Clare Elizabeth

Clare Elizabeth arrived exactly one week early on October 23, 2010 at 3:52 a.m. She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was 20 inches long with a head FULL of dark hair. Matt got his wish -- a child that looks like him! (Matt said he has a more immediate bond with her due to this fact. He then said he was kidding. I'm not so sure. And not to mention the fact that Ben looks a whole lot like him too!) Of course, there had to be a little drama surrounding the hospital trip and labor & delivery (with Ben it was an elderly woman wandering our driveway in the middle of a storm at 2:00 a.m. and whom Matt nearly ran down with the car as we left for the hospital). We were set to be induced on Monday, October 25, but as many of you know Matt was diagnosed with a "suspected" case of pertussis Thursday night, October 21. On Friday when we talked to my OB we were told that Matt had to be quarantined away from me for 5 days (he went to my sister's to stay) and that we would have to cancel the induction and hope baby Mitchell wasn't born before Wednesday. Well being told that she was not to be born for at least five more days was all it took for Clare to decide that Friday was the perfect time to begin labor! I went in to labor that night (fortunately my mom was here to drive me to the hospital) and Clare was born early Saturday morning. Matt met us at the hospital and fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look it at) the on-call OB was ok with Matt being in the delivery room and staying with me in the hospital (as was the pediatrician). Our sweet baby girl was born a few hours later! And here are lots of pictures from the hospital:

Big Brother Ben's first visit to the hospital!

Seeing his baby sister for the first time.

and holding baby sister for the first time. He is so proud every time he gets to "hold" her -- so so so sweet.

And his favorite thing to do with baby sister in the hospital -- push her around the room in her bassinet.






























For those interested in the resolution to the pertussis saga -- it appears there isn't to be any. On Wednesday night (after we arrived home from the hospital on Monday) Matt's doctor called to tell him his pertussis test was positive. So, of course, we then were concerned about Clare and whether she had been exposed, etc. Both Clare and Ben started preventative antibiotics which we have been told are "highly effective" in preventing pertussis if they are taken post-exposure but prior to any symptoms. Matt was set up to see a pulmonologist on Friday. When the pulmonologist reviewed the blood test results he said he wasn't sure if Matt had pertussis or not. Apparently one test was negative and one was positive (and the positive was borderline). The pulmonologist ordered a nose swab test. We waited another five days for those results. When the doctor called on Wednesday the test was negative, however, apparently there is a pertussis A test and a pertussis B test and the nurse had only done one of the two. He asked Matt to come back for the other test (which would require another very painful nose swab and another 5 day wait for results). Arghhhh - Are you freakin' kidding me!?!? At this point, everyone was finished with antibiotics, etc. It isn't going to change anything as far as what we do/did for Clare so Matt said "umm, no thanks." So, I guess we will never know. We are still keeping an eye on Clare but hopefully we can put this whole thing behind us!