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About Me

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Western North Dakota , United States
My husband, Allen, and I are high school sweet hearts. We started dating Sep.99'- I kind of followed Allen home one day, and never did leave, is Allen's story. November 02' we were engaged, and on November 22,2003 - we were married. Having been married for 6 years in 2009, marked the 5th year we had been trying to start our family. With the referral of a Fertility Specialist from a friend, our IUI attempts ended up being a complete success despite my doubts. We welcomed our sweet little girl, Hayleigh into the world on June 30,2010 at 6:28am after 37wks and 1 day of gestation. She weighed 7lbs 14oz and was 20 in long. We found out that we were Baby #2 on April Fool's Day- a complete surprise! Reid Allen was born 11/13/12 3:24am 9lbs 8.2oz 21", after 38wks 5 days. Our 3rd baby, Eva Jane, was born on April 19, 2015 after suffering a pregnancy loss June of 2014. We are currently anxiously awaiting baby #4 due 2 days before Eva's birthday, so we are having Irish Twins! Our family is so blessed and happy to be growing!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Wordless Wednesday... WHOA!!!!

Guess who will be a month old already on Friday???!!!! I know it doesn't seem possible she will be a month old already!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Random thoughts and happenings

I haven't had anything much to report lately. Hayleigh, Allen, and I have been very busy. Hayleigh is growing like a weed of course. She gets weighed at the doctor on Thursday to make sure her weight keeps going up. I have my postpartum checkup tomorrow, which I am excited to find out how much I have lost again on weight. Things have been pretty quite around the house. Hayleigh's Godfather, Garrett, stopped by with his mom, Tonya, my cousin to meet Hayleigh for the first time today. It was really great seeing him hold Hayleigh- she really does make everyone smile and puts a sparkle in their eyes. I am sure she enjoyed the visit as well, she stayed bright eyed and bushy tailed for them.. did not fuss until after they left for her lunch and nap.
We did happen to find a rocking chair for Hayleigh. We picked it up at a local store, and I have to say it really does look like Crackle Barrel's rocking chair- it was just unfinished. We had my dad paint it for Hayleigh - he sprayed it high gloss white, to match the nursery. Time is passing soo fast now. Hayleigh will be a whole month old already on Friday- the same day my Grandpa turns 80 years old. We have come to find out that Hayleigh is allergic to Huggies diapers. I am not too thrilled about this, since Huggies is my favorite, and I really do not care for Pampers- they get droopy and mushy- not like the Huggies. Allen's mom has been here visiting Hayleigh for the last week and a half, and we will hate to see her leave. I know this blog has been totally random, but, I am trying to get this done before Hayleigh gets up from her nap, and these are just the few things that I can think to write about really quickly. I'll have another post with pictures up on Thursday when I can get a chance to get them uploaded.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Hayleigh turned 3wks, and we cried......

I have been soo busy to say the least. Today, Hayleigh is now 3wks old, and Monday was my due date. Monday was soo sad for me. Monday, my intended due date, was the last little thing that marked Hayleigh being early. I cannot explain it, and I know it sounds silly, but, I really do miss being pregnant. It is not because I am getting less sleep, or anything like that. Getting pregnant took us all of the 5 years, and carrying Hayleigh went by too fast for me. I really did love being pregnant, and can now see why people have soo many kids. Being pregnant gives you a real "womanly" sense. I felt soo feminine and thought that the curves I had from the baby bump were just soo beautiful. I miss feeling Hayleigh kick me, and I miss singing going down the highway to the radio, and rubbing my belly, thinking of Hayleigh. Now, I can look at her in the mirror when it is just the two of us in the car, but, I did catch myself to start to rub my belly the other day, singing along with the radio, until I realized that there was no longer a "bump" there, and Hayleigh was sitting in the back in her pumpkin seat. So, now, I just sing for her. I know I cannot wait to get pregnant again someday- hopefully not until Hayleigh is 1 year old. Both Allen & I really want to make our time with Hayleigh special, and just enjoy having us three as a family. I have had a lot of people laugh at me over this, already wanting more. I guess it is just wanting to know if we have to go through it all again. I think it would be soo nice not having to plan everything for once.
The last few weeks really have flown by. I cannot believe that Hayleigh is already almost one whole month old now. Her doctor appointments have went by just fine. We had a thrush scare, and she has finally gained all of her weight she had lost back- she lost a full pound within a few days of being born. I have now lost 30lbs- which is fantastic! I haven't been trying to lose any weight, but, I guess with breast feeding, it falls off of you, no matter what you eat. I feel great now, and have almost gotten back to everything I was doing pre pregnancy.

