Daddy and his Girl

February 4, 2005. I have taken a leisurely day off of work. Plans were dinner and a concert with Julie and her Mom tonite. This all changed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. I received a call from Julie who informs me that she is at the hospital being taken to Labor & Delivery. Thus beginning a nine day adventure culminating with the birth of my beautiful baby girl Katherine Grace McDermott.

It's the morning of day nine, and I've been at the hospital with Julie 24/7, only leaving her side for a few random errands. Due to a lack of sleep caused by Julie's contractions this past night, I'm in need of a Starbucks. As I get in line at the Starbucks, my phone rings. It's Julie on the other side telling me that the ultrasound is in progress, and she needs me back at the hospital. So, I abandoned my place in line, and return to her room quickly. The ultrasound completed, the nurse assures me that I have plenty of time to run back down to Starbucks for that badly needed jolt of caffeine. So, off I go again. This time, I make it to the front counter, get my coffee, and start the leisurely stroll back to my cell (I mean Julie's room). Phone rings. It's Julie again. Only words I hear are: "It's go time", and "Run". So there I am, running through the hospital corridors - coffee splashing everywhere - and I'm really just still needing that caffeine fix. Needless to say, I never got my coffee.

So now I'm in the operating room, the procedure has just begun when we hear ... "Oh my God, it just exploded! That's never happened to me before!" Those are words you never really expect to hear during your wife's c-section. To our relief, it was simply the heating pad for the incubator that had exploded with a splash of blue goo slime everywhere. The rest of the operation went without a hitch.

February 13, 2005 - 11:06am my life changed forever.

Today, one month later, my daughter Katherine is proving to be a Daddy's girl. When I hold her, she seems so relaxed and content, and I feel the same. The mornings I spend with her brighten my day, and makes me wish that she was home already. The day will come soon when I can take her fishing. We even bought a Moby Wrap - a wrap-around fabric carrier system - so she can watch Daddy fish.

Today's medical update. Katherine has gained 72 grams, putting her at a little over 2 pounds, 12 ounces. She's still on bolus feeds (portion of food every three hours), but they've transitioned from a one-hour push, to gravity feeds that take about 20 minutes. She is off of her temperature monitor, and we've had to revoke her application to the nudist colony since she's now allowed to wear her clothes. She continues to be weaned from the supplemental oxygen.

Here's today's picture of Daddy and his Girl.