Eileen Susan

Micah and Caleb met their newest cousin today! Eileen Susan Barsch was born at 1:23 (is that right Kyle?) and was 7.1 pounds and 18 inches long.

Kelly had a partial placenta previa so the c-section had been scheduled well in advance. We arrived at the hospital about 45 minutes ahead of the scheduled operation but it was pushed back a bit due to pregnant ladies arriving in active labor and needing the attention of the doctor. But that just gave us enough time to chat with Kyle's parents in the waiting room and to see Kelly and Kyle in the delivery room. Micah took an immediate liking to Mr. Barsch (I think he was too little during their last visit to remember him) and had a fun time playing with him while we waited too.

Unfortunately, Kelly had a downright rude anesthesiologist who belittled her fear of needles (after the eye-rollings I got after my early contractions with Caleb, I will NEVER doubt anyone's word when they say they feel something!) and told her she did a bad job getting her spinal. Isn't that completely unprofessional of a doctor to say?

(This is Kelly after the operation)

When she was back in the operating room, Micah and I decided to take a walk to find the nursery so we could have prime viewing time once Eileen was in the world. On our walk we had the chance to steal a quick look at a pre-daddy Kyle as he sat outside the operating room in his yellow scrubs. We waved quickly and then the big automatic doors closed and blocked our view. I remember thinking that he looked so calm and happy and I wished (and so did his mom!) that I'd had a camera to capture that moment.

Upset about missing a photo op, I sent Terry out of the waiting room to stand directly behind those doors so he could capture Kyle walking out of them to announce his baby daughter's birth. Mrs. Barsch went with Terry (she was brimming with excitement to see her first grandbaby!) and the two of them were close enough to actually hear Eileen's first cries as she came into the world!

We all gathered around the nursery window for our first glance of God's newest child. She was beautiful! C-sections babies have all the luck- no head squishing, no swollen eyes from pressure! (C-sections mommy's aren't so lucky, though!)


My first thought was that Eileen looked like Kyle. But after further inspection (one person at a time was allowed into the nursery with Kyle to get a close look. Pretty cool, huh?) we all agreed that she looks much more like Kelly. I think she's got the same eyes as Kelly, Terry, and Micah all do.

In fact, after I looked closely at the pictures that Terry had taken in the nursery, I saw one that seemed familiar to me. At first I thought the pic looked like Micah. But it turns out that one of Eileen's first snapshots is very similar (to me, at least) to one of Caleb's first. What do you think? Is it just cause they're both crying newborns or is there a similarity there? Maybe it's just me, but I think you can definitely tell that they come from the same gene pool.


Eileen
Caleb

Kelly was recovering well when we left her 2.5 hours after she delivered. She was dealing with some nasty nausea, but on a plus side Eileen took to breastfeeding wonderfully and was even sucking her thumb at one point! Kelly was a very relaxed first-time mommy. In fact, she was talking on the phone with work during her very first family portrait!



Micah was excited to see Eileen, Caleb didn't even realize we were at the hospital, and I know both boys will soon be thrilled to have two such beautiful cousins (and I'm just guessing they'll be happy to have their cousin's cute friends around, too. But that's not for 13 years or so.)