Only the thing is, they didn’t.  In fact by 11:30 pm they just went away.  UGH!!!  Yes false labor can strike even when you KNOW what’s going on.  Randy collected the offspring back from the grandparents the next morning and we returned to nest awhile longer.

Bethany’s follow-up checkup late Monday afternoon indicated that the bed rest wasn’t having the desired effect.  The doctor decided the risks involved with letting the pregnancy linger did not outweigh the risks of inducing labor, especially since she was already 3-4 cm dilated.  Bethany was told to go home and gather her suitcase and husband (in that order) and proceed to the hospital (Gramy already had Jane for the appointment).

We arrived at the Missouri Baptist natal unit at 6:30 pm (LDR Room 9.) and within an hour they got her hooked up to an IV, got blood work done and started the pitocin drip.  The way things were progressing we though the baby might arrive before The Late Show with Conan came on and we worried we would get kicked out of the hospital a day early if the baby came before midnight.  Well as is typical of Randy’s Positive Thinking, it didn’t turn out that way.  We spent the 2 hours after Conan playing gin rummy but with no progress on the dilation front.  Uncharacteristically Randy won at cards, although perhaps a woman in labor isn’t at the top of her game.  Randy never quite caught the concept of letting the Wookie win (not that he’s implying Bethany is anything like a large furry starship pilot with limited language skills!).

ANYWAY, at 3:30 am the attending doctor broke Bethany’s water and the contractions kicked up an order of magnitude.  Twenty minutes of the new improved contractions were enough and Bethany decided it was time for her friend the epidural.  It only took about 20 minutes for the anesthesiologist to get there, but it seemed much longer!  However, as with Jane, after the epidural drip was in, pain was no longer a significant factor (epidurals are a GOOD thing!).  By 5:15 am her dilation was at 5-6 cm but it wouldn’t budge from that level for the next couple of hours.  At 7:15 am it was getting a bit depressing.  Then Bethany began vomiting as a side effect of the epidural and having had nothing to eat for the past 17 hours she didn’t have much to emit.  However, what at first seemed to be another unfortunate misery of child bearing turned out to be fortuitous, as just 5 minutes of retching brought the dilation to 10 cm, and around 7:30 a.m. we were ready to have a baby!

Even though Dr. Hogan was in the hospital making rounds, it took a bit of time for her to arrive -- Bethany was pretty much having to cross her legs to keep the baby in.  As with Jane’s birth, once the doctor was there it only took about 5 minutes to push out our new baby, and at 8:26 am, our family enlarged by one: Catherine Hope Curtis (“Cate”) weighed in at 8 lbs., 8 oz. and measured 22 inches in length.

Cate Weighing in

When we called our family with the news, Jane got to hear her siblings cooing whines.  She responded with her very good imitation of meowing in reply.  Evidently she thought her mother had a kitten.  When Jane met her that afternoon, she was interested in sister Cate for about 2 minutes but then was distracted by the need to explore the hospital room and open and close all the doors and drawers in the room.

Cate and Bethany meet

As for Cate, two hours after she was born she was nursing with like a pro and has continued to do so subsequently.  Bethany has had no ill efforts, except for some bleeding issues, which were a little unnerving but were below the “hemorrhaging” level we were assured. Not pleasant but not a big deal either.

Over the next couple days the in-town family visited, which necessitated several rounds of digital imaging documentation of the events, as well as when we packed her up to go home as seen below:

Name Game - Why Catherine Hope

We were back to the beginning though the second time and spent months going over the previous short list and being unable to happily settle on anything. If only Niece/Cousin Katie was Mary, we would be all set!

As the months of discussions/negotiating wore on, the duplicity of having another Kate in the Sage family seemed less important than harmony within the Tuxedo Curtis family, especially since the other Kate didn’t live in the same town. The spelling difference of using a “C” versus a “K” further differentiated her from the other Katies on Bethany’s side of the family (not that we have anything against using Cate Blanchett’s spelling).

Hope - Originally Randy’s idea that Bethany warmed up to and decided was just right. At least as far back as an email survey in 1999, Randy described a theoretical future daughter as having the name of Hope. Partially it was the character on “thirty something” (a reason that appealed to Bethany as well), but it was more a function that of the three elements of faith—hope, charity and love—hope is the most important one of all (you can live without love, but can you live without hope?). Hope was also the name of the second foster baby that the Sage family cared for temporarily in the 1970s. Anyway the sentiment of an optimistic future seemed fitting

On the Home Front - April 2004

Cate and Jane

Maddy and Cate sleeping on Randy

So who does Cate look like?

Our honest answer at this point, not much like either one of us.  We decided Cate looks like a 50+ Jewish accountant name Morey.  This is somewhat an improvement we supposes over Jane, who looked a bit like Winston Churchill at first.  Actually Cate looks a lot like Jane in the face except for the darker hair, which is some consolation since eventually she'll be a cutie.

Jane - August 2002	Cate - April 20004

More news and pictures can be found at 2004 Spring

Much Love,

Bethany and Randy