A New Addition

 

Mackenzie Jewel has made her appearance. She decided to arrive on her own 5 days before her due date. She took us by surprise to say the least.

June 11, 2013

5:51a.m.

7lbs. 9oz.

20"

 

Birth Story follows:

I started having contractions on Sunday night and we went to labor and delivery where they told me that "contractions that are 10 minutes apart aren't doing anything." They added that they DID think I would be back for the 'real deal' by the end of the week. So all day Monday I sat around having contractions that were between 8 and 15 minutes apart. Since they never became regular and they weren't getting any closer together, I decided that I wasn't going to the hospital because they would likely send me home.

Around 2:30a.m., my water broke. Mind you my contractions were still only 8-15 minutes apart. I woke up Mark and told him we needed to head to the hospital. I also added that we probably didn't need to hurry since my contractions were still so far apart. We woke Chloe up, grabbed our bags and headed to the hospital.

{Chloe was with us for a bit, until we decided to call Mark's dad to come get her. There was a point where I told Mark. "I love her, but you have to get her out of here." I couldn't focus on managing my pain (I didn't want to scare her) with Chloe in the room. Plus, Mark was having to focus on her and I needed his attention. Furthermore, a three year old has no business in a delivery room (IMO). We didn't really have a plan in place for this type of delivery because Chloe was induced so we weren't thinking in terms of a more urgent birth.}

They checked me in and got me hooked up to monitors at 3:00a.m. I immediately asked for my epidural. They have to give you one bag of iv fluids before you can get the epi and they also had to run blood work. So we waited...too long. By the time the anesthesiologist arrived, I was ready to have a baby. I told the nurse. The anesthesiologist continued to work his magic. But before the medicine could take effect, we had to call the doctor in the room. It was time. I had a drug free birth...that I DID NOT want. haha. It worked out. Mackenzie was in my arms by 5:51a.m.

The part that was the worst was having to wait for the little bit of epi to wear off. It didn't start taking effect until well after Mackenzie made her appearance, but I got enough 'juice' to make me rubber legged for a bit.

We left the hospital after one night...as soon as the 36 hour jaundice test was complete they released us. This experience was so much different that the one with Chloe. Her birth was hard on everyone.

Mackenzie is one week old today. She is doing fabulous. She sleeps a lot. I know that sounds dumb (what do you expect? newborns sleep), but Chloe NEVER slept. We joke that we were cheated out of a newborn with her because she was so alert from the beginning.

Chloe is in love with her new sister. She tells me all the time how cute Mackenzie is. She talks about her little feet and hands. She tells me to 'put her down.' Which is my cue to lay her on the floor so that Chloe can look at her.

 

Today is our first day home without help. I have Chloe and Mackenzie all to myself. I actually think it's going to be a great day!

Shorty, Chloe and Mackenzie

 



Mark, myself, Chloe and Mackenzie

Shorty, myself and Mackenzie

Josh, Claire and Mackenzie

Pop and Mackenzie

Don-Don and Mackenzie

Shorty and Mackenzie

Big sister, Chloe!

The Third Birthday Party

 

This year was Chloe's first real birthday party. Last year we went to Houston to do some fun family stuff and her first birthday was mostly family. This year we invited Chloe's friends and had an actual party. I won't say it went off without a hitch, but it was successful.

I'm glad we decided to have a party. I really didn't want throw one at first since she won't remember it and because it was only a few weeks before my due date. I knew I would be tired and wasn't sure I was up to the challenge of throwing a party. --Don't get me wrong...we still would have celebrated her birthday. It just would have been much more low-key) After Mark and I discussed it, we realized it was important for Chloe to have a special day to celebrate her since everything will seem to be (at least from her perspective) about the new baby soon.

 

We didn't really have a theme for the party. I made cupcakes inside of ice cream cones so that they looked like chocolate and vanilla ice cream. We used pink, purple and green balloons and streamers. Mark rented an inflatable bounce house for entertainment. We were going to set things up outside, but it was raining that morning. Change of plans. Everything was inside and thankfully the rain let up enough for us to set up the bounce house in the driveway.

We only had the party for two hours. It was a good amount of time for the under 3 crowd (and probably the parents, too). It was just enough time to play, open presents, eat cake and ice cream and then play a little more.

 

Chloe would have really been happy with only eating cake. After only opening about three presents, she was ready to move on to the next activity. Getting a bunch of presents all at once is overwhelming at her age. She can really only focus on one thing at a time. Of course, now that the party is over she has enjoyed playing with ALL her presents. She just needed some time to truly discover them all.

Our friend, Katie, had some goldfish crackers for her daughter. Chloe spotted them while opening her presents and had to keep taking goldfish breaks after that. It took a while to get through the present opening. ha

10 Days until my due Date

It's officially 10 days until my due date. Due dates are such an arbitrary thing. I suppose they pack a little more significance this day in age. Most everybody I know was induced or had a scheduled c-section pretty close to their doctor-determined due date. If we still let people go into labor on their own, then these dates would be even less important since babies, who have no concept of time, come when they are good and ready when left alone. I'm not taking a stance on this hot topic. I will say that I chose my doctor because I trust her and her judgement and believe that everyone should choose a doctor that they trust with their life.

I went back to see what I was thinking/feeling during my pregnancy with Chloe around this time...I found this post from 11 days before her due date. It's the top 5 things I was looking forward to post-pregnancy.

To summarize and compare, here are the top 5 from three years ago and my thoughts on it this time:

5. Sleep on my stomach - I still miss this, but the inability to sleep on my stomach hasn't bothered me as much this time. I think it's because we have a better mattress and after having a child you learn to sleep when and however you are able. You don't get to be picky about sleep when you're a mom. I also know that I won't be getting to do this right after I have Mackenzie. It was quite a while before I was able to return to stomach sleeping after having Chloe. Partly because your stomach takes a while to return to it's pre-pregnancy state and partly because milk production and stomach sleeping do not work well together in the beginning.

4. Do Yard Work - I've mowed a few times. I've planted a few plants, but our new yard doesn't need as much work as the previous home's.

3. Have a Beer - This is still on my list. It's just that the time of year I like to have babies is the best time of year for back porch sitting and beer sipping. I will be imbibing occasionally once the new addition is free and clear of my blood stream. haha

2. Move (meaning my body) - I seem to be having less trouble this time. I would like to be able to play on the floor with Chloe and get up without having to grunt or groan.

1. Go Running! - I actually ran for most of this pregnancy (including two 5k races...one at 7 months pregnant while pushing Chloe in a jogging stroller). However, I stopped a while back and switched to walking. I really am ready to start running again and am even thinking it might be time to do a half-marathon. I'm not sure that I want to do another full ever...we'll see. I think a 13.1 mile run might be a good goal. Now to find a double jogger.



A note to miss Mackenzie: 

Your parents and sister are getting impatient. Everybody is ready, but you. It's time to go. Let's do this.