Caroline Lawson Kelly

Caroline's Birth Story: Saturday morning started out as usual.  I woke up a little before 8:00 and enjoyed a bowl of cereal while watching preparations for the Royal Wedding on the Today show.  Bert joined me a few minutes later.  I decided to go ahead and take my shower for the day while Elizabeth was still sleeping.  We had plans to take her to the circus and I was very excited to share this experience with Elizabeth. Well, Caroline had different plans for our day.  On the way to the shower my water broke.  I paused for a minute, called for Bert, then headed straight for the toilet where I just sat trying to process what was happening.  Never in a million years did I think Caroline would really come early, much less 3 weeks early! The first person we called was Melissa.  I felt bad because I knew she had a busy day planned preparing for her family's Easter dinner that she was hosting.  But I also knew she would be there for us without hesitation.  And of course, she was at our house in like 15 minutes ready to take care of Elizabeth (who was just waking up without a clue how her world was about to change).  We left Melissa with very little instruction other than Bert's mom was on her way and should be there in a couple hours to take over for her.  After calling the doctor, Bert and I were off to the hospital! We checked in, got my gown on, then learned that we would have to wait a little while for anesthesia because of the nice bowl of cereal I had consumed.  So we made phone calls and received picture updates from Melissa as to how Elizabeth's morning was going.  It was truly a relief knowing that our first baby was in good hands so we could focus on delivering baby #2.  It was about that time that we learned that Bert's mom had gotten a flat tire driving down I-20 and wouldn't be able to make it to our house for a while longer than expected.  Thankfully, Melissa was willing to put all her plans on hold to continue taking care of E for us. At noon the anesthesiologist came to give me an epidural.  At 12:30 they wheeled me into the OR and prepared me for surgery.  Bert held my hand as Caroline entered the world at 12:53 p.m.  I heard the doctor say, "Get ready to look up Mama".  And when I did, I saw the face of my beautiful daughter.  Then I looked at Bert whose tears matched mine, he kissed me, then escorted our youngest daughter to get cleaned up and weighed.  Even though she is technically a preemie (by one day) she earned an 8/9 on the apgar scale, weigted 7.1 pounds, and was 19.5 inches long.  She was also breached.  Can you imagine how big healthy this girl would've been had she come on time?! meeting my baby for the first time Caroline with her mommy and daddy While in recovery, they measured Caoline's blood sugar and it was a bit low so she had to take some formula to help it rise.  But she wasn't a big fan of sucking that down so they had to help her with a very small tube.  Thankfully we already felt a little calmer as second time parents because neither of us freaked out over this.  I'm sure we would have with Elizabeth.  Because of her mildly low blood sugar, she didn't get to come to our room for a couple of hours.  I felt sad at first over this news, but then realized God was just giving me some extra time to rest.  When they finally brought her back to our room we held and loved on our newest addition who just so happens to look just like our first addition! On Monday we learned that Caroline also was jaundice just like her sister had been.  She too had to go through phototherapy which means she had to lay on a bed of lights with her body in a strait jacket looking thing.  Two years ago, Elizabeth screamed bloody murder almost the entire time she was in it.  Caroline didn't make a peep.  In fact, I think she like the warmth because she slept like a baby in that thing!  She only cried when she had a poopy diaper.  This is a good thing since she was in it for over 24 hours.  Poor baby.  But as soon as we were given the okay, we got her out and made up for that time missed with extra hugs and cuddle time.  Another precaution we have to take because of her "preemie" status is the carseat test.  We had to bring in Caroline's carseat and base which they will make her sit in for an hour and a half while they test her oxygen rates the entire time.  Apparantly preemie babies can have trouble with breathing in that position because of they're little bodies.  We're not too worried for Caroline since she is gaining weight back already and is currently 6 pounds 10 ounces- not exactly "premature weight". On Wednesday we were released to go home.  I was anxious to say the least.  Here is Caroline ready to go home in the same gown we brought Elizabeth home in. Here are a couple of pictures of Elizabeth just two years ago.  It felt a little like deja vu.