3 months old!

Shots and Snowstorms! We had our 2 month shots this month, a nurse had to hold Macy for mommy while taking the shot, she was just too nervous! We reacted to the shots pretty good and at that appointment Macy weighed 11 lbs 8 oz and 21 inches long!This month we got our first major snowstorm! It was really hard on mommy and daddy! We have been kept in the house all day not alot of walks, it was really hard! We planned a "Meet Macy" party but had to cancel due to the roads being so bad! But Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jeremiah still came down to visit us and they were just smitten by Macy! 

As the weeks went on other people came to meet Macy, Aunt Lucille and Paul came to visit us, spoiled us like crazy! Got some snuggles! It was great and Macy really enjoyed it! 

We got a visit from Grandma Karen! She got us a new car seat, and a few cute outfits! We love her, she is like the baby whisperer! Grandma Pam also was down quite a bit, she loves being read books  and smiles all the time at both her grandmas. 

Our favorites this month has been the turtle that Uncle Jeremiah and Aunt Sarah brought me when you touch the head it crinkles it makes sounds and has flashing lights. We are learning how to grab things and only like to sit or stand. Laying down is now for babies! We have morning cuddles with mom in bed and anyone that meets Macy adores her! 

We got into our first accident, a guy side swiped our vehicle leading mommy and daddy to get 2 new vehicles that can fit Macy in better! We enjoyed Mommy and Me workouts with Ashley and Aubrey.  We got to meet tinkerbell at a christmas market and she was smitten of course! We met the big guy at the mall and Macy grabbed a hold of his beard and the elves got her to smile big! We can't wait to see what next month will bring! 

Daddy pulled me around the yard with his remote control car 

Our first car accident luckily no one was hurt RIP grand am

She loves her baths, she is learning to splash this month!

Mommys new jeep

Daddys new truck

Macy at exactly 3 months old with Santa

grandma karen and Macy in her dress she bought her

Macy and tinkerbell

2 months old!

We are 2 months old saturday November 4th! We made it through another month! She may have only been here 8 weeks but it feels like forever. We are beginning to like one another and figure out stuff! Our favorite things this month is taking baths with Mommy, puking and pooping on mom and grandma! We have begun to like our swing lots and we 

This month we had quite a bit going on! We went for coffee lots with people like Devon and Timothy, Ashley and Aubrey, Nancy, and lastly Shelby and Aubree! At the beginning of the month I threw a party for the other moms to come and make a christmas tree ornament of their baby's footprints, name and year! It was lots of fun (and messy)!

 We went down to Lethbridge to pick up grandma again to help me out! We got to meet Grandma B and she was absolutely smitten with Macy! It was a really good positive visit with her! 

Barbie with Macy

 Endo threw a joint baby shower with Lauren and James in a cafe called the Cavella located in Benalto. Barbie, Amy and Nancy attended and spoiled us rotten even by people that didn't come! Barbie got us some sleepers and a handmade blanket made by her friend. Nancy got us a outfit, some rubber boots for when Macy is older and a little book. The people that didn't make it Karla got us some sleeper outfits and a handmade blanket. Judy got us a little outfit and a book. Susan got us some outfits as well! 

We had a costume party for all the babies in mom group! It was fun nearly all the mom's were all there to meet for the first time or to meet up again! It was loads of fun!

Rhonda Threw a costume party for all the mom's in first time mom group and almost all the mamas came! It was great fun, I dressed up Macy as a cabbage patch doll! All the other babies were adoreable! We also went to the mall for our first trick or treating experience! Macy only got 2 chocolate bars some rockets and some suckers! We got strange looks from others like you have a baby why are you trick or treating? Haha but its all for the fun!

1 month old!

On October 4th Macy turned a month old! During that month, we decided that we really like mommy, daddy and especially grandma. Grandma was able to stay with us all throughout the month and help mommy and daddy to adjust to you coming home! Our favorite toys this month has been our dancing dinosaur that is a music box, our video monitor that plays "Silent night" and "You raise me up" as well as, our nighty night owl that makes heart beat noises. We love dance parties with Daddy, Mommy learnt how to play with me and just before we turned 1 month I got scared for the first time! We are beginning to grab things and discovered our arms and legs by stretching them out! 

