Four Weeks Old!!

We can hardly believe that Mary Pat is four weeks old already. She had her one month check up this morning and is already weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs! I guess her Auntie Leenie's nickname of "Chubbette" is pretty accurate.

It has been a busy week for the Kolenik family. Mary Pat received her first real bath this week now that her belly button is officially healed. To mommy and daddy's surprise she seemed to enjoy her bathtub and didn't cry at all. She has also been helping daddy cheer on the NY Mets as the regular baseball season wraps up. Daddy is hoping that the Mets make it into the post season so that Mary Pat can continue to wear all of her apparel!

Here are some pictures from the past week. Enjoy!

Mirror Time!

Today Mommy and Mary Pat embarked on their first adventure together without any help. Mommy is pleased to say that Mary Pat slept the entire time we were at Babies R Us and seems to really enjoy the car and her car seat. When we got home Mommy laid Mary Pat in her crib for a minute while she got some things done in the nursery and realized after a while that it was VERY quiet. Apparently Mary Pat had discovered herself in the mirror and was completely enthralled looking and making faces! Here are some pictures of her entertainment.

Big Cousin/Baby Cousin Weekend

After waiting so long she could hardly stand it (and then some) Big Cousin Victoria finally got a chance to come to NY to meet Baby Cousin Mary Pat. We were all thrilled to see that they hit it off swimmingly. Please follow the link for pictures of the cousins first of many times playing together!

She's Three!!!! (weeks old)

Plenty of action in Mary Pat's life so far as you'll see by the pictures linked below. Mary Pat got to meet her big cousin Samantha and her Aunt Linda (Linda if you read this you left your sunglasses at our house) and spent some quality time with her Nana and parents. If you are disturbed by seeing someone passed out with drool running out of the side of their mouths these pictures might not be for you. And those are just the ones of Nana, Mommy and Daddy as they tried to catch up on sleep! We've heard the week after the youngest is dropped off at college is the ideal time to catch up.

Please follow the link for the pics and enjoy!

We're Home!!

The newly expanded Kolenik Family is home safe and sound. As much as Little Mary Pat loved spending the night sleeping in a bright room with her 30 closest friends nearby she seems to like her new home a bit better. As you can see from the picture below, we gave the neighborhood a subtle hint that she had been born.....

Link to the rest of the homecoming pictures here

Mary Pat's Birth: The Inside Scoop

The best place to start the story is on Tuesday, August 26th. We were already overdue as the expected due date was the 21st, so the doctor had us in for a non-stress test and a sonogram to make sure everything was okay. The sonogram estimated her weight at 9 lbs. 11oz., a tough delivery for a any woman, especially one Shannon's size. So on doctor's orders we checked into Winthrop Hospital at 9am Wednesday. Mild contractions had started at about 3:30am Wednesday morning, so we sat in triage for a few hours. A few minutes after the Showcase Showdown (Drew Carey is no Bob Barker) the PA administered Cervidil to aid in opening up the cervix. At about 3:30pm the doctor stopped in and said the usual course of action would be to give another Cervidil at around midnight, and that he would be by at about 9am the next morning to discuss our options, his gut feeling was that we'd be talking C-section around then.

About five minutes after the doctor left the pain really started to pick up at that point so we flagged down a nurse to see what we could do about pain management. The nurse said she would be happy to oblige but she would have to do an examination first. Well this examination showed dilation of 5 centimeters, completely unexpected to even the most optimistic among us. Next stop was Labor and Delivery!

Not long after arriving in Labor and Delivery Shannon made a dear friend for life in the form of the anesthesiologist who administered the epidural. Within minutes the mood changed from "Oh my God I'm going to die and take you all with me!!!!" to "Let's hang out and watch some of Apollo 13 for a bit while the contractions strengthen, and then does 7pm sound like a plan to start having the baby?". If the epidural manufacturer's need a spokesperson I think we have a candidate.

Well that 7pm time seemed more or less right to start pushing Mary Pat out into the world. Shannon was pushing for about at hour or so and soon enough wouldn't you believe it there was our precious little girl Mary Pat looking up at us with those big eyes saying "Hey, I know that voice!". If we took the best feeling either of us had ever felt and multiplied it by a million it still wouldn't even come close to the joy we felt.

Everyone we dealt with (with the exception of the parking attendant who shall remain nameless) at Winthrop was outstanding and couldn't have been nicer and more supportive. Melissa's tips in the birthing class were top notch and it was great to see her when we checked in. The doctor who delivered Mary Pat was actually our doctor's backup but Dr. Dolisi was just outstanding, what a great doctor who I would recommend to anyone. Our nurse Stephanie who was with us throughout the pushing was incredibly supportive and understanding, and we can't wait to get the slide show made of pictures that Donna took, and thank her for all the help even though she was off duty.

Finally, and not just because she is the only one of the people mentioned here likely to read this, we want to extend our most sincere thank you's to Dr. Katie Gallagher, Shannon's old, good friend from college. It was so comforting for both of us to have Katie there with us every step of the way and it is something we will never, ever forget. Thank you Katie from all three of us!

So that's our story of how our little Mary Pat came to join the world. The whole 10 months has been an unbelievable journey. But stay tuned, this isn't the end, its just the beginning......

Welcome Mary Pat!

Many more details to follow later as we are running back to the hospital but she's here and she's healthy! Mary Pat joined us at 8:11 weighing in at 8 lbs. 13 oz. and measuring a tall 22 inches! She is a dream come true, absolutely beautiful. Please follow the link below for pictures!