Evacuation Plan

Although we are waiting until tomorrow to make a final decision on whether evacuation will be necessary, I wanted to go ahead and post our evacuation plan. We are fortunate to have good friends in Birmingham who have often opened their home to John, Mr. Biscuit, Ford and me, and they have been kind enough to make room for one more this time (Cate!). We will make a decision sometime tomorrow (Friday) and if evacuation is necessary, we will most likely evacuate either very early Saturday or very early Sunday. Hopefully we will not have any problems with our cell phones, but in the event that we do, John and I can always be contacted by email or by leaving a comment on the blog.

Growing, Growing, Growing

The last month and a half has been a very busy time for us. John sat for the Louisiana bar exam in late July, so Allison and Cate went to the beach with Cakki for a week in mid-July so that John could concentrate on studying. Unfortunately, Cate picked that week to go through a very cranky phase, and the only way to soothe her was to rock her in the hammock on the balcony. However, it was good to get the first "traveling with baby" experience over with!

When Allison and Cate returned from the beach, John's mom (Nana) had arrived for a visit. Nana was a tremendous help while John was taking the bar and kept all of us well-fed. Nana also helped us establish a successful bedtime routine for Cate that works almost every night. Between 7 and 8 p.m., Cate gets a bath, a swaddle, a song, and a bottle, and generally falls asleep quickly. One night, it worked too well and Cate fell asleep in the bath!

Cate had her first set of immunizations at about 2 1/2 months old....this might have been more traumatic for Allison than it was for Cate. Cate cried for a few minutes when she got the shots, but was quickly distracted by a bottle. She was fussy for a few days, but she has definitely been fussier lately, so it was hard to tell how much of the fussiness was actually due to the shots. As of July 31, Cate's statistics were:

Weight: 8 lbs, 15.5 oz (5th percentile)

Height: 21 inches (5th percentile)

Head Circumference: 36.5 cm (~5th percentile)

We took our second trip with Cate during the first weekend in August. We traveled to Montgomery for the wedding of our friends Andrea and Sam. Allison was a bridesmaid, so Cakki and Pepere came along to help John take care of Cate while Allison was busy fulfilling her bridesmaid duties. It was a beautiful wedding and we all had a good time. Being away from home seemed to wear Cate out, though, as she slept the entire ride home!

Overall, Cate continues to be a pretty good baby. We are working on getting her to sleep longer at night and take more consistent naps during the day, both of which seem to make a dramatic difference in her mood. However, it is amazing how quickly she sometimes goes from this:

To this!


A few more recent pictures of Cate:

Cate relaxing in the boppy.

Cate waking up from a nap.

Cate with Nana.

Cate tries out her new Bumbo seat...note, it was John's idea to prop up the bottle!

Cate Is One Month Old!

It's hard to believe, but Cate is one month old already. Where did the last month go, you might ask....well, other than eating, sleeping, and pooping, here are a few highlights of what Cate has been up to since the last post.

• John's sister Laura came to New Orleans for a wedding and got to spend a few days with Cate.

• Allison's college roommate Sarah stopped by with her husband Gene and their son Andres. Andres is about one and half months older than Cate, so he gave her lots of good advice on how to be a good baby.

• Cate's cousin Jordan turned four and Cate got to attend her first birthday party. She didn't get to eat any cake, but she did get to visit with lots of new and exciting people.

• Allison's sister Chelsea joined Allison's mom in New Orleans and has been a big help with Cate. Chelsea is already giving Cate tips on how to be the perfect Alabama sorority girl.

• John had his first Fathers Day and we all enjoyed dinner with Uncle James, Aunt Donna, cousins Jordan and Colin, and Papa Mike and Cindy.

• Last but not least, Cate attended her first church service. She was very well behaved during church and got lots of compliments on her outfit...not an easy feat since most clothes are still too big for her!