During the month we had met up with lots of people, we went on 2 walks with mom group. One was at the mall with Janssy, Devon, and Ashley with their babies Maely, Timothy and Aubrey. We went on another walk down at Mckenzie Trails, mommy had never been there before and didn't park in the right parking lot but we eventually found everybody. We went on that walk with Eileen, Rhonda, Amy and of course grandma! We met up for coffee a few time with our friends Deb and Heidi. Lastly we went to the library for mother goose, where we sang nursery rhymes, and read a few books. We really enjoyed our time there, and Devon and Timothy came along as well! 

Our experience in NICU

Macy was born on September 4th! When she was born she had a really fast delivery (pushed 20 minutes) and she was out! On her way out she swallowed some amniotic fluid on her way out and a whole NICU team of nurses were there for her delivery due to her heart rate dropping! When she came out she did not cry, she was trying but couldn't manage it with the fluid in her lungs. When they took her off my chest to ressesitate her, she was hyperventilating etc. It was extremely heart breaking and scary. Jesse and my mom followed her to NICU where we would be for the next week! 

After she was born I was not allowed to go visit her for 2 hours afterwards..hardest 2 hours of my life..knowing I had this little baby that was only steps away from me. I had not seen her face, heard her cry yet or known that she was ok. Only way I knew she was ok was by Jesse telling me she was ok (which she really wasn't). 

The first time I saw her in NICU she had a c pap machine (breathing machine) on her, she was in a incubator. Tons of cords attached to her, we were not allowed to hold her because of the breathing machine. We were allowed to take our hands through a small opening in her incubator to touch her, whenever we would touch her or the nurses would touch her her stats would shoot right down. She was just a little sick baby. 

On day 2 we got our first bath! One of our favorite nurses Denelle showed us how to take a bath, and we did not like our bath that much we love having running water go over our body. But sitting in the bath was not very nice. We like being warm not cold at all! 

They decided to not allow her to feed for 24 hours after so that she could just focus on her breathing instead of eating. For the next 24 hours they began to decrease her oxygen levels going from 180% oxygen to about 60% oxygen. Another 12 hours after she was off oxygen completely! After she was breathing on her own they ran a test and she had an infection, so they began antibiotics. When we came back and saw her off the oxygen they wanted to begin feeds. She took to the breast really good but would not formula feed. Since she was so little they wanted her to feed good to keep her weight up they first put a tube down her throat to get the formula in her stomach, later on they put a nose tube in to feed her. By day 4 they took the tube out and basically waited for the numbers to go down so we could go home!
They had to insert a umbilicial central line since she kept on pulling out her IV and the nurses AND doctor would blow her veins when they would get one. We got our first haircut in NICU because they were trying so hard to find veins. It was scary for me to watch her do the procedure, they had to strap her down to the bed and because of the line it made it more difficult to hold her. Jesse and I got really good at knowing where that IV line was at all times making sure that we didn't pull on it at all.

While it was a scary experience in NICU haha we had some fun while in there. Our night nurse Taryn was our favorite nurse, she was on shift from 3 - 11 pm. Haha Macy did not like Taryn she would squack and cry every time she would hold her. When she went to hand Macy to Jesse she accidentally dropped her head to fast and she faced planted on his sweater. They both looked at me to see what my reaction was haha if I would kill them our not. We had our first blow out with her, it got everywhere, on Macy's legs, on my stomach, just everywhere. That was not our only blow out there was a nurse that had just gotten back from her maternity leave 2 days before and she blew out of her incubator. She was changing her went down to pick up a new diaper and Macy blew out the incubator it looked like a baby exploded with poop from the inside like how something blows up in a microwave. Splats everywhere! It ran down the side of the incubator on the floor, it got in the incubator draws over the clean diapers. It was everywhere and Jesse and I missed it. We walked in when they were changing the incubators because it was such a mess! For the next few days thats all the nurses would talk about haha.
Although it was not nice staying in NICU, they taught Jesse and I so many things. It gave me a chance to recover faster and rest up for when she got home! We love our nurses there, they were our angels that watched over our growing little family, but we are so glad we were able to bring her home!

Our labor and delivery story!

On September 3rd we were scheduled to be induced by a gel called cervadil that is inserted to help with effacement. At the time I was 2cm dilated thinned out but not effaced at all. We went into the hospital at 7 am got a day pass to see how it does and began to get some contractions around 4 pm or so. We decided to go back in I was still 2 cm dilated but 2/3 effaced this time, they gave me some morphine and gravol for the pain and sent me along my way. We had to come back anyways at 9 pm to get the cervadil taken out and try again the next day. 

