Born June 19, 2010 at 10:14am. 7 lbs 5 ounces, 18 inches
Pictures Here
(labor and delivery story coming soon)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Mackenzie Paige - 6/19/10
First of all, she's beautiful and wonderful and perfect.
Labor Story
I had a 37+4 day check up...still having lots of cramps and terrible back ache. Dr. N's nurse said I should ask Dr. N to move my induction up a week. Dr. N came in and asked how I was....I explained again that I had cramps but nothing I could measure like contractions. He did an internal exam and I was dilated to 3, still only 25% effaced and she was still high. He said, "Let's just go over to the hospital now." He explained that he couldn't induce but he could break my water. Now, as much as I kept saying how ready I was...when I actually had the choice, I backed down. Mainly because I didn't want to be in labor forever and end up having to have c-section. When he checked me, he REALLY checked me. So I assumed I'd have worse cramps. He promised that I wouldn't make it through the weekend. I told him he better not be getting my hopes up, or someone would pay.
It was a friend's baby shower at work, so I headed back to work. Still having bad cramps, loose stool (sorry) but no "measurable" contractions. I visited with the girls and our token male. Thought about going to walk Wal-Mart or target, but was hurting bad enough I decided to just go home.
I got home, did a couple loads of laundry, the dishes, made the beds, picked up toys, then decided to head on over to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I walked around there for a while before heading to get Landon for swim lessons.
After dinner, Nicole and I headed out to walk. No, not outside - are you kidding, we live in Houston. We went to Home Depot to pick up some things for Nicole and then on to Target and Wal-Mart. I wasn't cramping much at this point - just super hot. Came home, showered and figured nothing was going to happen.
About 11:30, Bryan and I finally climb in bed. I'm cramping again and tell Bryan that I just hurt everywhere, that's its not something I could time, its constant. I only laid in bed for about 2 minutes before deciding I couldn't take - and I headed to the La-Z-Boy in our bedroom....
And OUCH! contraction! So I take a look at the clock, just in case. Sure enough 7 minutes later, another contraction. And then 5 minutes later, another one. Bryan and I get back up, make some phone calls, get our stuff ready and wait for Nicole to head over to watch Landon. Thank goodness she only lives half a block away!
Bryan has a contraction timer app on his phone, so on the way to the hospital, the contractions are barely 2 minutes apart. (again, thankful we live so CLOSE to the hospital!) We get there, I check in while Bryan moves the car. They wondered if I could walk up to the second floor by myself. (Uh, yeah, if it means I get an epidural sooner!)
We get checked in. I'm only 3 cm dilated, so plenty of time for epidural! I have a GREAT nurse, even if she did butcher my IV line. She decided she wanted to help me get my epidural as fast as possible, so she took blood before starting my IV instead of waiting for the "blood" nurse (don't know what they're really called) to get there. After getting my wrist cleaned up (from the shooting blood) I filled out a bajillion papers (and yes, we had already pre-registered!) My contractions are still about 11/2 to 2 minutes apart. The anesthesiologist finally gets there and gets my epidural going! Thank you very much! And then its boring...from midnight on, I had contractions every 1 minute which I joyously could not feel at all. Bryan tried to sleep in the chair, but with nurses coming in all the time, he didn't get much sleep. Then, around 3-4 am, I start getting light headed...look over and my blood pressure is around 80/45. Nurse comes down, we tried several things, after about 45 minutes, I'm back to normal.
Around 6:00 or later, they start pitocin in my IV. And then....
my epidural bag is empty! EMPTY! It starts beeping, so the nurse calls the guy back, who takes his sweet time getting there...meanwhile I'm starting to feel the massive contractions I had laughed about earlier (seeing them on the doppler but not feeling them.) I'm bawling my eyes out and Bryan's losing circulation in his hand. The guy says he's done and I should be feeling better soon - he leaves...and yeah, it didn't take on my left half. Get that dude back in here ASAP! He finally comes back and loads me up.
