Maci's First Snow!!

We don’t see snow very often around these parts. As a matter of fact, a few flurries are usually good for a snow day off from school. An inch of snow, well, that will pretty much shut down the entire city! Everyone gets on their snow hats and mittens to go play in the mixture of snow, mud, and ice that we usually get every couple of years. Rarely does it stick to anything other than rooftops and yards.

We got excited over this 1/2" of snow fall we got last December. 

You can imagine our excitement around here when we got over 4” of snow on Friday (2-12-10).

In my 29 years, I don’t remember ever seeing snow stick to the roads or driveways like this

Although there are pictures from when I was about a year old to prove differently.

 

 

But back to the "Big Snow" of 2010... 
We all stayed home and Bill built Maci’s first snowman. 

The trees were covered with snow and it looked like a post card, simply beautiful.

Our bird feeders had birdseed inside and snow on the top.

Believe it or not there were even some birds flying around, no doubt confused by the new cold, white, ground covering. The poor things were bouncing around from limb to limb just trying to find somewhere to land that didn’t have ice on it.  The snow was so exciting and so pretty, I filled the rest of a 4GB memory card up taking pictures and videos of the snow...Maci’s first snow.  I only wish she had been old enough to get out and play in it...that would have been fun!  Oh well, maybe in another 28 years we will be playing with Maci and HER baby in the snow and she will be telling HER husband about the pictures she has from when she was a baby and it snowed 4 inches and her daddy built her a snowman! She won’t remember it, but she will have the pictures to prove that it did happen.

Publish Post

Update on the "Other Heather's" Twins

She was able to see the twins again. MC's infection is gone, but the doctor is going to leave her on antibiotics for a few days just to be sure.  She isn't digesting her milk very well so they are stopping her feeds (again) but this is not abnormal for a preemie of her size.  E is still doing great!  Please continue to pray for this family.  Did I mention they also have 2 boys, in addition to the twin girls, so their time is torn between needing to be at the hospital and needing to be with their boys at home. I am sure this is very difficult for them.

Be Mine!!!

Such a Sweetheart!!!

Happy First Valentine's Day Baby Girl!!!

 Mommy and Daddy love you so much!!

This has been the best Valentine's Day EVEVR!!

UPDATED... URGENT PRAYER...The Other Heather

UPDATE****
"MC" Does have an infection, they think they caught it in time, please keep praying, she is stable and on antibiotics now. ****

I got an e-mail from my friend Heather this morning, it sounded positive and the girls were doing great.

"MC" is in the "big girl bed" today. She's not in an isolette anymore, she's in the open air and "E" will be a couple of days behind her. Kind of scary and exciting at the same time. I can't wait until they're big enough to come home.

Then about 5 minutes ago I just got this text:

“Nurse just called. MC stopped breathing, heart stopped, had to have chest compressions and bag to bring her back. Had to be intubated, on ventilator now. Blood in lungs and stomach. They don’t know why it happened. Could be an infection. She is stable now. Please pray for her!”

Please pray for my friend, they really need it!! Pray for peace for the family, and healing and strength for the twins.

First Trip to Church

Well, we did it. The one thing I was a little nervous about, we went on our first trip to church. Surprisingly she did really well. I didn’t put her in the nursery because honestly I am just VERY conscious of germs, I always have been and even more so now; post-RSV. She slept through most of the service and didn’t make a peep, except when the preacher started preaching and it got really quiet...that’s when she decided to toot and grunt and try to make a dirty diaper. (It really wasn’t as loud as it sounded to me, I am sure. I don’t think anyone even heard except me and my grandmother.) 

So we made it through our first Sunday at church, and looked smashing in our first dress and tights!!

Our Morning!

MOMMY:

5:30 Feed Maci

6:00 Give Maci medicine

6:05 Lay Maci in crib to sleep while I shower and fix hair and makeup

7:00 Get Maci out of crib to dress her

7:01 Realize she spit up all over herself while lying in the bed

7:02 Wet a rag with Phisoderm and wipe her face and neck and head and everything else that had spit up on it (didn’t have time to give her a bath at this point suppose to leave my house by 7:15 in order to get to work on time)

7:05 Covered her in baby lotion so she doesn’t stink of spit up (incase I missed any with the rag)

7:10 Take wet diaper off, put new diaper under her...pee

7:12 Take that diaper off, put new diaper under her...poop

7:15 Take that diaper off, put new diaper under her...poop again

7:20 Take that diaper off, don’t get the new diaper under her before she poops again; this time on the changing table and the outside of the new diaper I was about to put under her

7:25 put new diaper on her (actually got it all the way on her this time)

7:30 clean poop off of fuzzy changing pad cover, then throw changing pad cover and all of her clothes in washer, clean poop off of diaper pail because I got in too big of a hurry throwing diapers in the pail in between her pooping

7:35 put Maci's clothes on her and hand her off to daddy while I put my clothes on

7:45 put her in her car seat, finally get in the car and leave house

8:00 Drop off at sitters

Got to work at 8:20 in the rain and traffic....AMAZING!!!