When we went back in at 9pm the Dr. decided that he would reinsert the cervadil since I was beginning to get contractions even though I was in the same place. We ended up leaving the hospital at around midnight to go home and get some rest. At about 1:30 in the morning I began to feel some sharp contractions, decided to go and take a bath relax a bit. By this time the contractions began to get worse and I was moaning in pain. Jesse was the one that actually decided it was time to go to the hospital, he began to time my contractions and they were lasting about a minute and 2 minutes apart. We were told to go to the hospital if I had 4 or 5 contractions that lasted 45 seconds in 10 minute intervals. 

When we went back into the hospital at 2:30 in the morning I had dilated to 4 cm and was 100% effaced, this time we were not going home haha. They gave me more morphine for the pain but the morphine did nothing to help the pain it just took the edge off. They let me go and have a bath to help with my back labor I was having. I had asked for more morphine around 5 am but the dr. decided it was time to get an epidural. At 6am they wheeled me into a delivery suite to administer the epidural. The epidural was the worst part of the whole thing, I felt intense pressure in my spine while he was inserting the needle. It was very hard to stay still, all the while, the woman next to me was giving birth naturally absolutely no medication haha once the epidural set in I was just happy as can be that I did not have to give birth naturally. 

The nurse that we had labored with is named Mikaela and she did regular checks on me to see how I was doing, asking me questions every once in awhile. Throughout this whole time I only had about an hour of rest prior to this, I was very exhausted. I didn't feel like I had slept mom and Jesse told me I was sleeping the whole time. Around 11 am I got checked by Dr. Henderson (who I was supposed to deliver with) I was stuck at 6 cm now for around 3 hours and she decided to start the oxytocin drip to speed my delivery more. I was only on the drip for 5 minutes when Macy's heart rate dropped to 50 beats per minute. 

They quickly reassessed the situation and Dr. Henderson came to the conclusion that we would have to have a c section to get this little girl out. It was quite a scary situation because once they decided that they began to prepare me for it right away by giving me a catheter, doing bloodwork to make sure I would be good to be going under the knife. All while they were doing this I had a major major panic attack because I was just thinking in my mind if this little girl is actually sick I would need my strength to get through it. 

The surgeon that was going to perform the c section came in and talked to me to try to calm me down. Basically he had given me three options about how we could go about doing this..1. Wait to see if I would progress on my own. 2. Start the oxytocin drip again and see what her heart rate would do or 3. just perform the c section. I was so panicked I couldn't respond so he decided for me that we would wait to see me progress. While all this was happening Jesse and mom stood back and watched this. Jesse said he almost lost it when he saw me have the huge panic attack since he knew he couldn't hold my hand throughout it. Dr. Wiebe (surgeon) checked me to see how many cm dilated I was which was 7 cm and he moved the baby's head a bit to wait to see what would happen. While they prepped me for the c section my epidural wore off and the anesthiologist came back to give me a top up. It hurt like a bitch I can't lie my legs felt like bricks were crushing my legs. 

They checked me in about an hour and I was fully dilated ready to go. The nurses wanted to begin to deliver me but Dr. Wiebe wanted to deliver me himself, because he thought that I would be the first first time mom in awhile that would deliver really fast. 

When he did come they gave me a quick lesson on pushing and away we went! I would be pushing so hard that I would forget to breathe, I couldn't feel the pain of it but I could feel Macy making her way down slowly. Jesse was giving me ice chips the whole time (almost choking me haha) and the nurses put cold compresses on my forehead to help me. I only pushed for 25 minutes and she was out. My mom had watched the whole thing and they placed her on my chest for a minute. We all cried for a bit relieved to just have her out. NICU was already waiting there for her since her heart rate dropped during the delivery. She wasn't crying when they placed her on my chest and they whisked her away to get her breathing. I looked over and saw my little girl hyperventilating trying to get some air in her lungs but struggling. She would let out small little cries but nothing that they would want to hear when they are first born. Jesse went with them to the NICU for her to be assessed and mom stayed back with me to make sure I was ok. I only had 2 small tears on the inside walls. Nothing too bad to recover from. I was just relieved to have her out but sad at the same time about not having the first family bonding time that I had initially thought would happen. I was terrified as hell because she was so sick I had no idea, they told me after I wouldn't be allowed to see her for 2 hours since they were stabilizing her, she ended up staying in NICU for 6 days because of it. 

