Month Two

The second month of Makadie's life ran much smoother than the first.  Covey and I were starting to get the hang of the whole parenting thing and Makadie was getting big enough that she was starting to interact with us a little bit more.

Here are some of the things that happened during month two:

• Moved out of newborn diapers and into size 1 diapers--When Makadie started to blow out the back of her diaper, we knew it was time to move up!

• First walk outside in the stroller--We took a little afternoon stroll around the neighborhood trail during one of the random sunny days in February

• First smile at Mom (February 23)--This was the first time that I knew for sure she was seeing me and smiling at me on purpose.  Oh, my heart just melted!

• First smile at Dad (March 3)

• Finds her hands--Makadie has been sucking on her fingers almost non-stop since she found her hands.  She's even been trying to stick her entire fist in her mouth (and she's almost succeeded!).

• 2 month doctor's appointment--Makadie measured 22 inches long and 10lb 1oz.  I couldn't believe she had gotten so big in only 2 months time!  Of course, along with the 2 month appointment came shots... :(  I've heard from all my friends that this is harder on the parents than it is on the baby and they were right!  I barely held it together as I watched the nursed hold Makadie's little arms and legs down as the gave her shots. No, I did not like shots at all. :(  Another crappy part of shots is that Makadie's schedule--what there was of one anyway--got all out of whack where she wanted to eat every 2 hours and she didn't take more than 30 minute naps.  No bueno for the mom.

• Official start of "tummy time"--She actually doesn't mind tummy time at all, especially as she gets a little bigger and can hold her head up even better.

• Started liking bath time.

And here's a few more photos of Makadie's second month:

These next pictures were taken by my good friend Kayla for Makadie's official Two Month pictures.

I love my girl!

Month One

I realize that my posts are going to be out of order for the next little bit until I catch up with Makadie stuff, so just bare with me. :)

The first month having Makadie home was an adjustment to say the least.  It's not even so much that every aspect of our life changed (which it did), but that you just don't realize I think how much time you are going to have to devote to this new little person.  Your life completely revolves around them.  And as much as you love them, you have to remember to take a little time for yourself to do things like, oh...eat...shower...pee.  That's pretty much all the "me time" you are going to get for a little while.  (I don't think I even took a shower during the day until Makadie was 6 weeks old--only at night when Covey was home and could watch her.)

But that first month was also so new and exciting!  It was amazing to watch her grow from week to week and even day to day.  Some of the things that happened during the first month were:

• First doctor's appointment--We took Makadie in for her first out of the hospital check-up.  She had already regained her birth weight back, which the doctor said was a rare thing but really great news!

• First sponge bath--She was not a fan.  We made the mistake of thinking we could get her undressed and cleaned up while she was sleeping.  Yeah, not so much.  As soon as we put the sponge on her, she woke up and started screaming bloody murder.  She was much happier once she was wrapped up in her towel.

• 2 week doctor's appointment--The morning of her two week appointment, her umbilical cord fell off.  She also weighed in at 7lb 14oz--10 oz more than her birth weight. 

• First "real" bath--She didn't like this much better than the sponge bath and was, once again, very happy to be wrapped up in her towel and snuggling with mom. :)

• First time being babysat--Covey insisted that we (meaning, me) get out of the house and have someone watch Makadie.  I was torn between wanted to get out of the house and being away from my baby for longer than I had been since she was born.  We dropped Makadie off with my sister-in-law, Shannon, and went out to eat, bowling and took a walk at the park.

• First time at church--We were late and I missed most of all the meetings, but we got there. :)

A few other things about Makadie during her first month:

• She was able to lift her head up from the first day she was born.

• She discovered her tongue early on (and hasn't been able to keep it in her mouth since).

• She fell asleep often with her arms and hands out to the side of her head.

• We put little hand mittens on her because she flailed her arms around so much, especially when she got mad, that she would scratch her face up.

• We took her to Primary Children's Hospital in Riverton to have a specialist look at her right foot because it was turned outward pretty far when she was born and the pediatrician was concerned that she would need some corrective footwear.  As it turns out (no pun intended), her foot problem is common to breach babies and the doctor expected it to naturally correct itself (which it has).

(On the way home from Primary Children's)

• She loved sleeping on her stomach on my chest.  Sometimes that was the only way I could get her to relax and fall asleep.  I absolutely LOVED when she did this and I just wanted to keep her little forever just so she would fall asleep like this on me.

