And she's here!

It was a swift delivery. Baby Kaitlyn made her debut last night, within two hours of mommy and daddy arriving at the hospital!

Meet Kaitlyn

born Aug 13, at 10.29 pm

Measuring 20 inches, and...
Weighing in at 3.162 kg , or 6lb 15.5 oz (just 0.5 oz short of 7 lb!), she may not be as big as her 8lb+ brothers at birth, but just as huge a bundle of joy!

Lil Kaitlyn waves a BIG HI! to everyone...


And mommy says:
Thanks so much for your support, it means so much to us! In these last couple of weeks especially, hardly a day went by without someone reminding us we're being thought of, prayed for... we feel so loved, so blessed!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, and His richest blessings be with you and yours!

Right after the delivery...

... and the good hands we were in! And Vern and me, relieved our little girl didn't take her own sweet time with the labour.

Today...

Ben and Jon come in their "I'm the Big/Bigger Brother" t-shirts, excited to see their sister for the very first time! (I'd used iron-ons for their tees, and also got them books as presents -- supposedly from baby to them).



Jon draws a picture of Kaitlyn...

... when "she's only half a day old"!

And isn't that pink ribbon a pretty touch on the hospital's part? Vern asked if boys get blue ribbons... hahaha!

(For the record, these aren't my regular PJ's... but this is the only time it's cool for me to be seen in them)! ;p

New beginnings...
Kaitlyn and I go home tomorrow. My sis -- what'll we do without her already here? -- leaves in a week. And then, my MIL will come when the boys have just resumed school.

With the changes to our schedules -- the new baby and me the tired mommy, summer almost ending and having to get the boys into school mode again, Vern and his pressing deadlines, and MIL will need her rest also because of the jet lag -- I pray we'll all be fit and healthy. By God's grace, we'll take it one day at a time.

Catch you later! Many thanks again for being here for me and my family! Your love and friendship so warm my heart! =)

So, what did it? (the birth story, for those who asked)
We were at the botanic garden when the first painful contraction struck, followed by a second one 20 minutes later. What was not so "textbook" was that in less than 1.5 hours, the contractions would become 5 minutes apart and much more intense, after dropping off the boys and my sis at home, and I was already 7.5 cm dilated when Vern and I reached the hospital!

It was a regular Wednesday otherwise, when I'd take the boys to the library, and I did, with my sis, and we also squeezed in a trip to the mall for a wee bit of shopping for her.

This, while Vern was in school, I drove, and he called with the idea of the garden visit as it was the last time the summer concert was to be held that evening. We headed back home first for an early dinner (I'd left chicken to stew in the slow cooker), before coming back out.

The boys got to play for half an hour in the garden's playground, and my sis caught some of the mosaic Niki sculptures still on display. But we had to roll up our picnic mat just before the band started playing, when that grimace on my face said it all!

Maybe it was all the traipsing around town. Maybe it was the "Ben and Jerry's" icecream that Ben and I had -- as part of the treat I promised him and Jon if they would be more patient shoppers.

The same brand of icecream had apparently "worked" for another mom we heard, to bring on the contractions while, like me, waiting for the induction date to roll around! What'd you know? Maybe Kaitlyn will grow up liking that Mango Sorbet I had! ;p