 Motherhood is everything I hoped it would be. I am sure that Allen can say the same about becoming a father too. I know one of the best things that has come from having Hayleigh... I am now really close to my own parents, and I have a greater love for my mom. I just hope that Hayleigh and I can share that one day too.

Part III Hayleigh Arrival and Jaundice... my little glow worm

On Saturday morning, we went up to the hospital, and took Hayleigh back to OB. I had to strip her down, so they could get her weight and then scan her forehead with the billie rubeon test. She ended up going up to 17.3- and the pediatrician wanted to see her again on Sunday morning. he made us aware that breastfeeding would prolong the jaundice and it would not go down as easily. So, Saturday, Allen went and shot sporting clays with his grandpa, and I had my sister come over with her boyfriend from out of town to visit Hayleigh for the first time. I had Hayleigh out in the sun for about 40 minutes under the tree out in our back yard to try to help with the jaundice. Magen  and her boyfriend, Brad really enjoyed visiting and dressing up Hayleigh. My mom later brought by supper. She brought green beans with sausage, new potatoes,homemade angel food cake, and macaroni and cheese- I had whined that they were finally serving macaroni and cheese the day I left the hospital. I have to say that every time my mom came out, I just wanted her to stay. I have never felt soo clingy to my mother in all of my life. It really is funny how we cling to our moms when we are little, then try to get away from them as we are teenagers, and then have babies, and go back to being our mom's babies again. Magen had to leave, and I spent the rest of the evening trying to get Hayleigh to eat. She slept soo good that night too! 5 1/2 hrs.

Sunday.. 4th of July. We had to go to the hospital.. yet again. This time, they drew blood from Hayleigh's heel. The guy that did it, was nervous, especially with Allen standing over him, watching our little girl. We went back to OB, her jaundice went up to 18.7... and she lost a whole pound, now down to 6lbs 14 oz. The pediatrician wanted to admit Hayleigh to the hospital.. Mom asked how long the average stay was. The Ped didn't want to say, but, finally told us 2-3 days. I was in shock. Allen and my mom were there with me, while I was trying to make sense of it all. We asked if there was anything we could try for the day. After twisting his arm a bit, we got to go home and do light therapy for the day, and had to come back that evening to test her jaundice again. I couldn't leave my baby at the hospital now! So, Allen had to talk to the people that were bringing the light out to our house, while I sat and rocked Hayleigh, about to melt down into tears. Mom asked me if I knew what the Ped had been saying, that he wanted to admit Hayleigh. I told her I did, but, was waiting for him to give us another option. Allen got back from talking to the nurses at the desk and the people bringing the light out to us. The plan was to give Hayleigh nothing but formula, I would pump, and she would stay under the light unless she was being fed every 2 hrs or changed. The nurses were nice enough to send us some extra formula home with us, and we sent Allen's dad and step mom into Walmart to pick me up a breast pump and some more formula, so we could get home and start tending to Hayleigh.

The people showed up set up the light machine, and we got Hayleigh right on it. It strapped around her belly with her in her diaper and she just slept with it running.
 Hayleigh - my "little glow worm" all hooked up to the light therapy

My dad was one of the first visitors with my step  mom and step sister to visit. It was really bittersweet. No one could hold Hayleigh. We just sat there and stared at her all hooked up. I finally offered to have everyone look at the nursery- since no one had seen the finished product. Dad made a quick circle around and decided to leave the room. My step mom said he had ice cream, and had become lactose intolerant. I peeked around the corner to see if Dad had went to the bathroom.. he stood over Hayleigh smiling at her in the living room. Seeing this made me want to cry. I told them before they left Dad could feed Hayleigh since she was on formula then. He got all excited, until the time came. He said he would just watch... as you can see below, I made him feed her. He was very nervous, and kept asking if he would drown her. I told him he was fine, and, so was Hayleigh. 

 Hayleigh's light therapy machine
So, after everyone left, I finally got to pump. My milk had been coming in, my boobs felt like softballs that someone had been smacking with a ball bat. I ended up pumping 6 oz out. Just after I got done pumping, we took Hayleigh in to the hospital again, got her foot pricked again, and sent to the OB to wait for the results. After about an hour, the results were in... 15.3!!! We were instructed to come back in the morning again, and if the numbers were down again, we were in the clear. We ended up celebrating, since Allen had a bad feeling before we got the results. We took Hayleigh to Walmart, and got sparklers, since we wouldn't be able to go to the fireworks that night. We kept that poor girl on the lights all night. I felt soo relieved. We went back to the hospital Monday morning, and back to lab and OB, her jaundice was down again to 14.5. The Ped said to resume breastfeeding her, and discontinue the light therapy, but to come back in one more time on Tuesday morning just to check with the scan this time. Long story short, we had Hayleigh's 1 wk appt on Tuesday, jaundice went down to 13.2, she was perfectly fine, and to go back on Thursday for a follow up scan, that ended up being 12.8. It was a very tough week for both Allen and I, especially Hayleigh's poor feet! But, we made it through it all.

