30 before they got to the room and Lincoln was already a little melty. The first night was rough with nurses coming and going all the time and the joy of the IV and compression bootie things making noise.

The next morning, the kids got to come and really spend time with their sister. Well, "time" is a relative term. Lincoln didn't do all that fabulous being stuck in the room but he did LOVE holding his sister.... all by himself of course... and pointing out her nose, eyes, etc. It was funny that in most of the pictures of the three of them, Coralee looks perturbed waiting for her turn. She didn't particularly want to share her sister with anyone. She got to spend an afternoon up at the hospital with us and seemed to enjoy that special time.

As usual, she lost almost 10% of her birth weight before we left the hospital. It's what I expect and thankfully I didn't get teary about it this time. If anything, we did better this time around because we didn't have the big "10%" until the day we left to go home. Because of the weight issues and waiting for the lactation consultant and pediatrician, it was 4:00 PM or so before we were able to leave the hospital. That was a long day of waiting although I had taken more of the pain meds than previously so I didn't stress much. I just wanted to sleep. She is quite the eater and has worked very hard to make Mommy's milk come in. We supplemented last night and this morning with some formula in a supplemental nurser. Today we had to take her in to the pediatrician for a weight check. She had gained 3 ounces since we left the hospital which was great and the pediatrician said that the formula alone wouldn't have made that big of a difference. We'll see her pediatrician on Friday for her 2 week appointment... a little early. With the way she's eaten this evening (pretty much a buffet from 4:00-8:00) it will be interesting to see the numbers then.

She has been a really sweet baby although she does like to stay awake and nurse a bunch from 11:00 - 1:00 ish. Tonight should be better since I can just fall asleep in the chair with her and not mess with Ken having to help with the little tube and bottle from the SNS. As usual, he is sleeping like a champ but the interruptions last night and sleeping in a chair in the hospital are taking their toll. We also won't be waking her up in the middle of the night tonight for feedings. We'll see how long she'll make it!