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Monday, March 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
St. Patty's Parade in B'more
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| Our little family (minus Riley) at the parade |
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| The Shamrock run; Man dressed up like a Care Bear! |
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| Catie and Mommy showing their Irish pride! |
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| Four Irish girls! |
The Fed Hill Desi's
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| The Sunglasses! |
Ev
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Everyone got a chance to wear them!
Stay tuned for more festivities!
Fabulous Friday
Catie had a big day on Friday!
She had her first visit to the Maryland Science Center with Auntie Cindy, Robin and Cindy's cousin Elizabeth.
Doesn't Catie look excited ;-) ?
Had her first visit with her B'more Auntie Litty, who took some pretty awesome pictures...
And hung out with Daddy as he did our taxes
She had her first visit to the Maryland Science Center with Auntie Cindy, Robin and Cindy's cousin Elizabeth.
Doesn't Catie look excited ;-) ?
Had her first visit with her B'more Auntie Litty, who took some pretty awesome pictures...
And hung out with Daddy as he did our taxes
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| Our little 2011 tax credit ;-) |
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Catie visits with Grandma T
Mom came to visit when Catie was a week and a half old, bringing lots of greetings, love and gifts from our family in Chicago. We had lots of fun and good quality time together.I think Mom would have kicked Jon and I out of the house for the whole weekend if she had been able to so that she could have had Catie all to herself :-)
Catie even had a special outfit to welcome Grandma...
All dressed up
We can't wait for the next visit! With some other special people...GP, Auntie Beanie, Uncle Rip, Auntie Sue and Uncle Roy!
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| (Grandma's Lucky Charm) |
Friday, March 4, 2011
Coming home - In pictures
On the way home
Over the last two weeks, we've had lots of visitors to welcome Catie into our home and family.
Over the last two weeks, we've had lots of visitors to welcome Catie into our home and family.
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| Riley meets her new "sister" |
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| Cousins! |
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| Uncle Rick |
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| Meeting Great-Grandmom and Grandmom |
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| Grandpop |
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| Uncle Chip finally gets to hold her :-) |
Birth Story: Guy's Version
After reading Mary's post on Catie's birth story, I thought I would tell my version of story. My experience was a little less painful and with a little more humor.
As some of you may know, I am not a morning person. When Mary poked me at 4am, I was a little grouchy. Once Mary said she was having regular contractions, it was like she threw water on me. I began watching the clock to time them and take my pulse. Trying to relax me, Mary told me that first born babies take a while, so there is no rush. As true as this may be, it did nothing for my anxiety. I somehow felt she would be in better hands with a staff of medical professionals than a computer programmer trying to keep from peeing his pants.
By 5am, Mary agreed to call her doctor, Stacy. While Mary was talking to her, I could hear her doctor say, "you can hang out at home and then come up, or you can come up now and wait in the hospital." I gave Mary a look which made her response, "I think Jon will kill me if we don't come up now." Once off the phone, Mary tried again to explain that we will be waiting in the hospital for a while. Meanwhile, I was packing bags and feeding Riley.
On the way up to the hospital, I told Mary that I had reservations at a fancy restaurant for Valentine's Day and that unfortunately, we would have to cancel it. For some reason, Mary did not believe me. As my foot went heavier on the gas, Mary again reminded me that we have time.
Once at York hospital, the staff at labor and delivery asked if Dr. McCotter was coming in as a patient. Mary responded, "If not, this is a cruel joke!" to which they laughed. After an initial exam, they said Mary was more than half-way dilated. Hmm, I thought we had time?
Once in a room, the nurse said that because of how far along Mary was, she and the nursing student will be staying with her. I thought we had time? And as a byproduct, Mary was going to have become a hippie and deliver the baby the "all-natural" way. By 8am, Mary was fully dilated and could push. Stacy had not arrived yet (apparently, she too thought we had time) and the chief OB resident stopped in while waiting for her.
Around 8:30am, Stacy arrived and Mary started the 2 hour journey which made me realize that if men gave birth, the human race would of died out a long time ago. Although my medical training consists of band-aids and ice packs, the medical staff made me feel useful by having me keep Mary's rag cold and giving her oxygen between pushes.
Around 9am, I realized I had not called work yet. After a push, I made a quick call to my boss. I quickly explained the situation hoping that he would not want to chat as I was afraid Mary would break my droid.
At 9:52am, our 4 year journey of waiting came to an end as Catherine Elizabeth took her first breath. We were parents now. I have seen Mary graduate from college with honors, get into med school, graduate from med school, and at this moment, she amazed me once again.
As the staff looked over my crying daughter, I counted 10 fingers, 10 toes, and more hair than me. Her ears told me she was a Desi. And although Catie was early, this told me she was a McCotter where to be early, is to be on time.
As some of you may know, I am not a morning person. When Mary poked me at 4am, I was a little grouchy. Once Mary said she was having regular contractions, it was like she threw water on me. I began watching the clock to time them and take my pulse. Trying to relax me, Mary told me that first born babies take a while, so there is no rush. As true as this may be, it did nothing for my anxiety. I somehow felt she would be in better hands with a staff of medical professionals than a computer programmer trying to keep from peeing his pants.