Back to Part II of Hayleigh's arrival.

Okay... I am sure I left off on day one of Hayleigh being here. Our hospital stay was great. The first night, I requested to have Hayleigh every few hours for nursing her, and, just anytime she was fussy, for her to be brought into my room. I know I should have taken advantage of the rest now while I could, but, I felt guilty sending Hayleigh out there, when she was not asleep. I had waited forever to get her, why send her away now? So, Allen stayed on the couch that turned into a bed, and I had Hayleigh every two hours. Kim, the nurse I had had while in labor was working that night as well, kind of smirked every time she brought me Hayleigh and woke me up. I didn't mind, and I think I had to be the happiest person going on very little sleep, no complaints from me! At the 4:30am feeding, I sat there thinking of just where I had been the night before, just starting to push, when 6:30 rolled around, I sat there and cried, my little girl was 1 day old already! I just sat there trying to take in everything that had happened in the last 24- 48 hrs. How this all started Tuesday morning. I even wanted to go back and relive it all again- can anyone else say they actually wanted to do this? I still would to this day. Just to feel one last kick from Hayleigh, and sit there and enjoy it, really enjoy it. I say this because I was soo out of it to think like this when Hayleigh was coming.

Allen with Hayleigh - Hayleigh 2hrs old

Anyway, day two. Day two was great! I had my street clothes on- capris, and a pink shirt. I straightened up my room in between feedings. I could barely nap at all. I showered, and then put makeup on and did my hair. I was all ready to go home! But, I could not. Hayleigh and I had to stay 48hrs after she was born because I had tested positive for the Strep B Bacterial- which is very common from what I had found out. Allen went home and straightened up the house and mowed with my mom's help. We had visitors that day in and out. Later that night we had our "stork dinner", which turned out to be a complete joke. Allen's dad and his step mom, finally made it from California to see Hayleigh, right about the same time my dad was leaving with my step mom. Allen ended up leading his dad into the room, and I gave him Hayleigh. I still cannot get over the way Hayleigh makes people react. Allen's dad ended up going back out to his truck, and let Allen's step mom come in to see Hayleigh- they drove all the way here, and had their two little dogs out there. They ended up going out to our house and got settled in before returning back into town to visit once again. Allen ended up going out to eat with them, while I sat and cuddled with Hayleigh. We had one rude nurse that kept taking Hayleigh away in the middle of her feedings to see the pediatrician, which really did not make me too happy. It was hard sitting in my room across from the nursery listening to my baby cry and cry. What made this the hardest was that the nurse would not bring her back to me, and would not swaddle Hayleigh either. I had a very sweet nurse that would bring her back every time she saw Hayleigh in there, and would re swaddle  her for me. Hayleigh ended up failing her hearing test in one ear that day, but, passed it the next day, and she started to develop a higher jaundice level. It started out at 13 on Thursday. Thursday night was to be our last night at the hospital, so, Allen went ahead and slept at the house after spending both Tuesday and Wednesday nights there. It was harder not having anyone in the room just for comfort with me, besides Hayleigh. We made it through the night with flying colors though. Friday morning, Hayleigh's pediatrician came in and informed me that Hayleigh's Jaundice was now up over 15, and to bring her in Saturday morning for a billie check. I thought for a while they were wanting to keep Hayleigh for a day, and let me go home, or keep us both. When I told Allen this, I could hear it in his voice, he missed us and was scared. We ended up getting discharged at 10 am, and Allen and his dad were there to take us home. I ended up just leaving Hayleigh in her hospital sweater and blanket to bring her home- she was asleep, and I wanted to get home. We got home, and I didn't know what to do. It was soo weird being gone since Tuesday morning, until then. I changed Hayleigh's diaper, and put her in a onesie, and then laid on the couch since my feet were still really swollen. It hit me like a ton of bricks then... baby blues. I wanted to cry, I wanted to be alone with just Allen and Hayleigh, I wanted my Mom. I got immediately scared the Hayleigh could die. I didn't say a word to anyone until that night when Allen and I were lying there in bed talking. Hayleigh had slept most of the day that day- exhausted from visiting with my mom, and everyone else. I didn't even think that her jaundice was a problem.
Hayleigh and my mom on our first afternoon home. 


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Almost There.....

