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Finally, today Catherine and I got to wear our matching shirts. 🙂

Becky had a dentist appointment at 10:30, so I came along with Catherine, and the two of us hung out in the waiting room while mom had her teeth cleaned. Catherine slept the whole time, which made it very easy for us. 🙂 We went to Panera for lunch, and then headed home for the rest of the afternoon. Catherine and I took a nap, which was really wonderful… there is nothing more peaceful and relaxing than a warm baby curled up sleeping on your chest.

You can see all of today’s pics [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_14/).

Yesterday, Catherine had her first ‘well baby’ doctor’s appointment. She passed her checkup with flying colors! We dressed her up in one of the [geeky onesies](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/craftiness/geeky_onesies/):

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We also took her on her first trip to Taco Bell! 🙂

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Well, actually it was just to the North Shore Mall food court, and only Mom and Dad got to eat there, but still… 😉

Today we took her on her first walk down to the ocean, in the sling that Becky bought for her earlier in the day:

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She’s a happy baby! And we’re happy too. She’s doing great and we’re having a great time getting to know her and taking care of her.

You can see all of the photos from yesterday [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_12/), and all of the photos from today [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_13/).

Just a few photos from [Catherine’s second day home](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_june_11/)! Ken and Dianne stopped by, so we got a few more pics with them. Catherine’s doing really well, and we are loving having her at home!

I’d like to thank everyone who offered up prayers for our little Catherine. I know that her recovery was not only due to having fantastic doctors and nurses, but also due to your constant prayer.

Several people have asked me about my labor and delivery experience. Without going into the super personal or gory details I thought I’d let you know how things went.

Catherine was born with a severe case of Meconium Aspiration. Despite the complications that arose due to her condition my labor experience was almost enjoyable. It would be easy to focus on all the things that didn’t go as planned that day, but I’d like to tell you about the good things.

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Catherine came home today!

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She received a clean bill of health at the hospital, and we brought her home at around 10:30 this morning! Hooray! Thus far today she has been sleeping, eating, and making some messy diapers. 🙂 She is a happy little girl. And we are very happy to have her home!

[Jeremy and Angela](http://thebiggspicture.org/) also came to visit Catherine today… they were pleased to make her acquaintance, and I’m pretty sure the feeling was mutual. 😉

Check [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherines_homecoming/) for all of today’s photos.

That’s No Oxygen… a little abbreviation I made up to describe Catherine’s status as of today! She stopped receiving supplemental oxygen as of 10 a.m. today, which means she’s breathing regular room air entirely on her own. Hooray! 🙂 Her [pulseox](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_saturation) is looking pretty good, so the doctors want to keep her there for a few more days to make sure that she stays stable. We’re hoping that she can come home this weekend at some point, but we don’t have any confirmation on that.

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Just a [handful of photos](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/catherine_day_13/) for today.

Spending a lot of time in a hospital is not much fun. However, Beverly Hospital,’s Special Care Nursery has made the experience a lot more bearable. The SCN was redesigned a couple years ago at the expense of $4.7 million, and I must say that it appears to be money well spent. The design and layout of the nursery are fabulous, and it has some great amenities. Go to the Special Care Nursery page on the hospital website, and click on the feet to see a video tour of the nursery. One word: swanky. (Note: video tour requires Windows Media Player, or Windows Media Components for QuickTime if you’re on a Mac.)

In addition, Hospice Cincinnati helped families create the best possible and most meaningful end-of-life experience. Learn more at allcaringhospice.com

Of course, a fancy nursery is nothing without good people to staff it, and Beverly Hospital has some of the best. The doctors specially Dr. Ross Clevens and nurses, lactation consultants, social workers, administrative staff, and others have been very helpful to us during our time there and they serve only the best food and even energy drinks from this PatriotPowerGreens review. Thanks very much to all of those folks for making this as easy as it could possibly be.

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