My thoughts about my birth. I was only in labor for 13 hours and pushed for 20 minutes and she was out. I had not thought that would happen for me at all especially being a first time mom. I was so extremely scared when her heart rate dropped so bad I can't even describe the feeling. In a way I feel bad that I was induced because I feel like I rushed her to come out and as a result struggled throughout the labor because of that decision. Throughout being pregnant I always tried to come up with all the worst case scenarios that could happen during my labor with me, but I never even thought that she would have struggled with the labor. Her being in NICU was a thing that I thought was not a possibility. But by being in NICU we got the best crash course into parenting as opposed to other parents. In the end we got this beautiful baby girl that was born September 4th 3:08 pm weighing 7 lbs and 19 inches long ✨⭐✨

waiting on baby!

These last few months have just flown by! A few updates on our expanding little family, Jesse got a new job at a logistics company delivering construction materials all throughout Alberta. It is a great job for him, he is able to drive a truck and he is home every night. As for myself, I still work at the hospital and now am currently on my sick leave before baby is here! 

An update on our pregnancy, we finally decided a name for our baby girl we are going to name her Macy Jean, Macy because we both agreed on it and Jean named after my mom (her middle name). My pregnancy was going great up until 27 weeks. I got horrible hip pain at 30 weeks pregnant and now currently have what is called a "irritable uterus" that could make me go into preterm labor which can be pretty scary stuff. I was officially put off work at 34 weeks from work because of it. I have been enjoying my time trying to meet up with first time moms and I feel like I finally have a tribe of moms that I like to hang out with. We try to meet up every monday at some point during the day to get together talk about stuff and get babies to interact with each other! It is a great support system that I am grateful for, doesn't make me feel alone with this stuff at all. 

I have been going on ride alongs with Jesse at his new job, and his job is extremely mentally draining. Going on the ride alongs has taught me patience while driving, and to allow truckers in no matter what haha. 

Eileen and Devon with their babies Timothy and Emie from mom group

We have been trying to get some travelling in as well. We have gone to see Uncle Chris and Aunt Linda a few times. When Jesse was away working at Trican I surprised mom to go see her brother and go to cross iron mills since I have never been there before. There is a huge shop called bass pro shop that nearly everybody told me to go see even the peopel that disagreed with hunting told me to go see it haha. I didn't get why because it is just a store in my mind. Well let me tell you one thing...when we got there a person was at the door and I thought you had to pay to get into the actual store! You could literally take your kids there for a birthday instead of going to a zoo and best part it is free to go see! The other time we went to go see Uncle Chris, Jesse and I went and Aunt Linda wasn't there. Uncle Chris took us to the private lake and we just floated on noodles to take the pressure off my hips. When we went out with the noodles Jesse didn't bring one and he was treading water forever, was quite the workout for him lol. We tried to go on a canoe as well, I guess Jesse had never been on a canoe before and it was 13 since the last time I was on. I guess since Uncle Chris had the card to sign them out he was supposed to be on the canoe with us, but just as he said its ok they are responsible adults we flipped the canoe haha. We only lasted about 2 minutes on that canoe before it flipped. 

private beach with uncle chris

Bass Pro shop with mom

Our snack at cross iron mills ironically this stand was neighbors with the maternity store 

Mom's snack 

dogs, babies, jobs and houses! OH MY!

These past few months have been quite the whirl wind. We recently bought a house in Blackfalds. It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath bi level house. Tons of space for growing and a great opportunity for our first home. We really love it there and look forward to creating many memories there. 

As well as, we recently got a dog, her name is Ruff, she is a 3 year old border collie cross. We picked her up from a shelter in panoka, she loooves attention, she doesn't know how to play and she loooves her food however only certain treats. She is truly a great addition to our family and we love her lots, even though she can be a bit whiney.

 INCLUDING, we got to find out the gender of our future child. We found out that we are going to have a baby GIRL! We found out easter weekend with Jesse and my mom at a 3d ultrasound. She was a very stubborn baby when the ultrasound monitor was placed on my belly all we saw was her back, as well as, she had her feet crossed and her hands over her face! Everything possible that could make a ultrasound difficult! She made me go in multiple different positions to try and get the baby to move. She even made me get up and exercise a bit with a juice box. She eventually did move, and she showed us her face for a brief moment but the umbilical cord was still in the way! Talk about difficult! After she showed us her face, it was time to get to the nitty gritty and find out the gender! Towards the end Jesse and I saw what gender she was before the tech told us. Mom was excited it was a girl, Jesse kind of groaned because he wanted to have a little boy, and I just cried because I couldn't believe I was going to have a daughter! 