Almost there is where I am on being caught up with everything around the house with taking care of both my sweeties. Allen has been sick, and with the addition of Hayleigh, it hasn't made things all that easy. I have gotten tons of stuff done around the house that I had been wanting to get done for sometime now, and with having another being in the house demanding my complete attention, I am pretty pleased with what I have accomplished. I think here in a month, you would not even have guessed we had a baby recently. I should have the yard whipped back into shape, and have a pretty regular schedule set up with Hayleigh too. I am almost done with the inside of the house, and am planning an attack on the outside in the next few weeks. I just have to get the ok from Sandy before I turn this into turbo speed.

Things have been sailing along quite smoothly. I cannot complain about much of anything at all really. Breastfeeding has been a breeze so far. I was worried about that. Hayleigh is just fighting going to sleep more now, and I have been fighting the time... she turned 2wks yesterday...sob sob. ..... I cannot believe how fast this has all went already! I just really want to keep Hayleigh this size for a few more months, then I think I might be ready for her to grow. I cannot believe how our famlies have come together and really have gotten soo excited over Hayleigh. It really makes my heart smile soo much when I see everyone light up when they are around my sweet little girl. It really is amazing just how much a new little live can really change the lives of those around her.

We had some visitors today... My aunt Judy, and my cousins Tonya and Ami. Tonya and Judy are really special to us anyway. Tonya was my "buddy" when I was little. I was joined at the hip to her when we had a family get together. Judy lost her husband, my uncle to ALS this last early spring, but before this, their family was among the very first to know that Hayleigh was on the way with the potential of a few other siblings at the same time too. I really do wish that my uncle could be here now to see Hayleigh, but, like Tonya and I agreed today, at least he knew Hayleigh was on her way before he passed. We have spent several Thanksgivings and Easters with this family, and I just cannot express how very special they all really are to us.  Now, we have asked Tonya if her son, Garrett, can be Hayleigh's God Father. I could not imagine it any other way.

We also recently just got the preview of the newborn pics we had taken last Thursday as well. I have to say I cannot wait to see the rest!







To see the rest you can see them on my facebook page, or go to shutterbugkeepsakes.com

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Announcing the birth of our daughter, Hayleigh Antonetta McCann Part One