MACI:

7:10 until 8:00 smile and coo because she knew she was making her late for work and apparently that amused her

Update on My Friend Heather

Sorry I haven't updated lately on my friend, Heather. She had her twins 2 weeks ago at 28 weeks. They were each 2 lbs. and 5oz. they are doing as well for their size.  I don't know how many details she would want me to share so I am just asking that you please continue to keep them in your prayers they will be in NICU until probably April. 

Back to Work!

Mommy's first day back at work, doesn't seem to be as hard on Maci as it has been on Mommy, she seems perfectly content in Aunt Nichole's Arms. Thank God for E-mail and I-Phones, I can see my baby while I work. 

6 weeks old and Shots

We went for our six week appointment today. The doctor said she is doing really well and is very healthy. He did change her formula, and her reflux medicine to try to help with her fussiness at night. She got all of her shots, a total of 3 (2 in one leg and 1 in the other) plus the rotavirus vaccine orally. It was horrible, she screamed until her face turned purple, mommy was comforting her, and daddy was comforting mommy. My poor sweet baby felt terrible and fussed and cried the rest of the afternoon. The only solace she had was in Mommy or Daddy’s arms in the rocking chair...Of course I didn’t mind, since I have to go back to work Monday and won’t be able to sit and rock her all day long anymore.

Bill's Dad

Just a quick update on Bill's dad.  The surgery went well, and he is home now and doing better.  He does have  heart disease so please continue to pray that he can make the lifestyle changes the doctors have told him to make. 

Bill, His Dad (Charlie), and Maci on Chirstmas Eve

Then God Showed Up

Tonight I am at mom's again, just for a visit this time, no one in our house is sick.  I have a confession to make, I have been having a hard time believing that God is going to let me keep my baby.  I haven't said it out loud because I felt like if I said it out loud then something bad would happen to her.  I am a worrier by nature, and when I say worrier I mean completely overcome with unreasonable fear.  This is something I am really struggling with more in the last couple of years than ever and I really have to seek God on and try to overcome.  I haven't been in the Word like I should be and I realize when I get out of the habit of reading God's word the fear gets worse (coincidence, I think not).  But tonight God showed up, in the little computer room upstairs at my parents house.  I sat down to check my e-mail and I had a prayer request in my inbox and I grabbed the little inspirational calendar that my mom keeps on her desk to try to find something inspirational for this young lady in our youth group.  There are quotes and prayers and scriptures on different days, that is when I ran across December 17th, Maci's birthday, and there was a quote and a scripture.  God spoke so clearly to me with these words as if he had been sitting in the room with me.

The quote:
"Nothing with God can be accidental."
                             -Henry W. Longfellow


The scripture:
"For I know the plans I have for  you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
                          -Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

God shows up when we least expect him!! He is so faithful, and loves us enough to give us something so simple yet so profound to calm our fears. 

Also, on a quick side note, please say a prayer for Bill's dad,  he had a heart attack this morning.  They did an emergency surgery and he is now in ICU.  He looks good and is alert and talking, but he still needs prayer.

Just A Few Pictures

Thanks Aunt Cole for  taking our picture!!  They are beautiful!!!

Update and Some Hospital Pictures

We are finally out of the hospital.   Maci started getting sick last Friday night  but we didn't realize how bad it was until Satruday.  I called her clinic and the nurse said it was probably just a little congestion.  She told me to put her under a cool mist humidifier and  use saline nasal drops 3 times a day and if she wasn't better in 3 or 4 days to call back.  Well  we did what she said all weekend and the poor baby just kept getting worse and worse.  Monday I called the clinic back and  told them  we needed to see a doctor just for my peace of   mind, and boy am I glad I didn't wait that 3 or 4 days she told me to wait because the RSV test came back positive.  The doctor prescribed breathing treatments and sent us home with a follow up appointment  that Wednesday.  We went home and gave Maci 2 breathing treatments and my mom came over to help us watch her over night.  By about 10:30 Monday night we realized that something was horribly wrong, she couldn't breathe, and was struggling ALOT just to get a few shallow breaths,  and she was very limp and pale, we went to the ER and  God worked everything out from there.  The hospital actually called the wrong doctor from the wrong clinic and he admitted us into the hospital (our clinic was still completely against putting her in the hospital which I do not understand at all since she was only 18 days old !!)  Then the hospital we were at isn't a children's hospital and they weren't really used to having small babies around , but the respiratory therapist that saw us that night after we were admitted  normally works in the NICU, conicidnece??? I think not!!  Then they finally called the correct doctor the next morning and he decided to tranfer us to the children's hospital  around the corner from where we were because they were equipped to  handle a baby of her size and he was certain she was going to get much worse before she got better but she never did, she just kept getting better and better.   We are out of the woods now and it's all uphill Praise God.  She is still sick, and still  coughing and  wheezing a little but  she no longer needs the oxygen or fluids she was getting at the  hospital so they released us.  Please continue to pray for us though, we are staying at moms right now because Bill is sick with the flu and we can't go home until he is better, also I feel a scratchy throat coming on myself . 

