Siblings

Gus came to the hospital yesterday afternoon for his first visit with Baby Kip. It was fascinating to watch him take it all in. He actually sat and held her for several minutes. It's rare for him to sit still for that long unless we're reading. He even made cooing noises (like he does with his stuffed animals) and was extremely gentle with her. He's going to be a great big brother!!

Checking to make sure she has all her body parts....
Ears, check.Nose, check.Mouth....um, let's see...

Holding hands:)So, for those of you who care, here's our story:

On Tuesday, I had contractions most of the day, starting around 7 am. They were easy and about 10 minutes apart until around 3 pm when they started getting more intense . I called Scott just to let him know that things were progressing. We had a normal evening... dinner.... bedtime for Gus, etc. I laid on the couch for a while to see if things would continue or slow down. Around 9, the contractions started getting closer together so we packed Gus up and took him to our neighbor's (Thanks, Reardons!). It all felt a little surreal.

Having done this once before it wasn't as intense as I remembered. I helped pack our bags, cleaned and straightened up the house and timed contractions, all at the same time. We finally decided to head to Women's East around 11, and I seriously wasn't sure if we'd get to stay or not, but once we got here, they found out I was already 7 cm dilated, so they stuck us in a room as fast as possible and got everything started. I was Group B strep positive again, like with Gus, so they had to do antibiotics. I decided this time to get an epidural, but they couldn't start that until the antibiotics were done....and let me tell you, it seemed like they were never going to be done!! So, I labored for about 1 1/2 hours before the epidural (around 1:30) and then was ready to push at 2. It was definitely a completely different experience from last time when I went all natural. I suppose there are pros and cons to both and I'm really glad I've done it both ways!

Anyway, Kip was born at 2:26 am (on her grandfather Papa Gus' birthday!) with the cord wrapped around her neck. They had to cut it before she could be completely delivered. She was very quiet at first and they had to work on getting her oxygen levels up while the midwife stitched me up. After that there were a few hours of nurses checking in and her first bath (which she HATED!). We caught a couple hours sleep here and there. My parents got here yesterday afternoon, and our neighbors brought Gus by. He has definitely been enjoying his time with Oma and Opa:)

Last night, Kip's routine bloodwork showed an elevated level of a protein that could mean a possible infection as a result of my Group B Strep. Because my labor went so quickly, I didn't get all the antibiotics that I really needed, so there is a chance I passed it on to Kip. So they came and took her away in the middle of the night to the special care nursery to start her on antibiotics. It is pretty crazy to have the identical thing happen to both of our kids! Gus' case was a little worse: he did develop a fever and some fast breathing episodes. So far Kip has had no infection symptoms, but is being treated for a mild case of jaundice. She has a IV in her head (which looks so much worse that it actually is) and has to sit under the "grow lights" as I call them with a little mask on. But overall, this experience has been nothing compared to the one with Gus because we know everything to expect. She is even in the exact same bed that he was in at the nursery!!

She is getting more alert and fiesty each time we go to see her. I'm actually feeling a little sorry for her nurse:) She is very vocal about her dislikes (being undressed, sitting under the lights, etc). I am guiltily enjoying getting to really rest and nap, which is one blessing out of all of this!

So, we're very, very thankful to the Lord to have our little girl here. She is beautiful. We love her so much already and will be glad when we can take her home with us to start this new phase of life with 2 kids! Please join us in praying that she'd be released soon.