Cate's First Week

Cate had a very active first week. Cate and Allison stayed in the hospital until Tuesday and John stayed with them every night, even though it involved sleeping on a very uncomfortable fold out chair. Before she left the hospital, Cate had a number of visitors who were very excited to meet her. Allison's mom (Cakki) and dad (Papa Mike) met Cate, as did Uncle James and Aunt Donna. Aunt Donna came back again on Monday and Cate got to meet her cousins, Jordan and Colin.

We were all excited to go home on Tuesday, but as usual, Cate was on her own schedule and delayed our departure for a few hours by not being able to keep her temperature up. Fortunately, some extra swaddling did the trick and we were home shortly after lunch. Our next obstacle is that we didn't realize that Cate's tiny size meant that even preemie clothes were way too big for her. However, we did the best we could....until we realized that she is also too small for the carseat.

Cate's first outing was on Wednesday when Allison and John took her to the pediatrician's office. Because of her small size, the doctor wanted to make sure that Cate did not lose any additional weight (she had reached a low point of 3 pounds, 9 ounces on Monday). Allison and John were very pleased that Cate was back up to 4 pounds on Wednesday. According to the pediatrician, Cate is very small (less than the 5th percentile in both height and weight), but otherwise is in great shape.

Cakki and Allison took Cate to the doctor again on Thursday for an additional weight check. Cate continued her excellent progress by putting on an additional ounce. Later that day, Allison left the house for the first time without Cate so that she and John could go to Babies R Us and buy even more baby stuff.

On Friday, Cate had her first bath at home in anticipation of the arrival of Pepere (Allison's stepdad) and Aunt Laura. The bath went better than expected, but required both John and Allison to keep Cate from protesting too much. However, their efforts were definitely worth it as Cate was a clean, sweet-smelling baby when they were done!

A few extra pictures from this week....



Cate poses in her favorite hospital outfit.

Cate passes out after eating.









Ford pouts that he is no longer the "baby" of the family.











Cate rolls on to her stomach in an attempt to escape the bath.