Hayleigh just born
Hayleigh 6 days Old

So, now everyone can see why I haven't been on here for a while. I was waiting to post the 37 wks  post on Tuesday, after my doctor's appointment, to post what I had found out. Last Tuesday, at work, I started not feeling soo hot at 6:30 am, I was dizzy and was just plain yucky feeling. I checked my blood pressure with the little wrist blood pressure monitor we have there at work, and it gave the reading of 139/87, which is higher than mine has been this whole time. I called Allen at home- lucky he did not take the load he was to take to St. Joe Missouri, to tell him to come and pick me up, since I did not feel like driving home. I called my mom, and asked her if I should go ahead and call Sandy, my midwife, but, since I already had an appointment scheduled for that morning at 10:10am, we decided to just wait. I came home with Allen after work, and laid down until it was time to leave. Luckily, we had halfway packed an overnight bag for me for "just in case". We made it to the clinic, weighed- I had gained the 2 lbs back- bringing me back up to 20lbs, and one of the OB doctors checked me- I was dilated to 4 already. I asked the question of could I get out of work for the rest of the week, and just how long she thought I had until the baby would be ready. She replied that she would go and get Sandy. Sandy then comes right back, and asks me how I feel about having a baby today....UMMMMM I replied, I just wanted to get out of work for the rest of the week, so, we left the clinic, and went straight to the hospital. Both Mom, and Allen were with me this whole time, and were getting soo excited. Allen told me I turned white as a ghost when Sandy told me what was going to happen. I know I was shaking and about to cry. I wasn't ready! I still had stuff to clean in the house, and wanted to have time to relax before this! Anyway, after dealing with this is really happening now, both Allen and I called everyone that was "on call" and our works to let them know what was going on. I got checked in to the hospital, and put right in a room- the biggest room they had, since we were the only ones in there that day. I got hooked up to the monitors, and sat on the bed, thinking everything was soo surreal. Mom  got to put my IV in, since the nurse blew my vein. I was then put on pitocin to induce labor. I sat there in the bed, while Allen and my Mom ran around getting everything I/we needed that was not packed. I sat and sat and sat. Sandy came and checked on me, and I had a few visitors- Allen's grandparents and a few of our friends. I had my water broken at 4:30 pm- it really hurt bad! It wasn't until about 7:30 that I started to really need some pain relief, with contractions every minute and a half apart. I got a drug administered to my IV to help take the "edge" off. I was soo delirious that I could barely keep my eyes open halfway. I once asked my mom if she needed more light to finish Hayleigh's baby quilt, I told her we had a baby wipe warmer with a light she could use.  The medicine worked great for an hour and a half, then the contractions started rolling in again. My mom sent for the nurse to get more of the same drug that I had in the IV- it did not help at all. My mom was rubbing my back every few minutes with bath and body works Christmas lotion - I don't know what I would have done without her. Then, my blood pressure cuff kept pumping up - it did this for 3 minutes straight. The nurse had previously changed the cuff 3 times. I had a melt down with the blood pressure machine in the middle of a really hard contraction. I was bawling my eyes out, calling the machine everything I could think of, begging anyone to take it the "F" off of me. I finally made it through the contraction and the blood pressure machine was stopped for a minute. My dad, and his wife, and her daughter had witnessed all of this and had stayed for the previous 2 hrs to help out. My dad and step mom decided to go ahead and leave, but, my stepsister, did not want to leave when things got really hard for me and thought everything was really interesting to watch.  My mom then called for the nurse to check me, and see about getting an epidural to help me rest. I was dilated to 8 and we called for the epidural. I could only have one person in the room with me at the time, even Sandy had to step out. I had my Mom stay. She had been my support for the last 4 hrs of pain, I wanted to have someone who could help me keep my focus there. Allen stood out in the hall with Sandy and talked about how they just "knew" I wouldn't make it through that week without going into labor. The epidural did not really hurt. Every video I had seen or tv show I had watched with a person getting an epidural, had made it out to hurt really bad- not in my case. The epidural helped sooo much! My epidural ended up running out and getting pulled out of my back, I was soo out of it, talking about Cameron Diaz and a truck blocking a drive. Everyone had been laughing, and I didn't even know it. When my mom asked what I was talking about, I replied that it was stupid and never mind. I pushed and pushed- I thought I was not making any progress, I couldn't believe how hard this all was to get Hayleigh's head out. Once her head was out, I could not hardly take it anymore. Then, the shoulders were the worst thing for me. I handled it all feeling like I was dying- I never cussed. Finally, at 6:28 am, Hayleigh came out into the world. I was soo exhausted when they put her on my belly that I didn't realize what was happening right then. I had been up for over 24hrs at that point. I rubbed Hayleigh and started crying, or tried to cry- I was almost too exhausted to cry. I kept asking what I needed to do, and they just let Hayleigh lay on my belly. Allen cut the cord, and Sandy was remarking about how big the umbilical cord was, and didn't know how she was going to clamp it. The nurses took Hayleigh over to the warming station, and checked her out. While she was there, I sat there and cried, realizing what had just happened. We finally were here. A family of 3 now. Allen and my mom were by my side, Allen kissed me and told me how great I had done. I told him to go over with my mom and hold Hayleigh. Sandy worked on getting the placenta delivered, and then started to repair the very minor damage I had- she said I could go without stitches, but, she would just give me a few just to make everything heal a little faster. Amazingly I had no injections to numb for the stitches. I asked Sandy if I had a bm while delivering Hayleigh, she replied, "NO". NOO! I was soo happy! I got to sip on a sprite while they took Hayleigh to the nursery to check her out, with Allen by her side. I went ahead and asked to go to the bathroom, since I could feel my legs really good. One of the nurses helped me to the bathroom, told me what all I needed to do to take care of myself, and helped me back to my bed. I got back to the bed, and they brought Hayleigh back to me with Allen. We had a full waiting room just for Hayleigh, Allen told me, and then everyone come in to meet our new family. They all held Hayleigh and just went on how beautiful she was. I had a renewed energy, sitting there soo proud of our new family, thinking of how long we had waited for this. After a while, everyone filed out, and let me rest- I just sat there beaming, holding Hayleigh. I got some lunch after a while, and decided I felt good, I had made it to the restroom 3 times by myself, and started straightening up the room, and myself. A nurse came in and asked if we would like to be in the commercial that they were filming for the hospital, I told her yes. That evening after many visitors, we filmed the commercial. Hayleigh wasn't even a day old! Allen went and got us take out from the steakhouse, and we sat and bonded with our new little girl. My mom and dad were soo proud of Hayleigh. I have never seen my dad act the way he did, and still does now. I will have a few more parts to this to catch everyone up on where we are now. Everyone is doing great, we are home, and my heart aches every day from having soo much love I didn't even know I could have for my mom, dad, and our new family. I know I now have a deeper bond with my mom. I couldn't have done this without her by my side. I never knew that I would feel soo much love like this. I kind of feel like the Grinch - my heart grew 10 times bigger that day, and I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything in the world.