Dr. Nguyen comes in and breaks my water and says he'll be back later. Bryan decides he has time for breakfast, so off he goes. I keep thinking I feel pressure, but the nurse checks and says the baby is still high. Finally around 10, I tell the nurse the pressure thing again, she checks me and then walks out. I realize at that moment I'm going to be sick - Bryan rushes around to find something for me to throw up in - my water cup...and I start puking. At the same time, about 7 nurses and Dr. N come in and I start apologized for throwing up. (Because throwing up causes you to push out at the same time! As every pregnant woman with a weak bladder knows.) They assure me this is a good sign. And tell me if I need to push, go for it.
Yeah, yeah, I pulled the whole "woman-screaming-can't-do-it-put-her-back-in" thing. Three pushes (long pushes) later, my baby girl is out! She's beautiful! Bryan moves to the baby's bed and Dr. N finishes up (had to get stitches - ouch.) She was a little bit bigger than Landon - by over a pound. Which meant a bigger head! Mackenzie nursed right away, she was a pro!
So, at 10:14am on Saturday, June 19th - Miss Mackenzie Rhodes was born weighing seven pounds, five ounces and measuring 18 inches. She was gorgeous!
Soon after delivery, Danny and Nicole bring Landon up to see us. He is the best big brother. You can see on his face how proud he is! Bryan hang out with me for a while, then Nicole came back to visit in the evening. Then it was just me and Mackenzie. She was wonderful. She nursed great and slept great. It was a good night.
Bryan and Landon came back the next morning, which was Father's Day, to pick me up. We spent some time there, waiting for both doctors to release us. Then we finally got to head home, a family of 4!
Labor Story
I had a 37+4 day check up...still having lots of cramps and terrible back ache. Dr. N's nurse said I should ask Dr. N to move my induction up a week. Dr. N came in and asked how I was....I explained again that I had cramps but nothing I could measure like contractions. He did an internal exam and I was dilated to 3, still only 25% effaced and she was still high. He said, "Let's just go over to the hospital now." He explained that he couldn't induce but he could break my water. Now, as much as I kept saying how ready I was...when I actually had the choice, I backed down. Mainly because I didn't want to be in labor forever and end up having to have c-section. When he checked me, he REALLY checked me. So I assumed I'd have worse cramps. He promised that I wouldn't make it through the weekend. I told him he better not be getting my hopes up, or someone would pay.
It was a friend's baby shower at work, so I headed back to work. Still having bad cramps, loose stool (sorry) but no "measurable" contractions. I visited with the girls and our token male. Thought about going to walk Wal-Mart or target, but was hurting bad enough I decided to just go home.
I got home, did a couple loads of laundry, the dishes, made the beds, picked up toys, then decided to head on over to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I walked around there for a while before heading to get Landon for swim lessons.
After dinner, Nicole and I headed out to walk. No, not outside - are you kidding, we live in Houston. We went to Home Depot to pick up some things for Nicole and then on to Target and Wal-Mart. I wasn't cramping much at this point - just super hot. Came home, showered and figured nothing was going to happen.
About 11:30, Bryan and I finally climb in bed. I'm cramping again and tell Bryan that I just hurt everywhere, that's its not something I could time, its constant. I only laid in bed for about 2 minutes before deciding I couldn't take - and I headed to the La-Z-Boy in our bedroom....
And OUCH! contraction! So I take a look at the clock, just in case. Sure enough 7 minutes later, another contraction. And then 5 minutes later, another one. Bryan and I get back up, make some phone calls, get our stuff ready and wait for Nicole to head over to watch Landon. Thank goodness she only lives half a block away!
Bryan has a contraction timer app on his phone, so on the way to the hospital, the contractions are barely 2 minutes apart. (again, thankful we live so CLOSE to the hospital!) We get there, I check in while Bryan moves the car. They wondered if I could walk up to the second floor by myself. (Uh, yeah, if it means I get an epidural sooner!)
