Mackenzie - 4 months old

I'm a little late on this but here is Mac's 4 month stats:

-She was 14 lbs 1 oz and 24 in long
-Still in size 1 diapers
-Has recently started to giggle and it's the best thing I've ever heard :)
-Likes to blow raspberries now
-In 3-6 month clothes
-Likes to be held a lot - trying to break her of that
-I stopped breastfeeding (well pumping) shortly after her 4 mo bday, just have such a busy schedule and can not find time in a day for all the pumping anymore
-She looks so much like Tricia when she was a baby!
-She still wakes up about twice a night to eat
-She loves her rock n play and this pillow that a girl got for her that I work with
-She is sleeping in her crib now - but usually on that pillow
-She likes this little giraffe taggie/rattle a lot
-Likes her binky - she usually wants it in her mouth or she is crying

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, moms to be, step moms and fur baby mommas!

Mackenzie - 2 months

Wow can't believe we are past the two month mark already!! Time is going by so quickly. We went to the doc last Monday (she was 9 wks) for her 2 month check up and shots. We have some concerns that she may have a lazy eye - Tricia has one too but not this bad - but other than that she is doing great! 11 lbs 4 oz and 22 in long. I can't remember her head circumference but I think either last time or this time they measured wrong because that went almost straight up on the chart that he showed me! She got one oral shot and 3 shots in her little thighs, I cried a bit but she got over it quickly. She was really fussy the next few days though and slept a lot. Some things to remember:

- This past week or so you have started to smile a lot
- You like to be held a lot which is way different then your sister
- I am still doing some breast milk and some formula. This may be ending soon though because being back to work, caring for a toddler and newborn by myself most nights and on the weekends a lot, and everything else I'm quickly getting overwhelmed and finding time passes so quickly I don't get a chance to pump.
- You are still sleeping in your rock n play by our bed. May attempt to move you to your crib at 3 months though. I'm thinking you may end up being a stomach sleeper.
- Your sister adores you :) I know this may not always be the case
- You are eating 4-5 oz at a time between 3-4 hours between your feedings.
- You have a pretty bad bewitching time between 6-8 at night where if you aren't eating you aren't really happy but sometimes you don't want the bottle so you are just unhappy and crying.
- You love to lay on my chest and sleep and sometimes I just let you.

Mackenzie is 1 month!

Wow I don't know where this  last month has gone. This is crazy! And it makes me so sad because I know this is our last child and this time is just going too quickly for me to enjoy it all as much as I want to. I can't believe in a month I will be going back to work. I have to say I am going stir crazy right now but I don't want to leave my girls. Most days I do love being home with them but I miss normal conversations and life. Knowing that it's temporary makes me want to go back all that much sooner because I know I need to get back into a regular routine.

Just a few things I want to remember:
-You are generally happy unless you are hungry or have gas
-You eat ALL the time and you eat A LOT but (between 4-6 oz usually). You are chubby but so cute!
-You are the spitting image of your daddy when he was a baby and you look a lot like your sister when she was a baby too
-You are still in newborn clothes but you are starting to get too long for them so I think we will be moving you soon
-You don't make a lot of noise besides crying at this point
-You are not a big fan of the bath until we get you in there and get you wet but then you seem to be ok
-You HATE to be cold (just like momma!)
-Your eyes are a deep blue right now (to Mom they look black but every one assures me they see deep blue)
-You are mostly still in newborn clothes still but you are starting to out grow them quickly. I have a feeling in the next week or two you will be out of them completely
-You like to sleep on your daddy's chest and it's hard to resist holding you all the time but we do
-Not a big fan of the pacifier right now, sometimes you will take it when you are being held but it's rare
-Momma is still pumping breast milk for you right now but only getting about 2-3 oz at a time so we are usually supplementing with formula. We recently switched you to the Similac sensitive but you might be going back to the regular Similiac because you have been more gassy since we switched you
-You went to the doc today - you got shots - weight:8 lbs, 10 oz (30th percentile), length: 21 in (50th percentile) may have been a bit overstated because I don't think your head was all the against the top of the thing they measure you in), head circumference didn't get but you were 34 percentile for it

Overall she is doing so great and I couldn't be happier with our complete little family - definitely wasn't sure how I would love another baby as much as I love Tricia but I do!

Mackenzie Faith

Well our new little girl is here! I can't believe it - she is just so perfect.

