Doctor Visits for All (except Nathan)

Hannah and I both got to see the doctor today. Last night I noticed that my incision was kind of red and this morning it was bleeding a little. So I called the office when they opened and they were able to squeeze me in. I had a fluid collection in the middle of my incision. The doctor opened that and drained a LOT of fluid and blood out. She said there is no infection yet, but put me on a preventative antibiotic just in case. Please pray that no infection develops because if it does they have to reopen the entire incision and clean it out. I got back next Tuesday for her to check it again.

We enjoyed showing Hannah off to the doctors and nurses at our family practice office. Nathan and I have been going there for years and it's a small office so they all know us. In fact our doctor and her husband actually attend our church. OK off to the actual update. Today Hannah weighed 6lb 12oz which is what she weighed when we left the hospital. She is also a little jaundiced on her face and chest. Our doctor didn't seem overly concerned about either her weight or the jaundice, but will see Hannah again next week to check her again. In the mean time, we are going to feed every 2 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night. We thought it was hard to wake Hannah to eat every 3 hours...every 2 hours in an even bigger challenge. We're making it work though.

Since it's almost Christmas I've been thinking about all they ways God has blessed us. He gave me an AMAZING husband who is truly my best friend. I am so thankful Nathan's been able to be home with me. He does a great job taking care of me and Hannah. And of course our special blessing of Hannah this year. I am still amazed at how God chose to fulfill our desire to start a family. Hannah is a miracle and we know He has a special plan for her life.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and enjoy spending time with family! Thanks for reading and especially for your prayers!

10 Days Old

I can't believe it's been 10 days since Hannah was born. We seem to be adjusting well to life at home. She still pretty much sleeps all the time and it's often a challenge to keep her awake during feedings. When she is awake she is usually a pretty happy girl. We are enjoying every minute with her! She still LOVES to be swaddled while she sleeps. And no one can swaddle as good as Daddy, I come close but Nathan is by far the master. =)

Yesterday, however was a rough day. She didn't nap well and then was too sleepy to eat well and the cycle continued until about midnight. She did really good during the middle of the night though. Decent feedings and went right to sleep. That meant I could catch a few hours of sleep. My body is definitely looking forward to getting more than 2 hours at a time though! Hopefully today will be a better day!

Saturday night I started running fever so I called the on-call doctor. She sent me to the ER so they could run tests. Everything came back normal and they said the keep an eye on the fever and call if any other symptoms developed. I don't usually run fever during the day, but it creeps up at night. Sure wish I knew what was going on. My surgery recovery is going well and I'm not in a lot of pain. The fever makes me feel awful though, freezing cold and achy all over.

We take Hannah to the doctor tomorrow for her first check up. Nathan and I LOVE our family practice doctor and she sees infants as well so we decided not to find a pediatrician. I plan to say something to her about my fever and see if she has any ideas. We're looking forward to seeing how much weight Hannah has gained and make sure everything else looks good. I'll probably post sometime tomorrow and let you know what we find out.

Prayer Requests:

That my fever will go away or they can figure out what's causing it.
That Hannah will sleep and eat better today.

First Day at Home

Yesterday after lunch we were discharged from the hospital. Hannah did a great job in her car seat. Grammy and Aunt Kara came up for a few hours and took some photos. They also helped me wash and dry my hair (it's really thick and takes 30 mins to do). Hannah seemed to do pretty well being at home versus the hospital. We were glad we had two sizes of blanket to double swaddle her in. She REALLY likes to be wrapped up tight. I call it a "little Hannah burrito!" She slept in her crib and not the pack and play. Our house isn't that big so the nursery shares a wall with the master bedroom and is only a few feet from the room I was sleeping in. Our bed is really high and too hard for me to get in and out of right now.

Feeding seems to be going well too. Every once in a while we'll have one that's not great, but for the most part she knows what she's doing. The hardest part is keeping her awake. We usually have to stop half way through and burp, change diaper, or something to wake her back up. Here's some photos that Nathan took last night. The big monkey was a Christmas present from Aunt Kara last year to Nathan. He LOVES monkeys! The other photo shows how tiny she is compared to her crib and you can see her "burrito" wrap. Enjoy!




Many people have asked how I am recovering. As long as I stay on the pain meds I do pretty good. I did a little too much yesterday afternoon and was REALLY hurting last night. Today I've taken it a much easier. I was encouraged to be able to do night time feeding independently. I still have a hard time getting in and out of chairs especially with Hannah in my arms. The rocker in her nursery works really well though.