 We also had a ton of visitors who came to see Makadie and bring dinner over (which was so great because the last thing I wanted to do was make dinner).  I couldn't believe how quickly that first month flew by!

Dani's Graduation

Today, my little sister, Dani, graduated from BYU!  I am so proud of her for getting her college degree!  Here are some pics of the event:

Grandma and Makadie

This was Dani's "ta-da" picture

Dad and Dani

Stephen, Dani and Grandma

Me and Dani

Me, Dani and Mom

Dani and Makadie

Mom and Dani

Grandma and Makadie--we had put her hoodie over her head so it would block the sun from her eyes.

Stephen had fun flying Makadie around in the air

Super Makadie! (I think it's kind of funny that she had an owl shirt on and she's flying around.)

Me and my baby girl

I love her :)

Where to begin?

I'm realizing that it would have been a lot easier to stay caught up with my blog over the last 3 months than it is to catch up from the last 3 months!  So much has happened that I'm not even sure where to start.  So I guess I will begin at the beginning! ;)

The first few weeks after coming home from the hospital are a total blur.  I honestly can't differentiate from one day to the next.  One of the things that no one could have prepared me for was how tired I was!  I remember people telling me to catch up on my sleep because I was going to need it once Makadie got here.  I thought, 'um, how is that going to help me?  I can't stock up on sleep!'  I thought that it couldn't be too bad--kind of like finals week.  But once she got here, I understood what they meant.  And it wasn't like finals week at all.  It was finals week on steroids times ten to the billionth power!  Okay, that's probably an exaggeration.  But at the time, it sure felt like it.

My days consisted of feeding, sleeping, burping, rocking, bouncing and the occasional shower.  There were nights where I'd feed her and get her back to sleep, only to wake up 45 minutes later and do it all over again.  I remember feeling like it was never going to end.  Covey was great through it all.  He helped me get her to bed each night so that I could get to sleep a little earlier (which has actually turned into a nightly routine for the two of them).  Thankfully, after a month or so, Makadie started getting into a little more of a rhythm.  (I use the word 'rhythm' loosely.) 

As time has gone on, while I'm still doing the feeding, sleeping, burping, rocking and bouncing thing  (and I'm getting more than just the occasional shower), I try to think back to those first few weeks and they are hard to remember.  There was a lot of trial and error, tears and frustration.  But I guess that not remembering all the details really is a blessing because I think that if we remembered all of the hard things about having a baby, we might not want to have more.  A tender mercy, I suppose.  

I'm also grateful that babies don't remember all the crying they do because of their parents trying to figure everything out, 'cause I'm afraid they'd be scarred for life if they did!  ;)  In between all of this though, there were the bright spots: those first smiles, having Makadie fall asleep on my chest, seeing her little eyes show the first signs of recognition.  It makes it all worth the sleepless nights.  It makes you appreciate more what your own parents had to go through when you were a baby.  

It's so fun to see Makadie grow and develop every day.  So much fun, in fact, that while I was originally going to go back to work for about 8 hours a week while my mom watched her, I decided to quit completely and be a stay-at-home mom.  I tried going back for a few days but every time I was at work I kept wishing I was at home with her.  After thinking about it, I felt like that home was where I was supposed to be.  I do miss the people I worked with, but the good thing is that they are still there so I can visit them.  (Plus, if I ever wanted/needed to go back to work, my former boss--the president--told me she'd take me back in a heartbeat.  It's good to have friends in high places!)  

I really do love being at home with Makadie though and whenever I need a break, Covey is so willing to take over.  In fact, sometimes he pushes me out the door when he can tell that I need a break even if I haven't said anything.  I really am so blessed!

Makadie's Birth Story

As I sit here thinking about Makadie's birth story, I still find it hard to believe that she is actually here, even after 3 months.

  Her story really begins in September 2009, when Covey and I were sitting in Sunday School.  The teacher read a quote from President Kimball: “I have told tens of thousands of young folks that when they marry they should not wait for children until they have finished their schooling and financial desires. … They should live together normally and let the children come. …"  The part that stood out to me was "they should not wait for children until they have finished their schooling".  

I didn't really hear much of the rest of the lesson and when we got out of Sunday School, Covey and I looked at each other and we were like, did you hear that? (referring to the quote).  We had been talking recently about when to start trying to have kids and had agreed that it would be best to wait for another 6 months or so until we were closer to graduating.  Apparently, the Lord had other plans for us and we each realized that we were receiving a prompting from the Spirit in terms of when to start our family.  The next day we went and talked to Aflac about getting supplemental insurance, which many of our friends had suggested we do when we decided we wanted to try to have a baby.  So we got signed up and felt like we were on the right track.

