Clara Catherine

In the wee hours of Saturday, October 1, 2011, my second daughter, Amy and I went to Porter Memorial Hospital in Valparaiso, Indiana to see my third daughter, Beth and her husband before the scheduled caesarian section which would result in the delivery of our 20th grandchild.

It was very early but Beth and Brian still looked chipper and excited.

At 8:01 a.m., her obstetrician and her nurse took Beth back to prep for surgery.

Brian was instructed to wait outside the OR where a rocking chair had been placed for him. Of course, Brian thought that was pretty silly but Amy and I insisted that they put it there just for him and that he should sit in it. Finally, after a lot of prodding, he sat down at which point Amy and I laughed and laughed. Of course, we weren't laughing at him but at his reaction to having to sit there.

Exactly one half hour after Beth entered the OR, we saw Brian and the Pediatrician coming up the hall with our new granddaughter.

The Pediatrician saw us through the windows in the door and asked Brian if we were with him. When Brian admitted that we were, the door was opened and we were offered a sneak peek.

Here was our first glimpse of beautiful Clara - newborn vernix and all.

And here she is after her bath. I'm pretty sure she was wondering what just happened to her cozy little womb world.

And now we could watch mom and baby fall even more in love which didn't seem possible.

And beautiful Clara started practicing for the many photo shoots in her future.

Here's where she nailed it!

Over the next few days, we took lots of pictures but most importantly started to realize what an amazing baby little Clara really is.

She may have gotten tired of us at times but she NEVER got really mad.

She was cooperative and agreeable ALL the time!

Even when she had to delay a meal for a quick picture, she was patient and understanding.


It would seem that all this patience and understanding and friendliness is an exaggeration because, after all, she's a newborn. But she really is an exceptional baby. We were there when she was brought back to recovery to be reunited with her mom. We listened as her sweet little kitten sounds became more excited when she heard Beth's voice.

We visited often and watched her asleep and awake but really never crying. It was with a sense of victory that Beth announced after her first night that's she'd finally cried last night.

And she never even had a pacifier until her feeding was interrupted to go home. Then she took that pacifier like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She's a great nurser and had the proper latch down from the get go.

When Beth was pregnant I'd sometimes wonder how the new baby would ever hold her own with her three bright and beautiful siblings. Now I wonder how they'll keep up with her.