Kate's First Doctor's Visit

The much anticipated doctor's visit that I could hardly wait for finally arrived. I have been stressing and worried like crazy for our little peanut. I am sure all of you experienced mothers are sitting there saying how silly I am and that she'll be just fine and how I will quickly get over stressing over the little things but just keep all of that to yourselves.

Kate was back to her birth weight (which the doc said normally takes about two weeks) but she was back in one week. HUGE praise because this means I can stop waking and feeding every two hours and now go a couple longer, especially at night. Also, her jaundice is a non issue and she looked great to the doctor, Yeah! He said everything looks great and we'll just go back in a month for her normal check up.

Grandma helped this mommy visit the doctor this morning because we decided to get Hannah and Megan their flu shots. Not a tear was shed and Hannah was very intrigued by the whole needle in her sister's arm. Enjoyed the little band-aids and were ready to get their toy by the end. They are growing up so fast.

I had been very worried about my little monkeys because they seemed very ill at ease since I have been home and with all of the visitors. Well, the toys which hadn't been played with since I've been home are finally starting to come back out. That is a great sign to me that they are starting to feel the normalcy return to their home and lives. they have been real troopers. Meg is sitting next to me reading a nature magazine to Kate as Hannah plays with her pet salon on my other side. I love being a mommy to these precious little ladies. How blessed am I?

Can you tell the hormones are evening out a little bit...finally?

Hopefully we'll have some updated pictures after tricker treating on Wednesday. Stay tuned!!!

The short and the long of the...

Birth Story (for those who really want to know) and for those who don't, skip this post!

Monday morning I began to leak fluid, I thought it was just part of my mucus plug falling out however it was also accompanied by some back pain that I haven't had this pregnancy. By 6pm we were going to take the girls swimming but my midwife called and asked me to go to the Labor and Delivery Dept at the hospital just to have it checked in case it was amniotic fluid. So, all four of us go up to L & D because this shirly can't be the real thing and I was in complete denial because my mom wasn't here to stay with the girls, I had no bag packed, I didn't even have directions written out for the girls just in case. Denial!!!

It did turn out to be amniotic fluid but I was only dilated to a one. The didn't want to release me because they were going to have to start an antibiotic soon because the bag was ruptured somewhere. So, needless to say, every nurse that I spoke to reiterated how long the night was going to be and to just stop denying it. Charlie went home to put the girls to bed, pack a bag, and to meet Kristen (who graciously offered to stay with the girls for us). While he was gone our birthing class nurse happened to be teaching that night and came up when she heard I was there. She was awesome and helped with my back labor immensely. Charlie came back with a ton of snacks and prepared for the long night ahead.

Around 3am I was dilated to around a 4.5-5 and the midwife decided it was time for an epidural. By 3:30am I was sitting pretty and proclaiming to my dear, sweet husband how glorious the world was. Then I slept until 8am. At 6am they broke my bag of waters and told me the baby would be here by noon. I was fine with that...more time sleep. However, at 8am the urge to push was irresistible and she came out one hour later. Kate Jeanette was born at 6.8lbs and was 20 1/2 inches long. I was very thankful she wasn't any bigger, even if she was three weeks early.

She is nursing well now. We go in for her check up tomorrow morning and hopefully she will have put some of her weight back on.

Thank you to Great Aunt Kristen who stayed overnight with Hannah and Megan, made them laugh as they were surprised by a visitor to get them out of bed. They made cookies, played with Katherine and Austin, and had a grand old time while I was gone. Thank you Kristen for all of your work with the girls, your work cleaning, laundering, and shopping for us as well. It was so nice to not worry about my girls with you here.

My mom has been a huge help as well, she took the girls often so Charlie could come and see me, run to work, or just help wherever was needed. The girls just love her and she gives them all the attention they crave when I can't. Thanks for running errands with us, for us and for all of your extra hands in our crazy house.

A little side note here to say that I have the world's best husband! I know many of you think that you do, but rest a sured, my Charlie takes the cake. I think he would have pushed Kate out for me if he could have. He was the rock that I needed during the pain, he was the quiet I needed during the night when I was sleeping, he was the best encourager in the room during delivery, he cut the cord, he didn't pass out and he kept offering to let me hold the girl's "lucky acorn." Since I've been home, like always, he is a huge help around the house, takes better care of his ladies then I do sometimes and he has put up with the horrible hormones I've had. I love him like crazy and I'm so lucky to call him mine.

Welcome to our world, Kate!!!

