Caitlin Elizabeth

We are so excited to announce the arrival of Caitlin Elizabeth Wennerstrom. Born on November 8, 2009 at 4:04 am weighing 5lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long. Here are some pictures. Then...at the bottom...more about Caitlin!

Our family (oh yeah, it's a framer!)

Abigail giving Caitlin some love

Caitlin Elizabeth

I get a pass on how I look after pushing for 2 hours!!!!

Proud Daddy with his little girl

XOXO...so in love!!!!

Grandma

Grandpa

Papa

Nana

As you can see, Caitlin is LOVED!!!! Where to begin..how about the name. We decided on Caitlin because we think it's beautiful...but also because it's a combo of my sister's names. Cait is for my little sis Katie, and Lin is for my sister Julie Lynn. And we decided on Elizabeth because we thought it sounded good together and obviously because it's my name. So that's how we decided on Caitlin Elizabeth.

Warning: This is LONG...but I want to remember it while it's fresh.

As for how Caitlin arrived...I started having contractions Saturday, Nov 7th around 9am. By noon, I realized they weren't stopping, but they didn't seem to be getting too strong. So after talking to our dr, we decided to take a trip to the hospital "just in case"...but we really weren't expecting to stay. In fact, I'm trying to leave and Rob is cleaning our carpets! He really was in no hurry. He gave Abigail a high five, I gave her a quick kiss and said "See you in a few hours." We got the hospital around 1pm, got hooked up to the machine, and realized the contractions were actually 3 mins apart and we were there to stay! I moved to my room (I was 2 cm) and they figured this labor was going to be quick. By 3 they had the room ready for delivery because my contractions were now 2 mins apart. Around 4, I was 3cm and doing great. I was on a birthing ball for about an hour and it was wonderful. They also had me on pitocin just to help move things along. Around 4:45 they did the epidural. I was 4cm and moving along! And 4cm is where I stayed...and stayed...and stayed..and stayed. Everytime they checked, I was still 4cm. Because I was sort of stuck there, they figured I probably wouldn't deliver until 10pm...and we thought that would be long. Little did we know that at 1am I would still be at 4cm. By this point they had broken my water to try to move things along. What had happened was Caitlin was head down, but her head was sideways instead of the top being down, so it wasn't putting any pressure on my cervix. They tried everything. They moved me back and forth. They even put me upside down for a while hoping to move the baby out of position and hoping it would fall back into position in a better way. 1am (I now had been having contractions 2 mins apart for almost 12 hours) is when they started talking about a c-section. They said I had one more hour, and if I stayed at 4cm, then at 2am they would do a c-section. My contractions were perfect, I was on pitocin...I was just stuck. At 2am they came in to check and we expected the worse, but I was 8!!! We were so excited. The nurse left and my very next contraction, I felt the need to push. We called her back in and she said I was at 10cm...we have no idea how that happened in 1 contraction. But we were happy so we started pushing. She predicted a quick delivery since this was my 2nd baby. Wrong again! After an hour and a half of pushing, I was making very little progress. The C-Section word came back again to haunt us. After all that work, there was no way I was having a C-Section. So they brought in my dr who tried a few things...and with the help of a vacuum, Caitlin was finally born at 4:04am! She was just perfect!!!!!

Our poor family had literally been at our house since 1pm waiting for the news to head to the hospital...and they didn't get the call until 2am! Then they headed to the hospital...and waited in the waiting room until 4:45am to hear anything. They were so great and supportive and we are so thankful for them being there...even though we weren't really able to give them any updates because we didn't know what was happening. Papa stayed at home with Abigail so she could sleep and came to the hospital around 5:30 am to meet Caitlin too. Both my sisters were there to meet Caitlin too...her namesakes! But the pictures with them didn't turn out...so I'll get more of them with the next round of visits!

We wanted to thank our families so much for all their help with Abigail and Kramer...and for just stepping and doing it without us! You have no idea how grateful we are to have this time to bond with Caitlin!

We also want Abigail and Caitlin to know that we are the proudest parents in the world...we love our girls more than anything and can't wait to see what the future holds with our angels!!!!!!!

Lots and Lots and Lots more pictures to come!!!!