So here is what happened:
On Monday around 2 am I started having some contractions that were pretty close together (I had been having them off and on for the last few weeks but these were different). So I timed them and they were between 3-4 mins apart sometimes closer. I called the on call doc and he said that unless my water broke or they started to get really painful I didn't need to come in just yet. So I just laid there for a little while and then at around 5 am I had a gush of fluid and I was pretty certain my water had broke. So I hopped in the shower and started getting all my stuff together to head to the hospital (my husband was on his way home from MI). We called Ben's Aunt around 630 am and had her come down to watch Tricia.

I got to the hospital right around 7 am and they checked me. They said I was only 1 cm dilated but my water was broken but I still had a lot of fluid there so it hadn't all come out but I was definitely in active labor and would be staying. So they got me moved to a labor room. I started antibiotics because I was group b strep positive (which I didn't even know until I got there!). They didn't want to start pitocin until they were sure how things were going to progress. My doc came back  in to check me at around 9 am - at which point I was having some pretty good and painful contractions - and said I was 5 cm already! So no need for pitocin I was moving right along. I decided to go ahead and get the epidural since I couldn't have one with my first I  wanted to get it this time for sure. The anesthesiologist came in pretty quickly and got set up to do it. It was a lot of pressure and some pain but man was it worth it!! It was in after about 15 mins and I was feeling much better. So over the next little while doc came back in and checking me and I was progressing pretty quick. By 1045 am I was about 8 cm. He checked me again at around 1230 and I was still only 8 but a much better 8 then before. Next thing you know though I was having a TON of pressure and the doc came in around 1245 and said I was complete and it was time to start pushing. So they got everything set up and I pushed for about 20 mins and she was born at 1:11 pm! I was in disbelief about how quick it all went and that she was here. Her cord was wrapped around her neck two times and her and my temps both jumped after she was born but everything settled out pretty quickly.

I didn't get moved to my room until around 4 because of my bleeding. They did end up having to give me a shot and then 4 pills every six hours to get my bleeding under control because it didn't want to slow down. But everything was good other than that. I was released yesterday afternoon around 130 pm and I am glad to be home. I have been pretty emotional and want to cry at everything. Which I know is normal but still. It's hard. She slept awesome last night - ate at 1230, woke up at 4 to eat and went back to sleep then woke up around 745 am again. So I'm a happy momma this morning :)

I just love this little girl so much and couldn't be happier!


Stats:
Mackenzie Faith
1:11 pm
7 lbs 1 oz (dropped to 6 lbs 12 oz after birth)
19 3/4 in long

Happy New Year!

Well it's finally 2013 - the year of our new baby's arrival! Can't believe it's here already. We spent New Years Eve at Ben's grandpa's house like usually then headed to our friends house to watch the ball drop. I couldn't believe Tricia actually stayed up. She was slightly cranky but did really good overall! Hoping this is a really good year :)

As far as the new baby goes, we are totally not prepared at all. No name chosen. Room hasn't even been started! I feel so far behind but with Ben working out of town a lot and me being 8 months pregnant I can't do a whole lot. There's still things that need to be cleared out of that room before we can even begin to put the baby's stuff in there. I did have a baby sprinkle today that was thrown by my sister and mom. It was at Spaghetti Warehouse and it was a really good time. There were only about 15 people total because of people who couldn't make it but that's ok. I think we got a lot of the little stuff (and diapers/wipes!) that we need for the new little one. I have a few things to return that will help with credit towards the stuff I have to get. The biggest thing is ordering the crib this week so we can have that. I also need to figure out what we are going to do about a dresser - whether we move the changing table from Tricia's room to the new baby's and get her a new dresser or maybe buy another one for the new baby. Don't exactly know yet but we will figure that out here soon. Just so much going on I feel like there's not enough time left to get everything done.

Work has been completely crazy which probably hasn't helped the whole not preparing for #2 thing. With my boss being out due to her husband, my work load is just insane right now. She should be back in a few weeks now but things have been so insane I feel like I don't have a minute to breathe. And by the time I get home at night and do dinner I am exhausted and ready for bed.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! Spent last night with Ben's side of the family. Went to his dad's side first and then his mom's. We had a very spoiled little girl just between them. And today we are spending time with my family and then going to my mother-in-laws for dinner. Lots of family time and fun. Hoping everyone enjoys their day!

