For precious sake

Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Kate Metcalf. My Mama calls me Babykins or Baby Kate most of the time and Daddy likes to call me Katie-Kate or Katiebug, but both of them have called me Zeus, once or twice. I try not to let it bother me.
I went to the doctor yesterday and he told Mommy and Daddy that I am a perfect, healthy baby. They seemed very pleased by that! I am in the 90th percentile (whatever that means) for height and head size, and well above average for weight, too! In fact, I weigh 8 lbs. 5 oz. now, and I've grown a whole inch since I was born!
Most of the time I like to sleep and drink milk. Oh, I also make messes in my diaper and sometimes it gets on my clothes or on my changing table, but Mommy & Daddy don't get mad, they just sigh and clean it up for me. Mommy sings songs to me while I'm eating and Daddy dances with me to classical music when I can't sleep at night. They sure do love me.

Here are a couple of pictures of me yesterday, when I was two weeks old. Mommy says, sorry the pictures are so blurry!

This next picture is way old! Mommy took it on my first day home for the hospital, so I was only 2 days old. She says this is and probably always will be one of her very most favorite pictures of me.
And this is a picture of my nursery where I spend all but 2 or 3 hours of every day...can't wait to get out and see the world, but I guess I just have to get a little bigger and not sleep so much. Yep, that baby burrito in the crib is me! Mommy says to make sure to thank Uncle Greg and Aunt Jenn for the crib and changing table, Aunt Mindy for the crib bedding, and the nice people where she used to work for all being so generous that she was able to buy all the cute accessories for my nursery. I really like to listen to and watch my ladybug mobile as I am falling asleep.
Mama also said I better tell you some of her favorite things about me. I guess when I am falling asleep after I've just eaten I make a cute half smile every time! She loves that. She loves the way I smell and how soft my skin is. She also likes to rub her chin in my soft hair when I am laying on her chest while she is rocking me (and I like to listen to her heartbeat). She loves my beautiful blue eyes, but wonders what color they will end up being...It's my secret! Most of all, she feels so blessed that I am so easy to love, and that I am so healthy, and that she gets to be home with me everyday forever because Daddy works so hard and is so good at his job.

Well, I'm getting kind of sleepy now, so I guess I will have to talk to you all again later.

Baby burrito

Hi everybody! I just wanted to drop a quick line and let everyone know how grateful we've been for all the love and support we've had in the last couple days. All the nurses comment on how our room smells like a floral shop, and we have enough snacks to live on for weeks! Thanks for all the replies to my posts, the emails, and the visits. We feel so loved.

I've taken tons of pictures, but just wanted to post one tonight. She's an angel :) Thanks again.
P.S. If you're wondering about this post's title, it comes from the swaddling technique pictured above.

Meet Kate!

Kathryn "Kate" Metcalf came into this world today, June 26th, at 3:50PM. She weighs 7lbs 10 ounces and is 20 and a half inches long. The delivery went great, and both Mom and baby are doing well! (And Dad is an emotional wreck!)

Without further ado, here's our precious baby girl:

Six!

Lydia is dilated to a six! Should be anytime now. My mom and Grammy just got here and they were amazed at how easy my blog is to update. So I snapped a picture of them, and I'm just showing them just how easy it really is.

Some pictures while we wait

We just got to talk to our doctor, and she's dilated to a four! He expects once she gets going, she'll really get going. We think sometime between 2 and 3 is going to be an accurate estimate.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the last couple days, and today!


Our ever vigilant guard dog is at home making sure no one comes near without getting a piece of his mind. Get too close and he'll lick your face right off.Here's our hospital room! Isn't Lydia cute?Wired! Lyd's left arm is hooked up to a blood pressure cuff, her right arm has her epidural button, an IV, and Pitocin. And of course, who could forget the catheter? (not shown) My beautiful family! Look at that belly!

Well that's it for now, hopefully my next post includes some pictures of our little Katie-Kate!

The euphoria that is the epidural

It's noon now, and we're progressing! Lydia is still dilated to a 3, but has thinned out to about an 80%. We had the anesthesiologist come in about half an hour ago and he administered the epidural. Her feet are numb, and the pain is much more subdued. Also, I ate a milky way. It was delicious.

Baby time!

I write to you today from the labor and delivery department of the McKay Dee Hospital. And you know what that means! That's right, free access to Days of Our Lives and the Price is Right (long live Bob Barker)! But more significantly, it's time for Kate to make her debut. We checked in at 7:40 and got started on Pitocin at around 8:45. It's now 9:52, and we're starting to see some steady contractions on her monitor. Our doctor is in the hospital right now for a surgery he's doing this morning. He'll be coming into our room within the next hour to break Lydia's water. We anticipate we'll get to meet our little baby girl around 2 or 3 this afternoon.

Update: It's 10:06 and Lydia's water spontaneously ruptured! Hurray!

Stay tuned for more updates as things progress.

Don't look now but...

...I updated my blog! I know. I know. It's been awhile. Better late than never though, that's what I say! Lydia and I are getting excited for our new addition and working hard to get everything ready. A big thank you to Gary for helping out so much with the fence and everyone else that has helped out. Couldn't have done it without you!

The nursery is getting closer, but not quite finished yet. I'll snap a picture when it's a little more presentable. But in the mean time, here's a few pictures of Metcalf life as we know it...

We graduated with our Associate's Degrees from Weber this last semester. Yay us! Just another ten years of going to school part-time and maybe I'll get my Bachelor's!
Look at the size of this puppy! Zeus had his nine month birthday on the 20th of May, and weighs in at a hefty 50 lbs! We've been happy to see how well he's getting along with children and he's excited to be a big puppy brother. Speaking of which...Let me out! At our last doctor's appointment Kate tipped the scales at 7lbs! She's officially full-term now, but will probably bake for a couple more weeks (the actual due date is June 26th, but we think she'll come earlier).

I know one person who is excited to get her ankles back. It's been a great pregnancy, but I think we're (Lydia) ready to move on to the next step!