Baby girl is here!

Baby niece Caitlyn Ong Yoke Ginsburg was born today at 10.19am (Pacific time) after over a week of us all holding our breath. She's a whopper, weighing in at 9lb 12oz!! Little Caitlyn ("kate-len") is already chubby and looks almost exactly like my sis. From some angles, she also looks remarkably like her big brother Sean did when he was an infant.

Other than bro-in-law Tom, I got to be in the operating room for the delivery too (it was a scheduled C-section because of the way Sean was born >3 years ago - the details are too complicated, ask me next time). It was my first time in an operating theatre, so it was pretty interesting. Tom and I stood by my sis, talking to her and holding her hand to distract her from the pressure she was feeling from the op (the drugs took away the pain but she could feel pressure). I even got to see what her uterus looks like... (ok, you can stop saying "EWWW" now).

It was a magical moment watching Caitlyn pop out, covered in gunk and wailing her lungs out. I probably won't show anyone her first photo, which was taken 2 seconds after she came out, but the above photo was taken about an hour after delivery when she was wheeled into the ward. She has a little mass of black-brown curls, is covered in fine baby fuzz so she resembles a little pink peach, and has the long hands and feet of her daddy. She also has that heavenly scent of a newborn. I have 3 days to savour that before flying back.

My sis is in ok shape, in some pain and tiredness from the op but doing better than when she had Sean, possibly because she didn't have to push 3 hours and put up with hours and hours of pain. She was so happy when they handed Caitlyn over to her to hold right after delivery, but afte a few minutes, my poor immobile sis had to ask them to lift the baby off her chest: "She's heavy!" Yup, all 9lb 12 oz of her!

So the whole family's excited and buzzed. Sean was intrigued to see his new baby sister, though he had to be repeatedly forbidden from climbing the baby's cot-on-wheels. He's also give his baby sister his first kiss, as have the rest of us. Now waiting for grandpa to arrive this weekend to see the tiny new angel. OK, not-so-tiny angel.

More pictures and updates when I get back!