We get checked in. I'm only 3 cm dilated, so plenty of time for epidural! I have a GREAT nurse, even if she did butcher my IV line. She decided she wanted to help me get my epidural as fast as possible, so she took blood before starting my IV instead of waiting for the "blood" nurse (don't know what they're really called) to get there. After getting my wrist cleaned up (from the shooting blood) I filled out a bajillion papers (and yes, we had already pre-registered!) My contractions are still about 11/2 to 2 minutes apart. The anesthesiologist finally gets there and gets my epidural going! Thank you very much! And then its boring...from midnight on, I had contractions every 1 minute which I joyously could not feel at all. Bryan tried to sleep in the chair, but with nurses coming in all the time, he didn't get much sleep. Then, around 3-4 am, I start getting light headed...look over and my blood pressure is around 80/45. Nurse comes down, we tried several things, after about 45 minutes, I'm back to normal.
Around 6:00 or later, they start pitocin in my IV. And then....
my epidural bag is empty! EMPTY! It starts beeping, so the nurse calls the guy back, who takes his sweet time getting there...meanwhile I'm starting to feel the massive contractions I had laughed about earlier (seeing them on the doppler but not feeling them.) I'm bawling my eyes out and Bryan's losing circulation in his hand. The guy says he's done and I should be feeling better soon - he leaves...and yeah, it didn't take on my left half. Get that dude back in here ASAP! He finally comes back and loads me up.
Dr. Nguyen comes in and breaks my water and says he'll be back later. Bryan decides he has time for breakfast, so off he goes. I keep thinking I feel pressure, but the nurse checks and says the baby is still high. Finally around 10, I tell the nurse the pressure thing again, she checks me and then walks out. I realize at that moment I'm going to be sick - Bryan rushes around to find something for me to throw up in - my water cup...and I start puking. At the same time, about 7 nurses and Dr. N come in and I start apologized for throwing up. (Because throwing up causes you to push out at the same time! As every pregnant woman with a weak bladder knows.) They assure me this is a good sign. And tell me if I need to push, go for it.
Yeah, yeah, I pulled the whole "woman-screaming-can't-do-it-put-her-back-in" thing. Three pushes (long pushes) later, my baby girl is out! She's beautiful! Bryan moves to the baby's bed and Dr. N finishes up (had to get stitches - ouch.) She was a little bit bigger than Landon - by over a pound. Which meant a bigger head! Mackenzie nursed right away, she was a pro!
So, at 10:14am on Saturday, June 19th - Miss Mackenzie Rhodes was born weighing seven pounds, five ounces and measuring 18 inches. She was gorgeous!
Soon after delivery, Danny and Nicole bring Landon up to see us. He is the best big brother. You can see on his face how proud he is! Bryan hang out with me for a while, then Nicole came back to visit in the evening. Then it was just me and Mackenzie. She was wonderful. She nursed great and slept great. It was a good night.
Bryan and Landon came back the next morning, which was Father's Day, to pick me up. We spent some time there, waiting for both doctors to release us. Then we finally got to head home, a family of 4!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Kemah - Holy Hot Batman!
I've been wanting to go to Kemah to eat at Babin's before the fish market exceeds our financial budget (thanks BP!) So, off we went last night. Fridays in June is fireworks, which we've done several years in the past...we know what we're doing. We park on the very top level of the garage, facing out - so 1) we have awesome view of the fireworks from our car and 2) we can leave as soon as their over.
After parking, we walk down to Babin's to find it chained off. Sign said it was closed for the day. Hopefully it's not closed forever - we couldn't get the story on it. So instead we decided to try the new seafood buffet there (that replaced Kemah Crabhouse.) It was okay. Way cheaper than what we would have spent at Babin's.
