Abigail Lee McCartney

Sweet Abigail was born January 5, 2012 at 7:21 am. She was 8 pounds 9 oz and 21 inches long. We are already in love and she's only 5 days old! She seems to be a happy content baby so far, much like big sister. My c-section went well and I am recovering slowly. I feel much better than after having Hannah.


Sadly we are also having jaundice issues just like with Hannah. Abigail is a great at nursing, but her bilirubin levels keep going up. Starting this afternoon we are feeding formula only (which means pumping for me) and going for another check tomorrow. If her levels go up again then we have to start some sort of photo therapy. Sadly we've had nothing but rain since we were released from the hospital so we can't let her sunbathe in the window. Please pray that her numbers start to go down.

We are so thankful for my parents who kept Hannah the entire time we were in the hospital. It was nice not to worry about her. They brought her up to visit every day. So far Hannah is adjusting well to being a big sister. It's almost time for her next update so I'll post more details soon. Nathan and I are SO blessed with our sweet girls!


Yes, we plan to take monthly photos with monkey this time too. All the photos in the post were taken by my mom. So thankful she captured these memories!

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.