The funny thing about being on the right track is that it doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to reach your destination when you think you will.  I think that sometimes we feel like just because we have been prompted to do something that it will be easy or it will come quickly.  We found that this was not going to be the case in our situation.  To summarize, Covey and I learned a lot about our relationship with each other and the Lord during the time we were trying to start our family.  It was probably one of the hardest stretches of time emotionally I have ever experienced, but the lessons learned have been invaluable to Covey and I in our marriage.

In December 2010, Covey and I were doing sealings at the temple and something the sealer said reminded me of something in my patriarchal blessing.  Without question, I knew that I needed to volunteer as a temple worker.  I told Covey about the feeling and told him I was going to talk to the bishop that Sunday.  I talked to the bishop and he recommended my name to the Stake.  I received a call from the stake executive secretary a couple of weeks later and went in for an appointment.  They submitted my name to the temple and a couple of weeks later I got a letter in the mail from the temple asking me to make an appointment with a member of the temple presidency.  I did and went in for the appointment a week or so later.

I met with a sweet old man in the presidency for a short interview.  During the course of the interview, he asked me if we had any children.  I immediately teared up and said, "No, but we'd like to."  He smiled a knowing smile and concluded the interview by saying that he wanted to set me apart as a temple worker right then.  He gave me a beautiful blessing, but the part I remember most was that he said that "through your temple service, you and your husband would be blessed with a child".  I just started to cry.  He finished the blessing and then brought his wife in to meet me and take me on a tour of the temple.  Before I left with her, he said to his wife, "I promised her that she would have a baby by working here.  She doesn't believe me yet, but she will."  And again, smiled that sweet, knowing smile.

I started working at the temple the first Wednesday in March 2011.  Covey and I found out I was pregnant the third week in May.  I continued to work at the temple each Wednesday through the end of the year, at which point I was getting too big and too uncomfortable to stay on my feet for long or sit for long.  It really was such a wonderful blessing to work there and I'm so grateful I was able to hear the Spirit's prompting to work there.

Fast forward to January 13, 2012: I was at my 38 week appointment.  The week before, the doctor had wanted me to get an ultrasound to check the position of the baby because he thought she was breach but wanted to be sure.  The ultrasound had confirmed it and he wanted to talk to me about my options: 1) wait and see if she flipped around and go into labor naturally, or 2) schedule a c-section.  He told me that it was highly unlikely this late in the game that she was going to flip and if I did go into labor when she was still breach that it would result in an emergency c-section.  When I asked him what my options were for a scheduled c-section, he gave me a couple of dates--the soonest being Wednesday the 18th.  Holy crap, that was only 5 days away!  I told him I was going to have to check with Covey because I knew that he had a work presentation the following week that couldn't be rescheduled.

I called Covey and told him that the doctor had suggested I schedule a c-section for the following Wednesday and he was really surprised that it was so soon, but said that day would be fine, he'd just have to go into work for a half day the following Friday for his presentation.  I got to work about this time and went in to talk to my boss.  She was amazing and completely understanding, which I was so grateful for!  I called the doctor's office and asked them to schedule the c-section.  

Whew!  I couldn't believe it!  It was a really crazy feeling knowing that unless I went into labor in the next 5 days (highly unlikely because I wasn't even dilated or effaced), we were going to meet our baby girl on January 18th!  The next few days were crazy and they all kind of ran together.  Saturday was spent getting the house cleaned and ready.  Sunday I got called as the Young Women's 1st counselor.  Monday was spent at work and getting more things ready.  Tuesday I finished things up at work and Covey and I went on one more date before we were officially no longer a family of two.  That night, we loaded our bags into the car, put the car seat in and went to bed early.

We had to be at the hospital at 7am to get one more ultrasound done before they prepped me for surgery.  (They wanted to make sure that the baby hadn't flipped around again.)  

When we got to the hospital, there was a little bit of confusion about why I was there and where I was supposed to go, but once we got that figured out, there was no turning back.  They did the ultrasound (still breach), ran through some paperwork (boring) and did a spinal tap (ouch) to get me all numbed up.  The doctor stopped in about 30 minutes before they were going to take me into surgery to say hi then went to finish prepping.  (I was actually the third scheduled c-section he had that morning.)

