Sunday July 24th

Day 8

Perry is finally home and healthy!

The doctor gave him a clean bill of health and sent him along his way.

Thank you to everyone who have been praying for his recovery...God was surely watching over him!

Now his journey begins.

He is blessed with a large, loving family and many friends who will be watching over him and sharing the joys and landmarks of his childhood.

I'll keep adding pictures as he grows, so keep checking in.

Love you all!

Kathy and Steve

Tuesday July 19, 2005

Day 3

I'm A Happy Grandma!!

I finally got to hold my grandson!

He is doing wonderfully. He has started feedings and is fiesty and strong. He doesn't look like he's ever been sick. We hope he will be able to go home by Sunday.

Enjoy the rest of the pictures!! I doesn't get much better than this!

Monday July 18

Kelly and Elizabeth check things out!
Aunt Elizabeth and her new nephew

Two Days Old and Getting Stronger

Perry is getting stronger each day. Both mom and dad got to hold him today for the first time. They were in heaven!

He still needs the hood, but is doing better every day.

Mom is doing great, up and walking. You would never know she just had surgery.

Enjoy the latest pictures.

Sunday July 17th

Daddy's Touch

Healing sleep Nestled as in the womb


They had him on his belly today. They pack him tight with blankets and cover his head to give him the feel as if he were in the womb.

He was so much better today. They are weaning him off his C-PAP and hope to have it out by late afternoon.

His chest x-ray was better this morning, but still not great. He is on double antibiotics because they think he has pneumonia.

He is getting stronger with every passing hour. Your prayers are being heard! Keep up the good work and he will too!

Kelly looked wonderful today. So, thankfully, nothing but good news today!

5:50 PM- Great news!! The C-PAP is out! He in now breathing under an oxyginated hood. Steve and I are going up a little later to see the little guy, full face!!

Hope he keeps up his respiration rates (or keeps them down actually) through the night!!!

Update as soon as I get more news/pictures!

UPDATE: 9:15PM

Just returned from the NICU and Perry looks so wonderful without the tube in his nose! They have weaned him off the sedatives so we got to see him cry and really move around for the first time! He is so strong...he was lifting his head and moving his arms and legs...so cute!

The pictures aren't great because he is under the hood for some of them, and when the nurse took the hood off to move him up in his bed because he had shimmied down, he was still on his belly..but it doesn't matter..that awful tube is out! His oxygen saturations looked good...so he seems to be on the mend!

Perry and Mommy! Love at first sight!He doesn't want a pacifier...he wants his mommy!!

Kathy

Saturday July 16, 2005 With Updates

Perry Arrived In The World at 8:55AM

He is a sick little boy right now and needs your prayers for the next 24 hours.

He aspirated muconium into his lungs and is in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

He is breathing with some help from pressurized oxygen through a tube in his nose

He has 2 lines in him umbilical cord to give him fluids and monitor his blood

His right lung is worse than his left, and the next 24 hours should determine how well he does

He was 8lbs 1oz and is 20 inches long...and as beautiful as can be!

Kelly had to have an emergency C-Section, and is doing well...she hopes to see Perry a little later today when they get her up.

I'll update as more info becomes available..

Grandma Kathy

Here is a new picture of Perry at 10 hours of age. He looked better tonight, didn't seem to be working as hard to breathe. Grandpa Steve got to meet his grandson for the first time. He was at a loss for words...what a feeling!

They took the tube out that went from his mouth into his tummy, so that was good news as well. Kelly also got to see her son for the first time. I wasn't with her, but she said she thought he was beautiful, of course!

Lets hope for good news in the morning from his chest xray.

Friday July 14th

CHAPTER CHAMPIONSHIP HERE I COME!!

Well, I didn't get the call overnight or this morning that labor had begun. This gives me hope that I may actually get to complete the golf chapter championship today! I can tell that Perry is going to be a sensitive young man, not wanting to spoil his grandmother's special day by arriving in this world today. (though he could come at any time...he is most important!!)