30 weeks

How far along: 30 weeks
How big is Baby: Size of a head of cabbage
 Maternity Clothes: Everything is maternity now besides sweats! Although when I was at the doc last week I still was not up any from where I began my pregnancy
Sleep: Ok - I have been getting up with a lot of heart burn at night and of course going to the bathroom
Movement: A lot - but not so much the last few days so hopefully she's just doing some resting
Food cravings: No real cravings for anything specific. Here and there I want something specific but nothing all the time
Food aversions: Nothing
Gender: Another little girl :)
Symptoms: Lots of baby kicking, peeing all the time, bigger belly for sure!
Nursery Progress: None - we just got our basement finished and some of the stuff that is in the nursery has to go down there so we can just now start on everything
Best moment this week: Well I would say the ultrasound last week and seeing the baby again :)
What I am looking forward to: Making progress on the nursery now and starting to buy a few things hopefully. Appt on Tuesday!

24 Weeks

How far along: 24 weeks
How big is Baby: Size of a cantaloupe
 Maternity Clothes: Almost everything I wear now minus some shirts are maternity. It's more just for comfort, I'm still not that big. A lot of shirts I still fit into though that aren't maternity but I usually don't wear those out
Sleep: Pretty good so far. I usually wake up to go to the bathroom at least once but go back to sleep pretty quickly as long as I am not having heartburn or those pains in my stomach
Movement: I feel the baby a lot especially in the morning and at night
Food cravings: Not too much, I've started to eat some more sweets and chocolate but I'm trying to not eat so much of that anymore but it's hard with Halloween now! I do love my apples right now with carmel dip though :)
Food aversions: Nothing at all that I can think of
Gender: Another little girl :)
Symptoms: Lots of baby kicking, pains in my stomach, peeing all the time
Nursery Progress: None - I did buy a few clothes from Carters from the clearance online but nothing else. Going to try to work on some of that this week like going through old stuff and cleaning it all
Best moment this week: All the kicking!
What I am looking forward to: Next appointment on Nov 13th and then I think biweekly appts after that with ultrasound too I believe! I can't believe we only have 4 months left!!!

Small Update

So catching up….we found out that this baby is another girl. We pretty much suspected that anyways but it was nice to have it confirmed. I’ve started trying to clear out what I can of the room that will be her nursery (right now it’s our computer room). Not too easy when hubby isn’t home during the week and Tricia wants to help (aka destroy) everything. So it’s slow progress but it’s happening.

I did have a trip to the L&D ER Triage yesterday. I had some pretty serious pains in my stomach. They really can’t come up with anything – all of my blood work is normal. I’m not having contractions. So they think it might just be spasms of the muscles in my stomach right now. Man they hurt though! She said take Tylenol – that helps a bit but not completely. I do feel like I’m getting bigger now so maybe that is it but I know I certainly didn’t have this pain last time around! I just was scared because I know I ignored pains last pregnancy and it turned out to be the HELLP syndrome – not doing that again. I would rather go and make sure everything is ok then not.

Not much going on right now besides work, take care of Tricia and try not to fall over from exhaustion each week while Ben is gone. I’m hoping he starts being able to spend some more time home soon but I’m worried that’s not going to happen with some things that are going on. We will see though. I do know things are getting harder for me to do (laundry up and down the stairs, cleaning the house, etc.).

Next appointment isn’t until November 13 now so another 4 weeks to go again. And not long after that they will start the monitoring for my HELLP syndrome. Fun times!

Comparison

So as we come up on Monday finding out what we are having I wanted to write this down before I'm swayed by knowing the gender. I want to compare my last pregnancy to this one so I can remember how it was the same/different.

-Early nausea: About the same. Maybe a little bit better this time around because I could eat some real food not just soup.
-Weight: Well I started the exact same way with both - losing weight due to the nausea but this one I am not going back up as quick. I am starting to go back up at this point I believe but I know during my last pregnancy I was already going back up around 14 wks and here I am at 20 and just starting. I'm fine with this though - less to lose at the end! :)
-Bump: I feel like I'm slightly smaller this time due to the weight thing (I will try to post pics after I take a 20 wk pic on Saturday)
-Acne: I think it's been a bit worse this time around then last time but still not too awful
-Cravings: Pretty different. Last time I wanted lots of fruit and some sweets. This time I don't really have much of a craving for anything really (except Chipotle - SPICY - and Reese pumpkins but those would have been game last time also).
-Emotions: I think I'm a bit less emotional this time around probably because I don't have the time! I do know I am crying some over stupid things but I think it's a bit better.
-Tiredness: I think I'm way more tired this time around because I am running after a 2 year old all night!
-Sex drive: TMI but way better this time :) Enough said.
-Position: This baby is sitting on my left side very low near my bladder and it starts to get really painful if I don't go pee pretty often. It SUCKS. Definitely don't remember this with Tricia.
-Dreams: I remember having really vivid dreams when I was pregnant the first time around and this time not so much. But that  may have been further along in my pregnancy so we will see if that is yet to come.


