New Baby Girl

I wrote this 2 weeks ago and am just getting around to posting it. This week was my first week by myself with no extra help. Of course, Schroeder is sick again, but Mackenzie is starting to sleep in her bed more than a few minutes at a time, yay, and I am finally beginning to feel like a person again. I will try to update more pictures soon.

Mackenzie Elizabeth Nelson arrived on Sunday, December 14, 2008 at 12:19am. She had tried to come the Tuesday before, but the doctor at the hospital decided it was too early and gave me medicine to stop the contractions. I was able to get another ultrasound and the technician said the due date looked more like Christmas Day instead of my January 6 due date, which is what the ultrasound technician said at my 32 week ultrasound.

On Saturday, I was determined to do what I could to get her to come on out because though the medicine from Sunday slowed down my contractions, it didn't stop them and I thought she would make a great Christmas present. I went shopping by myself Saturday morning and I kept feeling strange sensations, but kept going for as long as I could. I came home and Ryan and Schroeder got home from their shopping and we decided we would go have an early supper. We went to Chili's and I had two refills of Dr.Pepper(lots of caffeine) and we orderd the Molten Chocolate Lava cake (more caffeine). On the way home I noticed my contractions were starting to feel more pressurized and different from earlier. By 6:30, I was calling my mom saying Iwas having contractions. By 8:30, Schroeder had been picked up by a friend, my contractions were a minute apart, and we were heading to the hospital.

My dr. has never remembered that I was going to have a C-section. I had so many complications with my epidural, Schroeder's collarbone and other issues last time that I decided to do a Csection. They hooked me up at the hospital and then the dr. said to walk for an hour. After walking 30 minutes we let teh nurses know we were having a csection and they wondered why we were walking. They called the dr and within a few minutes they started getting me ready for a Csection.

Once I had the Csection, the dr. came by and said we would've ended up doing a Csection anyways because her cord had been wrapped around her head and it would have been too dangerous for me to push. I'm so glad I had her early and that I had planned on a Csection.

I don't have as many pictures yet, because Schroeder has been sick with a cold and upset tummy all week, I had a fever and migraines on top of the recovery for several days, and Mackenzie had been very congested.

Here are the pictures I have so far. We are all starting to feel much better, so I can't wait to take more pictures and post them. She is so little that she is only fitting in preemie clothes, so I don't have very many different outfits.

Banana

I haven't updated in forever and it seems like a recurrent theme on this blog. I am trying to finish up school and hopefully if I am successful I will be done this December. I hope that once school is over, I will be able to get on the computer and do more fun things, like updating my blog.

I have plans to post pictures soon, but while you're waiting enjoy this video. Of course, Schroeder is now allergic to bananas, but at the time nobody knew, so he is enjoying his banana.

Baby ultrasound

Ryan and I went to my 20 week ultrasound last Friday. When we saw the technician, she asked us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby and we said yes. She turned the machine on and immediately said "Ya'll are having a daughter and here she is with her legs spread open." Leave it to my daughter to not have any modesty.

The arrow points to the girl parts.
Here is a picture of her foot.
This is a side profile.

At the end when the technician asked if we were happy with the pictures, I asked her to confirm we were having a girl. I have this fear we would be told it was one sex only to find out the day of delivery that is of the opposite sex. She asked if I wanted her to zoom in and magnify the area and I said yes. Below is the picture of our little girl with her legs still spread open and showing us she is definitely a little girl.
The technician said we can keep the due date and that she is weighing about 1lb. So far everything on the baby looks great. I talked with my doctor and because I had so many problems with the epidural(it never worked and the shots they gave me never worked), I will probably be having a Csection. Ryan hopes I go into labor before the new year, so we can get a tax break for this year. My due date is January 6th, so we will see what happens. I will get to schedule the Csection, so I may beg for a day at the end of December so both grandmothers who are in the teaching profession will be able to come without missing days.

April trip to New York

Last year I wasn't able to go with my dad to New York to see my sister because I had Schroeder. This year I was fortunate enough to have a husband who not only helped me go to New York, but also watched the baby for 4 days by himself after he'd only been home from Iraq about a week.

The plane ride started off awful because I got sick on the plane and then on the taxi ride home(she was a crazy driver which didn't help). I was worried I might have caught something, only to realize later I was just sick because I was newly pregnant. Whoops! Anyways, here are some pictures of our trip.

Tamara and I riding the Jersey transit

Dad and I at Ellis Island

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty

I love this picture. Tamara and Dad are both taking a picture of the statue of liberty.

Cherry Blossoms near the Statue of Liberty

At a cute Hoboken breakfast place

The three of us before we head out to our dinner cruise.

My dad, I love it when he really smiles.

Tamara and I at our table on the cruise.

Dad and I on the top of the cruise deck with the Statue of Liberty behind us.

Tamara and I near the Statue of Liberty at night.

I had a great trip with Tamara and Dad. It may be my last trip to New York for awhile since we have a new addition coming along to our family in a few months. At least I have some good memories of my time spent there.

Schroeder's new wagon

We bought Schroeder a wagon for his birthday and we were excited to see Schroeder's reaction to it. Of course, he ended up loving the box it came in more than the wagon.

Again I apologize

Well, I thought I would be able to start updating more often.

Reasons why I was unable to post

1. Planning Schroeder's first birthday party
2. Finishing the semester(only 6 hours left to go, woohoo!!)
3. Going to New York
4. Computer crashing(not a good couple of days, until we found a way to save most everything)
5. Being sick as a dog all day long
6. Finding out I was sick as a dog because I am pregnant
7. Doing nothing but laying around because anything else makes me sick

Each of these reasons caused me not to post, but hopefully I can post now. I don't feel as sick anymore and am able to do more sitting up, so I should have no more reasons not to post. I can't wait to post all the cute pics and videos I have of Schroeder.

Way overdue

I apologize for not updating much the last month because so much happened. My husband came home from Iraq(after being gone for 8 months), I had to finish up my hardest course yet, I went to New York with my dad, and I got to plan Schroeder's first birthday party. I took plenty of pictures and will slowly begin posting them to the blog.

These pictures were taken after I received my free camera(through AMEX points) and my mom came to visit.

Birthday Boy

Sweet baby boy

You turned one today. I still can't believe you were born over a year ago. It amazes how much you've grown and changed as the time passed. In the beginning you were big and then you got so small that people assumed you were a preemie. Lately, you've gotten such big cheeks that people think you're much older. My how you've grown! I can't wait to see how much you'll change between now and when you turn 2.

The ball

Schroeder loves Sadie's(the dog) ball. He found it a couple of weeks ago and as much I tried to keep it away from him, he always found it.

I wonder what this tastes like.

Hmm, it's not too bad.

Maybe I could use it as an extra arm.

Stopping to watch Diego on tv