Lastly, Jesse went to school for his class 1 he only took 8 hours of class time to get his class 1, which is pretty good. He also recently got a job at Trican being a fracturing operator and he enjoys it, he enjoys his cooworkers and he has a really great boss! 

This past year has already been crazy, moving super fast but I can't wait to see how the rest of the year will go! 

13 weeks! with some life updates!

Well little bean this week I am 13 weeks with you! Mommy and Daddy love you so much that daddy went back to school for you! He has been working hard this last month to get his class 1 to support us! Mommy went and bought us a house for you as well! Somewhere for you to love growing up. The house is located in Blackfalds and cannot wait for you to grow up there! In a few weeks we will get to see what your gender is and to further plan for that! Momma's cravings so far has been fruit in any form, and dark chocolate with absolutely no sugar in it! Little mama finally has her energy back and daddy is getting more excited to feel you grow inside me! So many updates and life changes just to make your life better my little bean ❤❤❤❤❤❤

FINDING OUT WE ARE PREGNANT!

We are pregnant! Yes, you heard it right pregnant! I had this illness back in November that kicked my butt, after this illness I never ever felt good. Then I got this horrendous breakout on my chin, I am not taking a mini pimple it was cystic it could have been my twin that sprouted out later in life, just horrendous. My coworker at work said that with her first she had broken out on her chin, and already having pregnancy tests at home and decided to take a test. The test took over the amount of time to develop but I saw a line. I am pretty good at taking pregnancy tests and I have NEVER had a positive line ever. I had bought 2 more pregnancy kits and they ALL were positive with a faint line. Which was on December 17. The following tuesday we went to the dr. and he confirmed the test that I was 100% pregnant, and that the estimated due date was september 5 2017. I couldn't believe it! I told nearly everybody at work because I couldn't believe that I was going to be a mother. I waited till christmas ever to tell my mother. We went through this horrible snowstorm to go back to lethbridge in order to tell my mom but we told her and my grandma and sister over christmas! They were all so excited! Fast forward to now, last thursday I had my first ultrasound and the estimated due date is now August 26th. At first I was freaking out and now I cannot wait to have my own family with Jesse. I love this little bean more than life and cannot wait to feel movements. My pregnancy had not been that bad either so far, nausea, mood swings being the worst. But feeling ok for the most part!

OUR WEDDING ~ Reception ~

When we got back from our photos. It was the reception, of course once we got there Sarah had drinks in hand, we were drinking blue hawaiians almost the whole night! Sarah and Mark first went in then it was us, being announced as the new MR. and MRS.! Before the dinner started my Uncle Chris gave the blessing on the food, which I really respected as having grown up being a mormon! After the blessing we expected to go up with everyone to get our food but Mark had arranged for our dinners to be delivered to us which was a really sweet gesture! Jesse still ended up going up to get food because he helped Saphire get her plate of food, and man had he ever made a big plate for Saphire but she was able to eat it all!

When everyone got their food in order for people to not clink glasses for a kiss, Mark came up with a better game, you had to knock a beer can over with a tennis ball (the same balls that are in Julie's purse haha) on the end of pantyhose that swings between your legs to knock the can over. At first people were hesitant to go up and try it. Then people got really into it and Jesse's plan to eat his steak
in peace backfired haha. We were constantly kissing between bites of steak. haha.

After the dinner we had the speaches. My mom gave a speech, Sarah gave a speech, Holly gave a speech, Grandma gave a speech, then mark invited anyone else to come up and give a speech. My Uncle Chris did a lovely speech on how grateful he is for Jesse, and my Uncle Norman gave a speech as well. It was great, great advice from everyone and love!

After that was our first dance which was to burning houses by cam, we had the mother daughter dance which was crazy little thing by michael buble and the mother son dance which was to simple man by lynard skinnard. Our wedding party dance was to let it go, which got everyone on the floor and had fun! The dance part was great! Along with the cocktails it got blurred in my mind, but we were all going in and out the whole night. It was great fun!