RSV and Hospital Stay

The nasty cold turned out to be RSV. We have been in the hospital since Monday. I will post more later, but please pray. We are doing better and may go home soon, but we still need prayers.

On a side, note today my sick baby girl is 3 weeks old.

Maci is sick

Just a quick post to ask you all to say a prayer for Maci (and mommy) some how we have picked up a pretty nasty cold.  Normally I know colds aren't a big deal, but mommy is a little bit of a worrier, and Maci is just SOOOO little.  Her little nose is so raw from having to be suctioned out so much, it breaks my heart.  It started yesterday afternoon and I am wondering if we didn't pick it up at the doctor's office on Thursday when we went in for her 2 week check up.  She weighed 8 lbs and 4 oz, that is up from the 7lbs 6oz weighed when we left the hospital.  She also has grown 3/4" and the doctor said she was perfect.  Then Friday afternoon she started spitting up almost her entire bottle every time she ate, and her nose started sounding stuffy.  The only thing they say we can do for her is put saline drops in her nose 3 times a day, suction her nose out and let her sleep sitting up (in her car seat works best).  She is spitting up her bottles because the drainage in her throat is making it hard for her to swallow....Seriously PITIFUL....I have cried right along with her.  We have practically moved in at my moms this weekend, I need all the help I can get.  Please say a prayer for my peace of mind (I am not sleeping because I am staying awake watching her breathe) and for her to get better, the poor baby is MISERABLE!

She is here!!!

I have been completely out of touch with the world since Maci arrived.  My telephone broke the day I gave birth and I haven't been able to get a new one yet, and I haven't been anywhere near a computer to post pictures yet.  I promise to write a more detailed post later, on the 26 hour labor and eventual C-Section that brought our miracle to us, but for right now you will just have to settle for a few precious pictures of little Miss Maci!!

Born on December 17, 2009 at 5:37 pm

7 lbs. 13 oz.

20" Long

This was our favorite nurse Brandi.  She was awesome.

Our First Christmas Pictures!!

 

Best Christmas Present Ever!!

Milk and Cookies for Santa!!

 

 

 

Maci and Havest!! Best Friends!!

 

Mommy and Maci!

Update on My Friend Heather

I had asked for prayers in this post for my friend Heather.  Just a quick update, she let me know yesterday all is going well.  The smaller of the twins gained 3oz. and the larger twin gained 1oz.  they show plenty of fluid.  She also said the doctor didn't see any signs of long term damage.  It seems right now as if the surgery did exactly what it should have done, and the twins are doing well.  Praise the Lord!!!!  Please keep praying for this family.

Baby Shower at Nichole's

Here are a few pictures from the shower that Nichole gave me this past weekend and a belly pic or two.  It was so much fun, I wish I had gotten more pictures of the people that were actually there, I didn't even get one of me and Nichole...kind of upsetting.

36 weeks and 3 days

His Daddy is not going to let him play with us girls anymore...

36 weeks and 3 days

DOCTOR'S APPT 36W 5D

Went to the doctor this morning.  Still only 1cm.  Head down.  Sonogram showed she is 7lbs and 14oz.  I pray she is a little off.  She will be around 8 1/2 lbs if she is right.  Still have to get baskets for storage for her room, a diaper caddy, and still have some of her clothes to be washed before she gets here.  I have my bags packed and waiting.  Just keeping my hair dryer and make-up out for every day uses.  My best friends mom gave me the wreath for the door this weekend, and it is very cute I might add.  Also, Nichole made me the cutest burp cloths and bibs and diaper bag from their business Lady Bugs and Lassos (click the link on my side bar, they have great stuff).  I have pictures from the shower at Nichole's house this weekend, but I didn't bring my camera to upload them....hopefully soon.  I am so behind on posting pictures.  Sorry.