I would like to make this longer but Kate needs to eat and my other two little monkeys are sleeping. I will give you the long story later. The docs are a little worried about Kate being Jaundiced (sp?) so I am having to wake her and feed her every two hours. Last night was the first time she was awake for more then two minutes. I think she made it about 15 minutes last night. She is doing very well and so am I for the most part. Very emotional, don't even ask Charlie about it, he is speechless at what I will cry about. Can't get off of the phone without shedding tears for no reason, or reading a book to H and M produces the same result. So, if I don't answer the phone, that might be why. Don't take it personally, please. My body is amazing me in how good it feels and how quickly it is recovering. I am a little overwhelmed with things now, not with tasks, I have had a lot of help with those. I have amazing friends, mother and an incredible husband. Right now it is just the need to love on my girls who are sensing many changes along with the fact that mom was gone for several days. They get a little more worrisome with visitors stopping by so I am trying to balance their emotions, my emotions and the feeding schedule of Baby Kate. Thanks for all the encouragement and understanding as we transition this new phase in our family. Ok, so enough emotional junk, here are the pics...

One more addition: Sorry to all of my dear friends who have yet to get an email or phone call from me. It all happened so quickly and I am playing catch up and haven't been on line until now. Please forgive me...I am truly sorry.

A short update.....atleast a try at one!

After calling my Dr's office yesterday morning, they moved my ultrasound to 12:30 yesterday afternoon. They measured everything from her head, leg bones, heartbeat, blood flow through the umbilical cord, amniotic fluid and the list goes on. Everything looked great. They estimated her at about 6.5 pounds (give or take) and I even saw hair flowing in the ultrasound. A little scary since I was born with a head FULL of black hair. I will try and scan some of the u/s pictures. The tech said she has my upper lip with the little divot under the nose. Now I am very curious as to what this little girl is going to look like.

Thanks for the prayers and encouragement. We are so thankful that we were able to get in early and not have this over our heads for the whole next week. Today I begin my 37th week, a little scary since my mom will be at my sisters for the next 12 days. We'll be staying away from anything that could induce labor until she gets back.

I believe this is looking down at her. It shows the little white dashes, those are supposedly the hair. It was kind of flowing in the u/s. We'll see!

This is her profile, forehead is to the right, lips to the left and a little hand in the upper left hand corner.

Quick Update

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I will try and get some on here soon. But first...we've already had a big day and it isn't even 10am yet. The day started out like any other, well mostly. The girls woke up at 8:30am (which I totally love since I know my sleeping in will be short lived). This bothers Charlie because they can't seem to do it on the weekends when he is home. However, the sleeping in wasn't the best part.

A little background here: I haven't started potty training because I figured we would just wait until the baby came and were house bound for awhile. However, the girls do sit on the potty every night before their bath. For the last week, Meg (strongly motivated by the choc chips in a jar) has gone potty every night before bath time. She does it as soon as she sits down too. Ok, on to today.

As I was making the girl's breakfast, Meg walked in and announced that she wanted to go potty. I almost just brushed it off and tried to distract her but for some reason decided against it. We went through the whole process of getting the footie pj's off and getting all set on a potty that we've never had any luck on (we own three little potties). Well....Maybe it was the jar of M&M's sitting next to her but sure enough, she instantly started going potty. I guess I don't really have any excuses to not entertain her potty announcements anymore.

Hannah on the other hand has no real desire for going potty and while the choc looks good to her it is no where near the motivation that it is for Megan.

On another random side note, we are nearing the end of our 36th week for pregnancy (there are 40 total-Wes). Still feeling pretty good but the baby is packed in pretty tight. The nursery is done and ready. Hannah is enjoying her naps in the pink room. We'll keep the baby with us in our room for awhile (thank you Carrie for the Side Sleeper). We'll be having an ultrasound done next week because there didn't appear to be any growth on my tummy for the last two weeks. There is still a good heartbeat and she is still very active. Hopefully nothing shows up but we'll keep you updated. She just needs to wait a couple of weeks to arrive because my mom will be at my sisters for the next 12 days.

So this didn't end up being quick but it is still an update none the less.

The weekend Charlie left we went to yet another pumpkin patch with Grandma Kathy. This is Hannah getting back on the hayride after picking her pumpkin.

Megan got to ride in the wheelbarrow out in the pumpking field. She much preferred this to walking in all of the pumpkin vines. She isn't so much into getting dirty or wet (like her daddy).

Meg on a search for a pumpkin? No....her daddy!

On the hayride out to the pumpkin patch.

Love to you all from our family

Problem Solved!!!

Let me start by saying thank you to all of you who offered help and encouragement last week while Charlie was out of town. We survived and actually had fun, most of that due to Grandma Kathy's help. Before he left last Saturday, the five of us went to yet another pumpkin farm, rode on a hay ride out to the pumpkin patch where we picked four of the best pumpkins ever! We visited with some pigs and picked out gourds all before Charlie left at noon time.