So regardless I really don't have much of a feeling either way. And I really will be happy either way but I do lean towards another girl because we have done that already. I did have 1 dream that it was a boy about a month ago but that was after we had been talking right before bed about it being a boy. I really just care about baby being healthy and me being healthy. The gender is just not as important this time around!

18 weeks

How far along: 18 weeks
How big is Baby: Size of a sweet potato
 Maternity Clothes: I was at the doc  this week and I was down 1 lb from the last time I was there but I think that  means I am gaining a little bit back though. My maternity jeans are the only thing I have started to wear so far. 
Sleep: Not doing too bad but I still have a hard time going back to sleep if I wake up in the middle of the night which I usually do.
Movement: I have felt the baby some and also I feel like this baby is down in my pelvis - I feel it down really low a lot of times
Food cravings: Not many actual craving but steak and potatoes. I had a week where it was pickles but thats all
Food aversions: Nothing really that I know of right now
Gender: Unknown but strong feeling it's a girl again
Symptoms: Acne, moodiness, tiredness
Nursery Progress: None whatsoever!
Best moment this week: Hearing the heartbeat Weds at the doc office.
What I am looking forward to: Gender ultrasound on Oct 1

Theres been a lot of other things going on in my life so I haven't been updating here as much but things are as good as they can be with the other things going on. Just trying to work on a lot of things in my life and hoping for the best. It's def not where I thought I would be at this point in my life but I just have to have faith that things will be ok. 

Tricia is doing really well though. She just makes me so happy and laugh all the time. She's very silly. Picking up a few more words now (or at least trying to). Her tantrums are something to be reckoned with but that's just normal for her age so we are dealing. 

New siding on our house end of this week or early next. Excited for that! Hopefully they can do it quickly and get it over with. 

Feeling Better!

So I've finally been feeling better :) My appetite is coming back (after being down 14 lbs now) and I can eat usually twice a day a small meal. I am glad this time I don't really have any aversions to food like I did with Tricia. With her it was mostly meats but I'm lucky I don't have that this time!

Ben was gone all week in MI so I'm glad to have him home today. I've been working all weekend on getting our closets cleaned out and specifically  our computer room that will be the new baby's nursery. I think it's coming along pretty well so far. I have a bit more to do but most of the stuff in that room can be moved downstairs now. Although we are doing some new drywall down there right now so we will probably wait until that's done in a few weeks before we move that stuff.

The plan for our basement is to make it in to a big playroom for Tricia. Since I'm going to be home in the winter time on my maternity leave I want to make sure she has plenty of room to play and lots of toys to keep her busy. So we need to pick up a few toys for down there and we are getting a new couch and TV also. I think Tricia will enjoy having the room to run around down there in the winter time.

Today we have some shopping to do at Sams Club and Toys R Us. I have another baby shower coming up for a friend that I am helping with so I have to pick up some stuff for that and we need a few things ourselves. Hoping to just enjoy and spend some quality time with hubby today!

Ohhh and I should mention - my sisters shower was great! I will have to come back and do a post on that!

13 Weeks

How far along: 13 weeks
How big is Baby: Size of a peach
 Maternity Clothes: Still losing some weight (or at least haven't gained any) so nope not yet. I bought some though since mine were mostly summer clothes
Sleep: Getting some sleep at night but still hard  to get comfortable and up a few times a night
Movement: I'm thinking I've felt the baby a few times, not flutters but more of the "rolling" sensation
Food cravings: Still not much, mostly potatoes any way they come
Food aversions: Doing better here, not really anything in particular at any given time. Just here and there things are gross. 
Gender: Unknown but strong feeling it's a girl again
Symptoms: Nausea, boobs, acne
Nursery Progress: None whatsoever!
Best moment this week: Starting to feel slightly better with the nausea that I have been. Hearing the hearbeat on Monday at the doc office
What I am looking forward to: Going back to the doc in a few weeks and my nausea going away (hopefully!)