../

Thursday May 27, 2004

We headed off to the hospital early in the morning with Margot and Jolie watching us from the upstairs window.
Several hours later, at 3:32 that afternoon, Patrick was born weighing in at 4107 grams (9 lbs 1 oz)!
Patrick was in the same room as Kat for most of his first afternoon and evening. His first visitors -- just a few hours after he was born -- were Grand-maman Charette and his big sister Jolie.

Friday May 28, 2004

During his first night, the doctors discovered that Patrick had a breathing problem which required him to be on oxygen. This continued through the weekend until his lungs cleared up. While the doctors tried their best to reassure us and explain that it wasn't too serious, Kat and I couldn't help but think of the problems back when Jolie was born 2 years ago.

Monday May 31, 2004

After 4 days in the hospital, both Kat and Patrick finally get to come home! His lungs have cleared up, and the worrisome heart murmur has gone away.

Strangely enough, even at this point we hadn't yet fully agreed on which name to use. While "Patrick" was decided long ago, the middle name was still being discussed; possible middle names contemplated include Matthieu, André, Étienne and Émile. It took 10 additional days for us to finally decide on Patrick Émile Newell Charette.