Wednesday night when Steve and I went over for dinner I got a few more pictures. The waiting is so hard ...my heart goes out to her. At this point, all the "fun" of pregnancy has passed and you just so want this baby to come. Everything is ready, your back aches, you don't sleep well, well meaning friends and family call asking whether anything has happened and the answer is always "no".. but it is going to be very very soon.

So, off I go to the golf course...with my cell phone, just in case!

I'll update either tonight or tomorrow...

Tuesday July 12

Hello Everyone!

Still Waiting!

I spent the day with Kelly today. Did some laundry for her and kept her company. She had labor pains yesterday for a couple of hours but they stopped :-(

She is quite large, and the baby has "settled down" so that is a good sign.

Here's another picture of Kelly as a baby (age 8 months) for your entertainment until we have the little guy to look at!!

July 10, 2005

No, We Do Not Yet Have A Baby!!

But odds are in our favor that it will happen soon!

Her original due date had been July 13th

When she had her first ultrasound, what seems like years ago, the doctor changed to to the 10th.

Now that seems cruel!

If she had left it at the 13th, you set your "radar" for that date.

Anything sooner would be a gift.

Now, anything after today is "overdue"

How many phone calls does one have to take and say, "no, nothing yet"

Every night I go to bed hoping to get that call in the middle of the night.

I am "nesting"..must be "sympathy nesting"...my house has never been so clean!

I keep having to remind myself that it isn't my baby....I want to kidnap him and hide away here with his wonderful baby smells, soft skin, beautiful eyes and (God willing) red hair!! (Sorry Rob, here I go again with the red hair thing...but I'll love him no matter what color his hair is).

As the time grows closer, I have become very emotional. Not just in anticipation of my grandson, but also for the journey upon which my daughter is soon to embark. I know she is a woman, a wife, a sister, an aunt, a granddaughter, but in my soul, she is still my Kelly.

In my highly charged emotional state, I am adding another poem for my beautiful, strong, vulnerable, sophisticated, innocent, complicated daughter...

A Mother's Child
by Mom
A mother's child is every breath that she takes,

Walking hand in hand, she is every step that she makes.

And as her steps grow into strides,

She's still a child, in mother's eyes.

Every ache and pain that she shall feel,

Mother will share and with love she will kneel.

She will pray to God to take care of her child,

To protect her and guide her through every mile.

Her child is the very core of her soul,

From baby in arms to an adult she has grown.

For to a mother, her child will always stay,

The precious infant she held that day.

Update you soon!!

Thursday July 7

Perry Where Are You???

Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are!

She's ready to pop!!

I stopped by the house today to give her the glider rocker that my mother, my sister-in-law Carolyne and I gave her for her shower gift. As you can see from the photo below, her nursery has a tropical theme, so the rocker was upholstered with a beautiful yellow fabric with palm trees on it.

Very very pretty!

A Wish From Baby

I have a little wish for you
for you my mommy-to-be,
this is a way for me to say
thank you for loving me!

I wished upon the twinkling stars
for you , my mommy to know,
that I can already feel
all the love you show!

How you rub your belly
and sing me a sweet song,
and how you ask my daddy
to join in and sing along!

Sometimes it is hard I know
to always do what's right,
like watching what you eat and drink
to make my future bright!

You've already made me happy
my loving mommy-to-be,
you're not waiting until I'm born
you are already loving me!

You will know my wish came true
when you feel how much I care,
a little wish from baby
with so much love to share!

From your son, Perry

Wednesday July 6th

Based on the above picture you can assume that we still have no baby. This is a picture of Kelly and her friend Nicole. Nicole is also the mother of a beautiful baby boy. It seems that there have been lots of boys born lately.

I think that only one of Kelly's friends has a baby girl.

Maybe it's just a coincidence, but lucky girls...

they'll have lots to choose from when they grow up!

