Kaitlyn Belle Cutforth - Born July 1, 2007

Kaitlyn Belle Cutforth
Born: July 1, 2007
Time: 3:42pm
Weight: 7lbs 7oz
Length: 20.25in

It's past 11:00pm on July 1st and I'm tired, so I'll keep this short. Shawnna ended up being in labor for close to 40 hours. She was pushing for the final 2 hours. While that sounds like a crazy, marathon session, it really wasn't that bad (and yes, Shawnna agrees with that statement :-) Yesterday, we went to the hospital at about 3pm thinking it was time (she had been having minor contractions starting late Friday night), but were sent home because Shawnna "wasn't uncomfortable enough." We went back home, ate dinner and I got a little rest while Shawnna tried to get short naps between contractions. The contractions didn't get really painful until the wee hours of this morning when I was woken up by Shawnna's groans. We went back to the hospital at about 6:45am and while Shawnna was being examined, her water broke. From that point on, the key was pain management until the epidural was administered at which time Shawnna felt hardly any pain and was able to actually get some rest while her body did its thing until the pushing started. When Shawnna felt the pressure of a contraction, she would push 3 times for 10 seconds each. This lasted for a couple of hours until Kaitlyn made her appearance at 3:42pm.

I know it's cliche, but it was an amazing experience to see our baby being born and I was even able to cut the umbilical cord. The moment she was born, she started to cry and a quick check confirmed that she had all her fingers and toes and was as healthy as can be. Her APGAR score was 10 out of 10, five minutes after birth. So, she's already started out her life perfect in every way and is clearly the most beautiful baby in the history of the world (completely unbiased assessment ;-) Well, that was enough excitment for one day - time for bed.