Introducing Hannah Grace McCartney

Last night around 10:00 as I was trying to fall asleep I thought I felt a trickle of water. I woke Nathan up, called the doctor, and they said to go to the hospital to check things out. They didn't want me hanging out at home since she was breech. So off to the hospital we went, where they did some magic test to see if you're leaking amniotic fluid. The test came back negative so we went back home. Lucking it wasn't busy and we were back in bed a little before midnight. At 6:45 the next morning I woke up and everything was wet. I took a shower and then came out to talk to Nathan. He convinced me I needed to call the doctor again even though I felt silly since it had only been a few hours. The doctor said to go back to the hospital for them to check me again. They did the fluid test again and this time it was positive. So they tried to page my doctor and get things started. Apparently my doctor was out of town so they scheduled my C-section for 11:30 with the on call doctor.

At 12:13 pm Hannah Grace McCartney was born. Nathan tried to get the doctor to deliver her at 12:12 so she could be born on 12/12 at 12:12. As you can see from the photo she was definitely a breech baby because her legs want to curl up. I think they look like froggy legs.


After they stitched me up and brought be back to my room they brought her in for me to meet her. It was love at first sight! She was really fussy, would not feed, and could not calm down. So, they brought her back to they nursery and figured out she still had amniotic fluid in her lungs. This is common for C-section babies because the fluid normally gets squeezed out as they go through the birth canal. They laid her on her tummy to help her breathing and after a few hours brought her back to me. We did a few attempts at feeding but she was still pretty fussy. The doctors weren't concerned thought since she was only a few hours old.

By the next morning she was much happier and we were beginning to figure the whole feeding thing out. After each feeding Nathan would get her all swaddled tight (He is quite the expert!) and she would sleep.

One Week To Go

I had another check up today and our little one is still sitting in the same position. So, I'm officially scheduled for a C-section next Tuesday at 7 am. Stay tuned...we'll update and post pictures when she arrives.

Still Don't Want to Sit on My Head

As of this evening I am 2 cm dilated, 60% effaced, and still have a breech baby. She was not in a cooperative mood. They tried for about 30 minutes to get her to flip over and she would have none of it. Her behind is apparently wedged into my cervix where her head should be. After 2 hours of monitoring they finally let us go home. It has been a LONG day!

So, the plan is a C-section on Dec 15. They will check me when I come in to see if she has flipped over, in which case they'll just induce normal labor since it's the day before my due date. If I should go into labor on my own before then, they will check her at the hospital and if she's still breech do a C-section then. We will keep you posted on any developments. I go in for another check up next Tuesday afternoon and should have more details about the C-section.

Thanks for reading and we appreciate your prayers!

Nursery is Complete

My parents and sister came up today and we put the finishing touches on the nursery. It feels really good to have that done. Now she has a place to go when she comes. =) Enjoy the pictures below.

Only 3 More Weeks

Wow! I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone! I am so thankful to have been healthy and not have any major complications.

I went in for another check up yesterday and the doctor discovered our little girl is breech. Apparently she doesn't want to sit upside down. =) So, she's going to check again next Tuesday to see if she decided to flip over. If not, I'm going to head next door to the hospital where they can do an External Cephalic Version. Basically the doctor is going to try and turn her from the outside. If that doesn't work then I will be scheduled for a C-section at 39 weeks. Hopefully she will flip on her own of the doctor can get her to move. I'd rather NOT have to recover from a C-section.

Other than that things are going well. I have one week left to work. YEAH! I'm very ready to say goodbye to my cute but CRAZY class. I plan to spend this weekend finishing up things in the nursery. I'll post pictures once it's completed. And I'll write another update after my appointment on Tuesday.

Prayer Requests:

The baby will flip on her own or that the doctor can move her
Safe and healthy delivery


Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

30 Weeks and Counting

I had another check up today and things are still looking great. Our little girl continues to move around a lot. Sometimes I think she's quite the acrobat. =) I will have appointments every 2 weeks until 36 weeks and then I start going every week. Let the count down begin.

I started my long term sub job almost 2 weeks ago. Things are going OK, but I am definitely TIRED at the end of the day. I miss my class from last years job. I see now how blessed I was to have such a great group. Oh well, Dec 4 is only a little over 8 weeks away.

Thanks for stopping by. Tune for another update soon!

It's a .....

GIRL!!!!

I had another level 2 sonogram today and we found out that we're having a little girl! Nathan still wanted to be surprised, but was tired of being constantly harassed so he gave in and let me find out. =) Thanks honey!!

The doctor says everything looks great. She was specifically looking at the heart and kidneys and said they both look beautiful. The heart rate was a strong 165. Apparently we have a big girl; she weights 2 lbs 8 oz (in the 85 percentile for weight). According to that, I'm measuring a week ahead of my due date. They won't change the date it just means she might come early. Hopefully she doesn't grow too big (until she leaves my tummy), I'd rather not push out a 9 -10 pound baby.