I am so excited about this birth. I wake up every night and can't fall back asleep just thinking about it. Robby is going to be such a good daddy.

Steve said he thinks the baby will be born on Saturday.

I hope it's sooner!

It just dawned on my that you haven't met Perry's namesake. This is Great-Grandpa Perry and Great-Grandma Janice. This will be their first great grandchild, and they are as anxious we all are for the happy event.

Monday July 4, 2005

Well, our July 4th baby is still resting in the warmth and security of his mothers' womb.

I envision him in there, all curled up, floating in weightless splendor, waiting for just the right moment when he decides to make his grand entrance.

Can you imagine a more perfect environment?
You're warm
You're safe
All you hear is the sound of your loving mothers heartbeat
No deadlines, no commitments, no worries, no pain...

He's not dummy!! He'll be here when he's good and ready!

Kelly is learning her first lesson in parenthood...you are no longer the boss of your life!

Sunday July 3rd

Well, he's not cooperating with our hoped for July 4th birth,

but that doesn't mean he won't make it!

I thought a litlle side by side comparison would be cute today. Kelly on the left and me, pregnant with Kelly, on the right. Except for the hair color, we look pretty much alike!!

Of course, I was 11 years younger than Kelly is in this picture.

Babies do finally arrive.

Kelly kept me waiting 3 extra weeks, but the wait was definitely worth it!!

I look like Elizabeth in this picture. It's pretty amazing how you can look like both your children in different was! I wonder how Perry will look like Kelly?


Hard to imagine that by the time I was Kelly's age I had an 11 year old and a 7 year old.

Times, they have changed!

Update you tomorrow....hopefully with pictures of Kelly's baby!

Saturday July 2

OK, the eviction notice has been delivered..he has 24 hours to vacate the womb! Let's hope he is listening!!















Kelly and Robs friends, Anthony and Phillip along with their beautiful dog Zuess came over today and made Kelly a wonderful gourmet lunch! Zuess got to play with the goats in the back yard. This was his reaction when we told him that Kelly was about to have a new baby:

All kidding aside, Kelly looked much better today. Her color was better and she didn't look quite as tired. Maybe this is a good sign. She's going out for a walk tomorrow so that might help move things along.

That's it for today...bye for now from the happy expecting family!!

The Countdown continues

July 1, 2005- Exactly 33 years ago today I was a baby bride of 18. I would have locked my daughters in their room before I would let them get married so young! I can't complain though, because it did work out for me. Back on that hot July day in 1972 I would never have imagined that 33 years later we would be anticipating the birth of our grandson.

Steve and I revisited the scene of the "crime"...the Holiday Inn in Marlborough. We were feeling a bit nostalgic so went to the bar for a drink. Needless to say, not much looked the same, including us!

You can see by the photo the animal magnatism that Steve posessed back then which made it impossible for me to resist the opportunity to spend a life of wedded bliss by his side.

Of course, I was a pretty hot babe back in those days...check out those legs!! Put on a mini skirt, strap on some chunky heels, add a matching purse and we were off to Bermuda!!

So young and innocent... we have been truly blessed to have made so many wonderful memories together.

What is unfair, though, is that Steve got thin and I got fat!

Oh well, such is life!

Back to the important business.. after our drink at the Holiday Inn, we went for Chinese food in Westboro. We had the most delicious Chilean Sea Bass steamed with ginger and scallions, and a white rice with spinach.

There was a rehearsal dinner going on in the room and at the table next to us was a woman with her 10 month old son... Being the idiot I am, I start talking to the woman and baby (yes girls, I was talking to strangers again!) Add to the equation the Midori Marguerita I had just finished, and there I sat, tears rolling from my eyes in joyful anticipation of time to be spent with Perry. She thought it was sweet that I was so emotional, so she brought her mother over to our table who spoke of the thrills of grandmotherhood and the wonders of life having come full circle.

If only my phone would ring!! I'll get another photo of the little mother to be today...