Chicago Shooks' April 2020

Hi all,

April has been an exceptionally challenging month for all of us in the Kinast clan.  Watching Grandpa's passing from afar was frustrating, but I'm glad to know that he was with so much love and family in his final days.  I'm extremely grateful that modern communication allowed us to say good-bye during the pandemic but it was a poor replacement for being there in person.

Obviously, COVID-19 has changed everyone's lives pretty dramatically.  Katie and I have been extraordinarily fortunate with continued employment and its associated benefits.  I have never been more aware of the enduring nature of the grocery industry than during this time when friends and family are losing jobs left and right.  I have a friend from grad school whose contract with a local architecture firm was not renewed about a month after he and his wife bought a new home.  Now they have both tested positive for COVID as well.  It is so important that we care for others in our community right now.  If we can support any of you from afar, please let us know!

Most of April has had the added stress of the uncertainty of the pending birth in our family.  It was unclear how the hospitals would be managed by the authorities and if I would be allowed to join Katie in the hospital.  Fortunately, none of the most dramatic precautions were taken, which meant I could join throughout, even if Theo had to meet his sister when she arrived at home.  Katie was scheduled to be induced on Friday, April 24th.  While we had planned to go in at 8:00 am, the labor and delivery nurse called and told us to wait as they had too many women in the ward already!  Finally, at about 2:15 pm, they called back asking us to come in.  This meant Katie's induction started around 3:30 pm and it took off from there!  Basically from the point when her contractions started, she was having them every 2-3 minutes.  They were so steady they stopped any induction medications after only a few hours.  Even though the baby volume had dropped from the morning, there was still plenty of action.  The neighboring room had their baby around 8:00 pm and Katie chose to get her epidural a bit early because the birth of a set of twins was going to occupy the anesthesiologist for a good 90 minute period.  All things considered, it progressed very steadily and multiple doctors commented on how Katie's readouts could have come from a textbook.  After Theo's stops and starts over 30+ hours, this felt so much more ordered.

By 12:30, Katie was ready to push and Natalie Christine arrived at 1:02 am!  She was 7 lbs 11 oz (which was larger than Theo much to our surprise!) and 19.5 inches long.  After the clean up, we headed upstairs to the recovery room around 2:30 with Katie and the nurse dropping Natalie off in the nursery for a bath.  She returned to our room around 5 am with Katie and I feeling very groggy after a 2 hour power nap.  Because Natalie was born on Saturday, we could have remained in the hospital until the afternoon on Monday (normal births get 2 midnights after the baby is born).  However, we chose to leave on Sunday afternoon when the OB/GYN cleared Katie and the pediatrician cleared Natalie.  Katie's mother Patti was extremely helpful in watching Theo while we were at the hospital and stayed through Monday afternoon to allow us a visit to our pediatrician's office.

We have settled back in at home and are getting used to the newborn routine again where we sleep two to three hours maximum at a time.  We're finding photos of Natalie's first days at home are nearly carbon copies of some of Theo's at the same time, which has been fun.  I am taking off work for another week after this one and then I'm fortunate enough to get 6 weeks of paternity leave that I will align with the back-half of Katie's 12 weeks.  Hopefully, by that time, some of the COVID concerns have been addressed and we'll be able to travel a bit.

It's been a roller coaster of a month and I'm not sure it's going to immediately improve.  Hopefully, you are finding ways to stay connected with friends and family and stay grateful for all that we have.  We're looking forward to our next visit to Kansas when we can share Natalie with everyone!  For now, enjoy the photos below.  Sending our love and prayers!

Andrew

*Theo on the left, Natalie on the right