6 months!

Macy moo is 6 months old at her doctor appointment she weighed 16 lbs and is 63 cm long! She began to say mama when she is mad, we are working on saying dad and she finally figured out how to jump in her jumperoo! She finally is beginning to like tummy time, she can shake her own rattle and enjoys older babies. Her main focus on motivation is ruff! She laughs at everything. We constantly go on play dates with a lot of other friends, our favorite places to go is treehouse in red deer, the abbey centre in blackfalds and swimming. 

We went on a little vacation to Rocky mountain house to go see her dad. They had a swim pool there where we worked on some swim lesson exercises and blasted music. Mom's phone died while trying to go back home so we had to try and navigate on our own. 

We had a lot of blow outs this month! One of the most memorable ones she got her foot hooked on the diaper and it landed dirty side down on her face, bad thing was she began to lick the poop when I took the diaper off her face. It was the first time that after a diaper change I just decided a bath was in order. She got poop everywhere! On her feet, her hands, on her stomach! I got it everywhere on me as well! At least she loves her baths, she loves to splash and jump in the bath tub when I take a bath with her. 

She got her first cold this month, we were so glad that grandma was down because I got sick as well. Grandma was looking after mom, dad and macy. Jesse got the worst of the cold but after getting some puffers and antibiotics we all got better! 

4 months & 5 months old

Its been awhile since we have updated! I am going to do an update altogether. Since 4 months old we have tried some various foods, we love oat cereal, and raspberries. At 4 months she was able to touch her toes and became talkative as ever! We got to meet santa at christmas and loved to pull his beard, we got to meet grandma K, we visited our great grandma around christmas and got to meet Auntie Kotarah and Uncle Ryan who is just smitten! At her 4 month appt she was 15 lbs and grew 9 cm since her 2 month appointment!

5 months! We are fully laughing now, we have tried alot more foods like carrots, custard, butternut squash and avocado, we like it all! We sat up for the first time in front of daddy and mommy in the bath tub! We went swimming for the first time and we love it alot! She is cutting her left bottom tooth! She figured out how to jump in her jumperoo. 

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 ✨⭐✨