One huge praise in our family is the ability to sit through a Sunday morning service without being called out to nursery. While Charlie was gone, I sat though the second time that happened and when he returned this last weekend we got to sit through the service again. The only exceptions being that it is getting harder for me to just sit there comfortably for that long. The girls are starting to enjoy their nursery so much they hardly want to leave. I will follow that up with a story in a minute....

We kept very busy while he was gone, we went to some friends house for lunch. They are friends of ours from church but also have lost their grandpa too, so the Grandmas and the moms got to talk and the kids got to play (they have a little girl named Izzy who is 4 months younger then H and M. Seth is three I think). We also went out to dinner and to the fire station that day as well. It is fire prevention month and you could sit in the trucks, tour the station and they had a ton of other activities. Another day we went to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house for lunch. It is always nice to see them and they love to watch the girls play too.

Before we knew it...Friday morning rolled around and so did Charlie. He enjoyed his week of fly fishing and golfing in Oregon but was definitely ready to be with his girls again. I think he is getting soft, so being with three guys for the week was tough on him. However, the girls weren't easy on him either. They didn't let him out of their sight all weekend long. They really missed their daddy, more than I thought was possible for little people. I, of course, missed him the most. I didn't realize how much help, encouragement, conversation, love, and relief he provided for me on a daily basis. I am SO glad he is home, Mulligan is great and tried to fill his place on the bed next to me but it just wasn't quite the same.

On to the story.... Sunday as it was time to leave the nursery, Hannah decided she didn't want to leave. As we were holding hands and walking towards the door, she decided to go "dead weight" on me. We carried on and left church, sporadically with her in tears and very cuddly. I thought she just wasn't feeling well until she sat down for lunch and we realized that she wasn't using her left arm AT ALL! In fact, she cried every time we moved it or asked her to pick something up. Long story short, after talking to my sister who knows a thing or two about bones and joints we surmised that it was probably her elbow and she had what is called "nursemaids elbow". This is usually very easy to pop back in by a professional. So, after lunch Hannah and I took a trip to the ER where the Dr. on duty also thought it was NME and tried to pop it in. No such luck feeling the pop but guessed that it just resolved itself and had x-rays just in case. However, after no improvement I decided that there was still a problem this morning. My quack (chiropractor) unofficially took a look at it this morning and supported my theory of it still being out and she was definitively still in pain. We got in the pediatricians office this afternoon and thankfully he popped it back in. He said to was the most definitive pop he's ever had. By this evening she was fully using it again much to her mother's relief:) So off to Culver's for dinner where we got to paint a pumpkin and see their staff dressed up in costumes. Then to story time at the library with mom and daddy. All around a great day once our elbows were all back in place. Thankfully a long time ago my girls learned to use the word "elbow" and Hannah could articulate what hurt, well, at least I would like to think that!!! Thanks for reading such a long post....

A trip to the pumpkin patch...

Charlie and I have always enjoyed the fall season in Michigan. What's not to love...the cool weather (well, not this year, 82 degrees today), the leaves changing, just the smell of fall is great! We have always gone and picked out pumpkins together from local patches. Well, this year the girls are old enough to enjoy our fall festivities and we'll be visiting patches all fall! Grandma Linda brought up our first pumpkin and a great book called "The Pumpkin Parable." It is now Meg's favorite book and gets read several times a day. Both girls love to identify and say pumpkin whenever we see something orange and round.

This afternoon we took a family outing up to a fabulous Farm Market and Petting Zoo! There were a ton of animals to see, pet and feed including 2 camel, 2 donkey, 2 alpaca, bunnies, sheep, goats galore, and three miniature horses! The girls really only like to visit these animals from a short distance and not a chance that they would feed them, but they do LOVE to watch them. We then headed off to the pumpkin patch in search of two white pumpkins.

Tomorrow we head off to another fall activity with Grandma K too! Did I mention that we LOVE fall!!!!

Some of our good friends of ours from college, Ryan and Angie S. live in that area met us at the farm and we had a great dinner with them too. Angie is due exactly one month after me. She too is having a little girl and we look forward to many years of fall activities together as families. Angie has been bugging me to post a picture of my very pregnant self. The answer had always been the same...until today there weren't any pictures of myself, on purpose! Here you go, Ang.

Officer S with the girls, while not in uniform, he's still probably "packing heat!"

A Visit From Uncle Wes!

Last Sunday Charlie's little brother came up to see the girls and to spend a morning fishing with Charlie. We had a beautiful day on Sunday but Monday proved to be perfect for fishing (very cold and very rainy!) As you can see from the pictures, the fishing proved to be great. Great...if you consider snagging the fish in the side of the head a "good catch."



Wes and his best "catch" this year!



Charlie with a downright "giddy" grin on his face!


Thanks for coming Wes, the girls love their new Puma shoes. They seem to think they are as cool as their uncle because of their new "kicks"!