At about 9:45 or so, they wheeled me into the operating room.  Holy crap, the room was COLD!  Granted, I could only feel the cold from the chest up since the rest of me was numb, but it was definitely cooler than I would have preferred.  (They have to have it cold in there since the doctors are all suited up under a lot of layers and it would be a problem if they got too hot in the middle of surgery and passed out...)  They transferred me to the operating table and set up a curtain so I couldn't see what was going on.  I didn't really want to see myself get cut open so I was okay with that.  They also covered my arms and chest with this vest that had pockets in it to blow warm air into so that I wasn't cold.  Lastly, they secured my arms to the table, which I learned is standard procedure when you are having a c-section because they don't want your arms free in case some part of you isn't numb that should be.  Covey was right there with me the entire time.  I kept telling him that everything felt so weird and surreal and he agreed.  He asked me if I was nervous and I said I wasn't--just excited to meet our baby girl.

 

Finally, a few minutes after 10am, they started. Covey peeked over the top of the curtain a couple of times when they were making the initial incision in my abdomen and reported that it was weird looking (thanks honey).  Then he said they were making the second incision in my uterus and (this is kind of graphic) that blood kept squirting out because of the pressure.  They got a little suction thing that sucked out the amniotic fluid and blood and then, they pulled out a leg!  Covey was looking over the curtain at that point and the doctor looked over at him and pointed to the leg and Covey said to me, "They have one of her legs out!"  Then, "They have her other leg out!"  And finally, "They have her!  She's out!  She's here!"  And that's when I heard her cry for the first time.

The doctor said to me, "Shani, she's beautiful and she has tons of hair!"  They cut the umbilical cord and lifted her up over the top of the curtain so I could see her.  I said, "Hi, Makadie."  I remember thinking, "That's my baby.  That's my little girl.  She's here.  I can't believe it!"  I can't even describe the flood of emotions that ran through me right then.  All I know is that it was one of the most amazing moments of my life.  :)

I told Covey to go with her as they cleaned her up and weighed her since I obviously couldn't and that I'd be there when they got back (ha ha).  Before they left the room, the doctors were already working on stitching me up, which took a lot more time than cutting me open.  I could hear her crying outside as they cleaned her up and I said, "That's my baby!"  

Covey came back in about 10 minutes later holding Makadie, all bundled up and clean.  Since my arms were still tied down, he held her up to me so I could kiss her little cheek.  Covey told me she had measured 19 inches and 7 lb 4 1/2 oz (which they rounded up to 7 lb 5 oz).  The anesthesiologist took a couple of pictures of us and Covey stayed for a few more minutes and then said they had to take Makadie to the nursery.  I told him to go with her and that I'd see him soon.

They finished sewing me up and then moved me to a temporary recovery room, which they said I had to stay in for an hour so they could monitor me to make sure that I didn't go into shock or anything.  I was in there for about 15 minutes by myself when Covey came in to see me.  He had left Makadie in the nursery until I was moved to my permanent recovery room.  My mom, who had been waiting out in the waiting room since early that morning, also came in to see how I was doing.  

Finally, they said I was good to be moved to my recovery room.  The nurses couldn't wheel me there fast enough!  I swear everything was running in slow motion!  After I was put into my room, they made sure I was all hooked up to my IVs and then said they would bring Makadie in for me.  Again, a flood of emotions went through me as I waited what seemed like forever until I heard the door open and I saw her little bassinet come around the curtain.  Covey went and got her for me and I finally got to hold my baby girl for the first time.  She was absolutely beautiful!  I couldn't take my eyes off of her!  I just looked at her in wonder, unable to believe that Covey and I had actually brought this little being to earth to be part of our family.  What a blessing to be an eternal family!  :)

The rest of the day was a blur.  Covey's parents, my parents, Covey's siblings and their kids.  My siblings.  They all came to see the newest addition and to oohh and awww over her.  I was tired out of my mind but so happy too!  Afterwards, when everyone was gone, Covey and I were by ourselves again and left to spend time with our little baby girl.  

Over the next couple of days, we had more visitors.  On Saturday morning, we were given the okay to go home.  We were kind of nervous but excited to take Makadie home and begin our new lives together as a family.  

 

I am so grateful for my sweet little girl and my wonderful husband.  I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who trusts Covey and I enough to take care of one of his choice daughters.  And lastly, I am grateful for the Plan of Happiness, which allows all of us to be an eternal family.