By 5am, Mary agreed to call her doctor, Stacy. While Mary was talking to her, I could hear her doctor say, "you can hang out at home and then come up, or you can come up now and wait in the hospital." I gave Mary a look which made her response, "I think Jon will kill me if we don't come up now." Once off the phone, Mary tried again to explain that we will be waiting in the hospital for a while. Meanwhile, I was packing bags and feeding Riley.
On the way up to the hospital, I told Mary that I had reservations at a fancy restaurant for Valentine's Day and that unfortunately, we would have to cancel it. For some reason, Mary did not believe me. As my foot went heavier on the gas, Mary again reminded me that we have time.
Once at York hospital, the staff at labor and delivery asked if Dr. McCotter was coming in as a patient. Mary responded, "If not, this is a cruel joke!" to which they laughed. After an initial exam, they said Mary was more than half-way dilated. Hmm, I thought we had time?
Once in a room, the nurse said that because of how far along Mary was, she and the nursing student will be staying with her. I thought we had time? And as a byproduct, Mary was going to have become a hippie and deliver the baby the "all-natural" way. By 8am, Mary was fully dilated and could push. Stacy had not arrived yet (apparently, she too thought we had time) and the chief OB resident stopped in while waiting for her.
Around 8:30am, Stacy arrived and Mary started the 2 hour journey which made me realize that if men gave birth, the human race would of died out a long time ago. Although my medical training consists of band-aids and ice packs, the medical staff made me feel useful by having me keep Mary's rag cold and giving her oxygen between pushes.
Around 9am, I realized I had not called work yet. After a push, I made a quick call to my boss. I quickly explained the situation hoping that he would not want to chat as I was afraid Mary would break my droid.
At 9:52am, our 4 year journey of waiting came to an end as Catherine Elizabeth took her first breath. We were parents now. I have seen Mary graduate from college with honors, get into med school, graduate from med school, and at this moment, she amazed me once again.
As the staff looked over my crying daughter, I counted 10 fingers, 10 toes, and more hair than me. Her ears told me she was a Desi. And although Catie was early, this told me she was a McCotter where to be early, is to be on time.
Birth story
***Description of Catie's birth below (If you don't want to read about it (Dad) just skip to pictures)***
I had a HORRIBLE cold the weekend before Catie was born. I actually left work early on Sunday. I called in one of my fellow interns to come cover me for a few hours. Then at 1 am, I woke up with contractions. They were fairly far apart, so I just thought that I was having some contractions because I wasn't feeling well and hadn't been drinking enough water. I didn't think I could be in labor because I was only 37 weeks and usually first children are born late. Once again, my plans and reality...completely different ;-) The contractions started getting closer together around 3 am. I woke Jon up at 4 and we called my doctor at 5. We eventually left for the hospital at around 6:20. On the drive up, the contractions were about 2-4 minutes apart. We got the the hospital at about 7 am. By 8, I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. That's when things slowed down a little bit. I wasn't able to get an epidural which was kind of a bummer since I was not planning on going through labor with no pain medication. But you make adjustments when you need to! There were definitely benefits to no pain meds...I was able to adjust my positions, which turned out to be important because Catie was positioned occiput posterior (back of her head was towards my spine) or in layman's terms "sunny-side up" which is a more difficult position. Because I was able to move around, we were actually able to get her turned. Anyhow, I pushed for about 2 hours, and she was born at 9:52 am. Here are some pics...
I had a HORRIBLE cold the weekend before Catie was born. I actually left work early on Sunday. I called in one of my fellow interns to come cover me for a few hours. Then at 1 am, I woke up with contractions. They were fairly far apart, so I just thought that I was having some contractions because I wasn't feeling well and hadn't been drinking enough water. I didn't think I could be in labor because I was only 37 weeks and usually first children are born late. Once again, my plans and reality...completely different ;-) The contractions started getting closer together around 3 am. I woke Jon up at 4 and we called my doctor at 5. We eventually left for the hospital at around 6:20. On the drive up, the contractions were about 2-4 minutes apart. We got the the hospital at about 7 am. By 8, I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. That's when things slowed down a little bit. I wasn't able to get an epidural which was kind of a bummer since I was not planning on going through labor with no pain medication. But you make adjustments when you need to! There were definitely benefits to no pain meds...I was able to adjust my positions, which turned out to be important because Catie was positioned occiput posterior (back of her head was towards my spine) or in layman's terms "sunny-side up" which is a more difficult position. Because I was able to move around, we were actually able to get her turned. Anyhow, I pushed for about 2 hours, and she was born at 9:52 am. Here are some pics...
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| Our first picture together |
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| First picture as a family |
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| Catie's first visitors! |
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Introducing Catie
New family blog
Jon and I wanted to start a blog to keep friends and family updated with all of our adventures with our new baby Catie, our dog Riley, our new house in Lutherville, and anything else that we think might be interesting ;-).
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