Here's the latest photo. If you look closely you can see she's sticking out her tongue ( just like daddy does)! =)

Thanks for stopping by to read. I don't have any more sonograms scheduled, but my next check up is in October.

Another Check Up

I went for another check up with my OB this morning and everything still looks great! The baby's heartbeat was 146. I go back again in September. They said I'm a nice boring patient so there isn't much else to tell!

In other news, school starts in 3 weeks. As of now I don't have any jobs for the first few weeks. I'm sure teachers will call though. I do have a long term job lined up for a Kindergarten teacher for most of the fall semester. Her due date is Sept 21 and she'll be out until Thanksgiving. That should work out perfectly since that's 3 weeks before my due date. I'll be meeting with her once school starts to meet her class and do some planning.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stubborn Husband

I went for my level 2 sonogram this afternoon and the doctor said everything looks great. She checked out the brain, heart, and kidneys. There was no evidence of any abnormalities. We know that my chances of having a child with a heart defect are very slim, even with my previous history. However, the doctors want to make extra sure and that means extra peaks at the little one. Who could refuse!

For those that don't know, Nathan and I have had an on going "battle" about finding out the gender. I want to know and he wants to be surprised. I was hoping he would just give in at the doctor's office, but he didn't. So at this point the gender is still unknown. I go back for another sonogram in mid September and he says he might change his mind by then. I have my doubts though. =( For now we are both VERY grateful that the baby seems healthy!! Here's my favorite photo...trying to suck it's thumb.



In other news the nursery is painted and no longer blue. YEAH!! And our crib and dresser have been delivered and put together.


Thanks for your continued prayers!

16 Week Check Up and Other Stuff

I went to the doctor this morning for my 16 week appointment. Everything is still going well! I've finally started gaining weight, up a total of 3 pounds now. I was so nauseous at the beginning that it was hard to eat, even though I wasn't actually throwing up. I go back in four weeks for another check up. In two weeks I go back to the specialist for another level 2 sonogram. They want to check out the baby's heart and kidneys. Hopefully the baby will be cooperative and we can also find out gender. =)

We painted the nursery over the weekend and it looks really good. That room was the previous owners office and he had it painted a really ugly and very bright blue. It's now a light spring/mint green. So much better! I've also ordered my crib and dresser/changer. I wasn't planning on ordering this early, but JC Penney was having a great sale! Hopefully it will be here soon. Once it's put together I'll post pictures.

Guess that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome to the New Blog Address

Just a quick post to welcome you to our new address. I had a check up with my doctor on Tuesday afternoon. Everything still looks good. I got to hear the baby's heartbeat again....nice and strong. I also thought you might enjoy one of the sonogram pictures taken at my first trimester screening (12 weeks).


I go back to the doctor in a few weeks for my 16 week checkup and I'll update again then.

New Blog Address

If you are receiving this, you have your links / bookmarks / RSS Feeds / etc set up correctly. You are now seeing the new blog in all it's newness. Please blame all design color choices on Jenny. She just asked me to set it up so it looked a little more like "her".

(Nathan)

New Blog Address

As promised I am officially changing the address of this blog. The new address is:

http://journeythroughparenthood.blogspot.com/

Please update your links. New posts at the new address coming later today.

E-mail subscriptions should still work (or will once Nathan updates it).

Unexpected Blessing

When Nathan and I decided to pursue adoption we did so because the doctors told us we had a VERY small chance of becoming pregnant naturally. They recommended procedures that involved lots of doctor manipulation. We did not have peace about going down that road so we chose adoption. However we saw no point in going back on birth control. We said if I ever got pregnant it would be because God wanted it to happen. We are excited to announce that God decided that a pregnancy IS in His plan for us! I am 14 weeks pregnant, due December 16. Everything looks great so far, the sonogram showed a good strong heart beat. I also had a first trimester screening for Downs Syndrome and Trisomy 18 and all those results came back normal.

After finding out I was pregnant one of the first things we talked about was how we felt this affected our adoption process. Nathan and I both feel that God has still placed a desire in our hearts to be adoptive parents. We believe that God is in control of timing and don’t even feel a need to put ourselves on hold or anything. We realize this means we have the possibility of having 2 babies very close together. =) We know God will work our all those details though. I’m going to call our agency this week and let them know what’s going on. Once the baby is born we plan to create an additional page to add to our scrapbook.

Here are some things you can pray for:

• Healthy pregnancy
• Healthy baby
• God’s perfect timing on our adoption
• Continue to pray for our birth mother

Since this blog will no longer be solely focused on adoption I think I’m going to change the blog’s web address. So be on the look out in the next few days for a post giving the new address. You will want to make sure you update all your bookmarks to the new address once it is in place. We are still on an adoption journey, and this pregnancy is now a part of that journey.