We've started packing ham and cheese sandwiches for Landon everywhere we go. Its actually something he'll eat and doesn't cost us $6 for a bowl of kraft mac and cheese. Well, the manager comes over and tells us that Galveston County food ordinance doesn't allow outside food - uh, whatever. He mentions that Landon can eat the buffet for free since he's only 4. To which I reply - 'That's great, except there's nothing a child will eat on your Buffet."
So after some strawberries, watermelon and rice (great dinner, huh) I sneak Landon bites of his sandwich. LOL. How pathetic is that. Anyway - Bryan and I had nice meals - though I won't be going back again. Just not GREAT food. I'd rather have eaten at Joe's.
After dinner, we walked down to the playground. It was breezy and overcast, so 87 wasn't so hot. We even had a few sprinkles. Bryan promised Landon a train ride, which I declined. So I found a bench in a breezy area by the train tracks and off the boys went. An hour (seemed that way) later the boys finally rode by on the train. By this time, the breeze was gone, mama was HOT and my ankles were the size of small nations. The boys found me again and we headed to the car. We sat inside with the AC for a couple minutes to get me cooled off and then popped the back and waited for Fireworks.
Fireworks were great. Landon said he didn't like the loud ones - and kept trying to hold Bryan's ears closed. Not sure why he didn't just hold his own ears. After a long firework show, we loaded up and got out of there in less than 5 minutes. Wow.
Headed home for some much needed showers and conked out for the night. I think I just heard Landon turn on his TV upstairs, so I guess he's up. Not sure what's on the agenda for today - may be our last weekend as a 3 person household!
After parking, we walk down to Babin's to find it chained off. Sign said it was closed for the day. Hopefully it's not closed forever - we couldn't get the story on it. So instead we decided to try the new seafood buffet there (that replaced Kemah Crabhouse.) It was okay. Way cheaper than what we would have spent at Babin's.
We've started packing ham and cheese sandwiches for Landon everywhere we go. Its actually something he'll eat and doesn't cost us $6 for a bowl of kraft mac and cheese. Well, the manager comes over and tells us that Galveston County food ordinance doesn't allow outside food - uh, whatever. He mentions that Landon can eat the buffet for free since he's only 4. To which I reply - 'That's great, except there's nothing a child will eat on your Buffet."
So after some strawberries, watermelon and rice (great dinner, huh) I sneak Landon bites of his sandwich. LOL. How pathetic is that. Anyway - Bryan and I had nice meals - though I won't be going back again. Just not GREAT food. I'd rather have eaten at Joe's.
After dinner, we walked down to the playground. It was breezy and overcast, so 87 wasn't so hot. We even had a few sprinkles. Bryan promised Landon a train ride, which I declined. So I found a bench in a breezy area by the train tracks and off the boys went. An hour (seemed that way) later the boys finally rode by on the train. By this time, the breeze was gone, mama was HOT and my ankles were the size of small nations. The boys found me again and we headed to the car. We sat inside with the AC for a couple minutes to get me cooled off and then popped the back and waited for Fireworks.
Fireworks were great. Landon said he didn't like the loud ones - and kept trying to hold Bryan's ears closed. Not sure why he didn't just hold his own ears. After a long firework show, we loaded up and got out of there in less than 5 minutes. Wow.
Headed home for some much needed showers and conked out for the night. I think I just heard Landon turn on his TV upstairs, so I guess he's up. Not sure what's on the agenda for today - may be our last weekend as a 3 person household!
Week 36 and 5 days
Had a checkup with Dr. Nguyen. Bryan got to tag along this time (since we were going to have an ultrasound!) First off, Julie (the awesome nurse) wouldn't let me see my real weight. Thank you (I think.) Not sure what she wrote down but it wasn't my real weight because Dr. N asked if I was dieting...uh, no.
Dr. N did an internal - 1.5 centimeters dilated and 25% effaced. And she's still pretty high. By this time with Landon I was 2 and over 50% - so we'll see. Surprising both Bryan and I, Dr. N said he thinks she'll be coming in the next week. He said, "she could always decide to hang out for a while, but I don't think she will." Really trying not to get my hopes up (too high, anyway.)
