The History of Kitty

Kitty was born March 10th, 2004 and she ist still a miracle for me. Granted, I'm an agnostic, but still. Cass and I had been talking about kids even before we knew that we're going to marry. Even before we knew that we would function together as a couple. The name Kathryn Rose was decided through an online chat. The addition of Velma was through the death of my mother in law: Velma Cathryn.

Anyways... Kitty was no accident, quite the opposite. Cass and I tried to have kids, ever since we made love the first time. We never used any contraceptives, but she simply "didn't catch". Then in 2003 we talked to her OB, Dr. Chan, about this and he decided that we would forego the normal path of fertility pills and he sent us straight to a specialist, Dr. Kennard in Columbus. The Proud Parents

Dr. Kennard put us through tests and it was shown that while Cass wasn't 100% fertile, neither was I. I had a low sperm count. So I gave the clinic some of my sperm (wee!) and they cleaned it up, picking out the healthy wigglers. A day later we returned to the clinic and the Doctor put the sperm right where they belonged, into the path of Cass egg. We knew that sometimes it takes a few tries, but this time, Cass got pregnant.

There had been a few scares for Cass. We had more ultrasounds than I could remember and had quite a few false alarms that send us to the hospital.

We decided then, that Kitty would come out when we want. So on March 10^th, 2003 the labor was induced with pitocin.

It was a somewhat cold march day. One of the plans of the day was to bring our two dogs Chief and Sasha to the groomer, so they would be nice and clean and brushed for the new baby. We dropped them off and then went to the O'Bleness Hospital in Athens early in the morning and settled into one of their labor and delivery rooms. About one hour later the pitocin was started and the first visitors trundled in.

Among them had been Trisha, my wife's then best friend, Aunts Jeannie and Lora, Grandma Mary-Jane and others. Grandma kept updating us all and Cass on when Cass had a contraction.

However, after noon, Trisha left, saying that she would pick up the dogs from the groomer. Two hours later she called in saying, she won't pick the dogs up, as she has a headache. By that time it was 4pm and the contractions hadn't really been much stronger than before and the water hadn't broken then. Dr. Chan decided that if there is no improvement by 7pm they would stop the pitocin and restart the next day.

At 5:45pm nothing had changed and I was getting hungry. It was decided that I should pick up the dogs and head home, either staying home or coming back. So I got the dogs and went towards Lancaster. The first thing that showed the introduction of someone named Murphy and his laws was the orange Engine Check light that suddenly lit up in the dashboard of our Chevrolet Cavalier.

My first stop was in Nelsonville at the Sonic restaurant. It was a wednesday and so it was rather busy. I was waiting for my order as the cellphone rang. It was either Aunt Jeannie or Lora who informed me that Cass water had broken! My food finally came, but as I backed out of the bay the engine stalled. I was able to restart it but was no longer too confident in the car. On the way back to Lancaster, remember, I had the two dogs in the car and it was too cold for me to leave them in the car, I stopped at Walmart and got new spark plugs. Of course, every car in front of me decided suddenly that driving 50mph on a 60 mph stretch is the best speed, most likely to make sure I don't hit anything as dangerous as a green traffic light.

I don't exactly know when I arrived at the apartment but I dropped off the dogs, changed the spark plugs and went back to the hospital, again behind people who drove five to ten miles under speed limit.

I had just passed The Plains as I saw a familiar car in front of me. And as the car turned into the hospitals parking lot I knew it was indeed Grandma. We arrived at 9:45pm on the Maternity floor and were ushered straight into Cass room, who was already doped up with the epidural and greeted us with a spreadlegged sight.

Kitty was born at 10:02pm. I was able to cut the cord and everything winded down from there.

Kitty is a rather independent and funny toddler. She doesn't speak much but can communicate well with us. There are a few times when neither mommy nor daddy understand what she means, but those are not that often.

She loves Disney Princesses, Dora and the Wiggles, even though the latter ones are somewhat less popular with her now.

Potty training hasn't really begun yet, but her diapers are getting small on her. One trouble with that seems that she doesn't show when she has to go, or did go. The only hint we get are a full diaper and a smell.