At Cate’s one-month check-up, the doctor was pleased with her impressive growth. By "impressive growth" we mean that Cate has developed such a large double chin that keeping the milk out of her neck folds has become a real challenge. Cate is actually on the height/weight growth charts now and has the following measurements:

Weight: 6 lbs, 8.5 oz (5^th percentile)

Height: 19.5 inches (10^th percentile)

Head Circumference: 33.5 cm

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.

Happy Birthday Cate!

Catherine Allison McCammon was born on Friday, May 16 at 12:56 pm. She weighed 4 pounds, 0.2 ounces and was 17.5 inches long. Cate came into the world screaming much louder than either John or Allison thought was possible for something so small, but since then has been a very good-natured baby. Because of her small size and because she was a few weeks early, the doctors were concerned about her ability to breathe, eat, and maintain her temperature. Fortunately, she did not have any trouble breathing (as evidenced by her screaming) and seems to be a good eater. She has had a little trouble maintaining her temperature, so our little girl spends most of her time double swaddled with at least one hat on...not an outfit you see very often in May in New Orleans!

Here are a few pictures from the 16th...

John shows off his scrubs.

Allison meets Baby Cate.

Cate is exhausted by all that screaming.

Cate shows off her "flying nun" outfit....yes, the sleeves on her newborn-sized shirt really are that long.

34 Weeks, 2 Days

So what have you been doing for the past three weeks and two days? Bet you didn't spend it in the hospital! Yep, Allison has spent the last three weeks and two days in a labor and delivery room at the hospital hooked up to a fetal heart rate monitor. When she was first admitted on April 9 (at 31 weeks, 1 day), the doctors hoped to delay delivering the baby for at least 48 hours to give the steroids a chance to help mature the baby's lungs. After we made it 48 hours, the doctors starting aiming for 32 weeks. Once we got past 32 weeks, they starting shooting for 34 weeks. On Monday (at 33 weeks, 6 days), the doctor tentatively scheduled a c-section for Allison for Thursday late afternoon, but this baby has surprised us again. According to this morning's ultrasound, she has continued to grow and has exceeded the doctor's expectations about how cases like this one usually go. So, instead of having a c-section, Allison gets to go home tomorrow! Granted, she will still be on bedrest and will have to return to the hospital three times next week for monitoring, but resting at home with DirecTV seems a lot more appealing to Allison at this point than continuing to count the ceiling tiles in LDR 5. That's not to say that Allison's time in the hospital hasn't been educational. For example,

1. The hospital has one male labor and delivery nurse. He looks like Mario Batali.
2. It is possible to be allergic to ultrasound gel.
3. It is possible to get sick of eating mashed potatoes.
4. Labor and delivery wards really are more active around a full moon.
5. The first weekend of Jazz Fest is not a popular time to deliver a baby.
6. Dr. Chou aggressively banging on Allison's stomach with the ultrasound device will not, in fact, wake up the baby.
7. Some perinatalogists have more personality than others...some have none at all.
8. There is not a single correct clock on the entire labor and delivery ward.
9. When you are walking around the labor and delivery ward in your PJs and you see someone you used to work with, the appropriate strategy is to pretend not to see them.
10. When Allison's mother has a fight with one of the nurses, it will be noted in Allison's chart.

Clearly, it has been an interesting few weeks. If you want the whole story, please feel free to email John or Allison, but be prepared to be impressed by all the new medical terms that they have learned.

29 Weeks

We are getting closer and closer to being ready for the arrival of this little girl. Thanks to a wonderful baby shower given by Allison's friends and many generous gifts, we have just about everything we need (we think!) to take care of her. Of course, we don't want Ford to feel left out of this process, so we let him take a spin in the new stroller....

In other news, the nursery is just about finished. The walls are painted, the crib is put together, and the closet is full of baby clothes. All we have left is to pick out some decorations for the walls.

We have our final "prepared childbirth" class on Tuesday night. The nurse who is leading the class has been quite funny and has dispensed important non-medical advice such as her recommendation that dads not bring Popeye's to the hospital while the moms are in labor, unless they want to be yelled at. John has assured me that he will wait to bring the Popeye's until after the baby is born.