After the internal, we got an ultrasound. She's head down and facing the right way (facing my spine.) And yes, still a girl! Although she didn't want us looking at her parts. She wasn't facing us, so we didn't get a good look at her face or profile, but afterwards, I realized, I didn't notice any hair floating around her little head. (Who knows, though, I was kind of in awe.) Dr. N thinks she still pretty small. Close to 6 pounds.
Another appointment for next Friday - wonder if I'll get to see Dr. N before then!! Mom flies in a week from Monday (21) so she's hoping Mackenzie holds on til then. Me - not so much. LOL.
Dr. N did an internal - 1.5 centimeters dilated and 25% effaced. And she's still pretty high. By this time with Landon I was 2 and over 50% - so we'll see. Surprising both Bryan and I, Dr. N said he thinks she'll be coming in the next week. He said, "she could always decide to hang out for a while, but I don't think she will." Really trying not to get my hopes up (too high, anyway.)
After the internal, we got an ultrasound. She's head down and facing the right way (facing my spine.) And yes, still a girl! Although she didn't want us looking at her parts. She wasn't facing us, so we didn't get a good look at her face or profile, but afterwards, I realized, I didn't notice any hair floating around her little head. (Who knows, though, I was kind of in awe.) Dr. N thinks she still pretty small. Close to 6 pounds.
Another appointment for next Friday - wonder if I'll get to see Dr. N before then!! Mom flies in a week from Monday (21) so she's hoping Mackenzie holds on til then. Me - not so much. LOL.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Surprise Baby Shower
Yesterday my coworkers (you rock!) surprised me with a diaper shower. I got a ton of diapers, wet wipes, along with some great outfits, and even more baby stuff. And DELICIOUS food.
My friend Kim made a cake decorated to match Kenzie's room. It turned out great - I know someone took a picture, but I don't have it yet.
It was fun to sit and talk with all the girls and munch on CARBS! Of course, we all spent the rest of the afternoon in a sugar coma.
I hauled everything in last night and just started bawling when I saw it all - I just can't believe how much people gave. So nice! Here's some pictures of the shower - yep, I think these are the only pictures of my belly this whole pregnancy.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Week 35+5days
Doctor appointment today. He did the strep B test, but didn't do an internal - man, disappointing. He called the hospital and set up induction for June 30th at 7am. I SO am not expecting to last that long. I know I shouldn't get my hopes up...but with the constant braxton hicks, I just can't imagine 3.5 more weeks of this.
Speaking of contractions - as I was leaving, I was waiting at the desk to set up next week's appointment and I had a contraction - I must have taken in a deep breath - Dr. N was standing there and put his hand on my stomach - "Oh wow, you're having a contraction right now. Okay, well, see you next week."
Braxton Hicks contractions have been horribly uncomfortable this week. Wednesday being the worst. I actually made Bryan download a contraction app for his droid. But they never progressed.
I'm not sleeping well, but that's to be expected I guess. Good thing is that I've had less cramping in my legs and I don't seem to swell up as much this week. (of course, I just looked down at my cankles...so maybe I'm wrong.)
Guess she'll keep cooking for another week.
Speaking of contractions - as I was leaving, I was waiting at the desk to set up next week's appointment and I had a contraction - I must have taken in a deep breath - Dr. N was standing there and put his hand on my stomach - "Oh wow, you're having a contraction right now. Okay, well, see you next week."
Braxton Hicks contractions have been horribly uncomfortable this week. Wednesday being the worst. I actually made Bryan download a contraction app for his droid. But they never progressed.
I'm not sleeping well, but that's to be expected I guess. Good thing is that I've had less cramping in my legs and I don't seem to swell up as much this week. (of course, I just looked down at my cankles...so maybe I'm wrong.)
Guess she'll keep cooking for another week.
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