Weeks 2 and 3

Things have continued to improve everyday with our new little one. Kinsley has ("knock on wood") figured out this day and night thing and is sleeping for longer periods of time at night. I am feeling much better and have thoroughly enjoyed having my step-mom, Leigh Ann here to help. She is headed back to San Antonio tomorrow. We will be very sad to see her go but I'm sure my dad and brother, Andrew will be very excited for her to return.

We have had a lot of visitors but I, unfortunately, have not been very good about pictures with all of Kinsley's new friends. I was good, however, about taking pictures of Kinsley. We are having her newborn pictures taken this afternoon. Fun! :)

One Week

Our little Kinsley turned one week today and what a week it has been! Louie and I wanted to thank everyone for their support and love as we welcomed our daughter into the world. My mom was able to come up the day I delivered. Louie called her around three once we confirmed I was in labor and Mom was on the 5:30 flight up to MN. My mom became a grandma in flight!

Overall, labor went really well and quickly. I'm a big proponent of the epidural. :) Around 10:45 Wed. evening, I started having contractions that were about 7-8 min. apart and were a little more uncomfortable then what I had been having for the past week. I woke up Louie around 12:30 because the contractions were around 5 min. apart and pretty darn uncomfortable. I took a shower and Louie got things ready to go to the hospital. I was really concerned about getting there and being sent back home, especially because I had heard first-time moms are usually in labor for quite some time. By the time we got to the hospital the contractions were about 1-2 minutes apart and I was almost 4 cm. They decided to watch me for an hour and then check me again. They offered me some morphine which I gladly accepted, although they couldn't administer it until Kinsley woke up and showed some varying heart rates. I'm not sure how she was sleeping through the contractions. Around 3:30, they finally administered my epidural(s). I was 5 cm around 5am, my doctor broke my water, and was fully dilated and ready to push by 7:30. I pushed for a little under an hour and Kinsley arrived at 8:29am. Unfortunately, the first epidural did not go smoothly and the resident tapped into a little spinal fluid. This causes a splitting headache anytime you sit/stand up. Friday morning I had a procedure done called a blood patch, to patch the hole in my spinal cord. This gave me instant relief. A couple days later my headache has returned and we are still not sure what this is caused by. We contemplated a second blood patch but decided against it. Despite the headaches, my second epidural was perfect and I am thankful for drugs!

Since returning home, Kinsley has done really well. Our biggest issue as first time parents is that she has her days and nights confused. This really doesn't work well for Louie given he used his two paternity days while I was in the hospital and is back at work full time. He is on call tomorrow night so Kinsley and I will be on our own... sure to be an adventure. Luckily, we have had help this entire week. As I said before, my mom showed up on Thursday afternoon and then my dad showed up Friday evening. It was so wonderful having my mom and dad here to help us.

My dad headed home Monday and my mom headed to Austin on Wednesday to help my youngest sister, Sarah settle in at UT. My brother and his wife, Sarah showed up on Tuesday and are leaving early tomorrow morning to go back to Germany. This constant help has been such a blessing. Laundry has been completely taken care of, dishes are done, house is clean, dogs are fed, the list goes on and on! Louie and I will be tackling the weekend just the two of us and then my step-mom, Leigh Ann will be up on Tuesday for about a week. Yay! Another huge blessing has been the help we have received from our Rochester friends. They are supplying dinner for us every other day! The first meal arrived on Monday and will continue well into September. We are so thankful!

We have had two newborn doctor visits so far. Each one went really well. Kinsley is measuring around the 50th percentile in almost all areas. She is also gaining weight just perfectly. She was 7lbs. 13.6oz at our visit today.

The only other issue we had occurred yesterday, when I went to visit my doctor because of pain in my right side. We had some blood work done and my doctor called me around 4:30 yesterday evening with the news that he thought I might have appendicitis and he wanted me to head to the ER. Fun! After some various tests and a CAT scan it was determined that I did not need to have my appendix removed (thank God) and that the cause of the pain was undetermined. Hmmm... I am feeling better today, apart from my headaches so, I'm just going to be thankful I didn't need surgery.

Overall, life in the Stryker household is good. Louie and I are very much in love with this new little person and can't wait for her to meet all of you!

Enjoy pictures below of Kinsley's first week at home.

Love, Catherine and Louie

Kinsley - Coming Home!

Kinsley Allison Stryker

Date: Aug. 13, 2009

Time: 8:29 am

Weight: 8lbs

Height: 19 and 3/4 inches

40 Weeks

Well... it's official. My due date is tomorrow and unless I go into labor right this second, I don't think she is coming on Aug. 8th. I was hopeful at the beginning of the week with pretty regular contractions all through Monday evening, Tuesday, and Tuesday night, but then they kind-of just stopped. At my weekly appt. on Thurs. I had made some progress. 2cm, 50% effaced, and she was at 0 station, BUT my doctor wanted to go ahead and schedule my induction, just in case. I am scheduled to go in on the morning of the 18th to start the process. I'm still hoping we won't quite make it to that day but we will see...

In the meantime, I have been trying to keep myself busy with exciting things like cleaning the fridge. Wohoo! :) We've also been taking trips to the County Fair, the park, visiting with friends, deciding on baby annoucements, and meeting new puppies. Her are some random pictures of our SUPER EXCITING outings. See below:

Also, a couple of weeks ago I finally decided on a photographer to take 1st year pics of Baby Girl Stryker. The photographer's name is Erin with Fine Exposures. I liked her pictures and the price was right. She offered a free maternity session, which most women do at 7 months, not 9 but I thought "what the heck?" You can check them out at:

http://www.072709stryker.photoherald.com/index.php/view_event.php

Password: august

Louie's ankle is doing much better. He is wearing an aircast and the black/blue/yellow colors have started to fade. He's been able to drive for about a week and 1/2 so that's been very nice for me. :) He's been under a lot of stress at work but that's not really new. He's currently working with the head of the ortho. dept. whose PA recently left, so Louie is functioning in both capacities, as his resident and PA. Just makes for more work and longer hours, but I'm pretty sure that's part of this whole "being a doctor" thing.

Hopefully our next blog entry will be about our newest addition... I'll keep everyone posted. Thanks for all the kind words and prayers as we head towards her arrival.

Love, Catherine and Louie