Catye and Mike Have a Baby

Monday was an incredible day.  I got the call I have been waiting for from my sister Catye. It was time. Her baby was coming.  I was so excited. I really hoped to be able to be there for the birth of her first baby. It was such a privilege.

Catye went into labor in the morning. I got there just before lunch. And then we waited. At about 6:30 she started pushing and it lasted for two hours. Amazingly enough, I was able to stand there and help her for most of it. But then I got tired and thought it was probably a good idea to have a seat and rest.  The doctor came in at about 8:30. The news was not that good.  The baby's head was up instead of down and he just was not going to come out.  There were two options: forceps or a c-section.

It got a little intense. Catye started to get a bit panicky.

Look, I have had 3 c-sections and am getting ready to have number four. I told her it was not a big deal. If they had to do a c-section, it would be fine.  Catye was very fortunate that she was under the care of a very experienced doctor and so they chose to use forceps.

There was a lot of tugging and pulling. Thank goodness this girl had an epidural.

But, it was all worth it.  Look at that chunker!

Paul, 8 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long. Catye was not that big, but man she made a a nice chunky little rascal.

He is so precious. I am so proud of my little sister. She was definitely a warrior.

Now it is time to be a mama.

Welcome to the world, Paul. You are lucky to have two wonderful parents.

At last... the day has come

I know many of you were wondering, maybe not as often as my wife was, when this day would finally come. Well, the wait is over!! Kelly and I welcomed our newborn son (he came first) and daughter (second - so she is officially the baby) into our family on Monday morning bright and early. I am pretty sure that seeing as how this is my first ever blog posting I am bound to leave something out, so... I will give you some of the highlights and let Kelly fill you in with the details as soon as she comes home.

(Late Sunday evening)
Kelly was having labor pains around 11:30 or so - 6 contractions in the first hour and 12 in the second hour.

(Very, very early Monday morning)
Kelly woke me up at 2:30 and said "We're going to the hospital". We call our lifesaver of a neighbor, Elaine to come and watch the kids (Raef, Zach and Eli) while we take a quick trip to the hospital... which turns out to be not such a quick trip.

(Very early Monday morning)
We arrive at the hospital around 3:15 am. A number of things were done in an attempt to see if Kelly's contractions could be slowed down of which, none worked. So... around 4:30 we heard the words "we're going to deliver these babies in about an hour".

(Early Monday morning)
As aforementioned, the boy came first - at 5:31 a.m. weighing in at 7 lbs and 1 oz measuring 19 and 3/4 inches long. Then came along the girl - at 5:32 a.m. weighing in at 5 lbs even measuring 18 inches. Both with a good amount of hair.

Boy - Harry Robert Erickson is named after my grandfather Harry (my dad's dad) and Kelly's grandfather Robert (her mom's dad)



Girl - Julia Linda Erickson is named after Kelly's great, great grandmother Julia (mom's side) and my mother Linda. I know there were a number of you out there waiting to hear names... we tried not to let it out of the bag too early.




Mom and babies are doing well and it is anticipated that they will all come home on Thursday. I stayed last night with Kelly and Julia in our room - feeding, changing, burping, holding and sleeping (a little). As for Harry... he had a little trouble breathing on his own at first (some fluid in his lungs) and was admitted to the NICU. He was placed on a ventilator for a while but is now breathing on his own and the outlook is very positive.

Here are a few more pictures:

Eli pointing at his new baby sister.


She really is a cute little peanut isn't she?



The proud new big brothers... Raef holding Julia.



Raef holding Julia with Eli and me soaking it all in...



I know Kelly is looking forward to posting her own, more accurate version with even more color and detail. I just hope this gives you all the update you were looking for. Wish us luck - with 5 kids now, I know we are going to need it.

Posted by Kelly's, ever so lucky to have her, husband,

Rinar