April Birthday #2

Katherine!

It's Kate's 20th 30th birthday today!  Twenty Thirty years ago today, I woke up at a little after 4:00 a.m.  and started writing numbers down on a piece of paper (which I still have):  4:19, 4:25, 4:29, 4:35 -- 5:17, 5:23, 5:30 -- 6:53, 6:57, 7:03, 7:10 -- some of these were written in Rusty's hand, some of them have numbers following them, signifying duration, I think, and a couple of have the words "very mild" written after them. There's one line that reads, "Shower 3 or 4." The record of my contractions! They pretty much started off at 5 +/- minutes apart and stayed that way all day.

After I sent Rusty to work, I called my doc (the only person I know from Saskatchewan) to see if I should wait and keep my regularly scheduled appointment that day or just come in whenever. (Answer: Come in whenever!) I kept track until 11:24 when I left the motel. I drove myself -- in a manual transmission Subaru, hitting the clutch between contractions -- the 15 miles to Rusty's workplace so he could take me to the hospital.

At 10:00 p.m. PST, I finally gave birth to a 6 lb. 10 oz., 20" redhead. And I began my lifelong journey as a mother -- it's the best trip ever. Happy Birthday, Katherine!

excerpted and edited from original post on 4/22/2005

Yes, were were living in a motel! We'd just sold the little house that Rusty built at Cape Kiwanda and bought a larger one at Cape Meares. Though we weren't able to move into the house at Cape Meares yet, we were able to move most of our stuff there, and spent about a month in a little kitchenette unit at the The Terrimore in Netarts, OR. Katie wasn't due until after our move-in date, but I filled the basinette with some onesies, blankets and diapers, and stashed it in the closet of our motel bedroom.

Pretty good thinkin', eh? Kate came a little early and spent the first week of her life at The Terrimore! One of the best things about that was that the motel's laundromat was right across the way, and it was a lifesaver!

Rusty was in the area last fall and it doesn't look much different!

Happy Birthday, Katie!!

We all met last night at T-Dub's Public House in Waupaca for some celebrating. The waitress asked me if were were celebrating a birthday, and she couldn't believe it when I told her we were celebrating THREE! There was a big ice cream sundae to share.  ;)