On Sunday, 10/11 Mackenzie finally lost her umbilical cord stump. Meaning, we could give her a BIG GIRL BATH!! Here are some photos from bath time.
Not very happy when we started.
Do you have to wash my hair??
Oh this isn't so bad!
Just cute!!
I love bath time & I'm gonna eat the camera!
On Monday 10/5 we decided to go down and walk around ArtPrize. We were only out about an hour however it was nice to be out of the house for a bit. Mackenzie was so bundled up that she didn’t see much of the art. However, she seemed to enjoy her first ride in her stroller by sleeping the whole time we were gone. Nathaniel and Zachary loved looking at the art. They especially enjoyed the ones that they could interact with. Here are a few photos from our walk downtown.
First Ride with her new Wheels
Everyone took turns pushing.
Mackenzie.. Where are you??
Back at the van, we pulled back the blanket to find her!!
Big Table & Chairs on Bridge
Zach liked the Art Rat.
We think this should be in the Grand River Always!!
We are very excited to announce the arrival of Mackenzie Marie aka Baby Girl. Mackenzie was born on September 22, 2009 at 12:21 pm. She weighed 7lbs 8ounces and was 20inches long. At birth, Mackenzie needed a little extra oxygen so she was taken to the Neonatal Unit. She remained there until Thursday when she got to join me in my room. We came home from the hospital on Friday. Tomorrow she will be two weeks old. Here are some photos for you to enjoy from the past two weeks. 
Miss Mackenzie
10 little fingers, 10 little toes
Big Brother Nathaniel
Big Brother Zach
6 day dr. visit weight 6lbs 14oz
length 20 3/4 inches
My ballet slippers on my sleeper.
Cuddled in a ball.
Mackenzie & her brothers Nathaniel & Zachary
Today went fine. Baby Girl maintained a good heart beat. She was even ’showing off’ a little according to the nurse that does the test. She kept her heart beat up more than she needed to while moving around. Nate, Zach and Nani went with me today. They got to hear her and then they waited in the waiting room. Most of the time it stayed in the 160’s/170’s again. I go again on Thursday.
Today was my first Non-Stress Test (NST). Everything looked great. Baby Girl’s heartbeat stayed in the high 150’s/low 160’s. She stayed active during the visit. I go back on Monday 8/3.
Since this is the first NST post, I will give some information as to what happens at an NST appointment. The test is done right at the Dr.’s office. The nurse takes me back to an exam room where she hooks up two monitors to my belly. The first one tracks the heart beat and the amount of moments made by the baby. This monitor was held in place by the nurse. The second one monitors any contractions that may occur. They use an elastic strap to hold it to my body. I will always have the same nurse during these visits. She is the only person at this particular office location that does them. She was very nice and I enjoyed having a conversation with her. Upon completion, she ripped the strip of graph paper off from the machine and will give it to the Dr. to review. I was free to leave because she didn’t see any ‘warning flags’. If she sees something that the Dr. would want to know about, then I would be asked to wait until he/she had time to see me. They don’t hurt me or the baby. I have to have these tests for multiple reasons. #1: diabetes, #2: my high blood pressure and #3: my placenta issues.
On Wednesday July 29th, not only did Greg and I decided to celebrate our 9th Wedding Anniversary, but we had our first hospital run for baby girl.
Without giving TMI, I will try to explain what happened. For those that don’t know, I have been diagnosed with Complete Placenta Previa (CPP). It’s a condition were the placenta has placed itself in such a place that the only way out for the baby is by c-section. It’s a serious condition that I have to be monitored very carefully for. If you want to know more, I’ll let you do your own Google search. There are many things that I have to watch for and Wednesday morning we had our first issue. When I woke up, I had my first small episode of bleeding. It stopped on it’s own however when I called to inform the Dr., he still wanted me to go into the hospital. So Greg and I about 9:45am made our the trip to the hospital. After getting through construction and what should be a quick/easy commute from our house, we made it and were admitted to triage. I told the triage “Dr.” that I wasn’t bleeding any more. I continued saying that it had stopped and I felt fine, however my OB wanted me to still come in. Now I’m not suppose to have a pelvic exam because of the CPP. However the triage Dr. insisted that we had to have one. Greg and I didn’t know that we should have fought her more by saying no, however with her exam she determined that No I wasn’t still bleeding. (Duh, I had told her that) They ended up just monitoring baby girl and drew some lab work. Around noon, everything came back good so they sent us home. The primary purpose of the blood draw was to see where my levels were now in case we end up back in the hospital. Following our trip to the Dr., I had a 1:30pm appointment with my OB Dr. I choose to keep the appointment because I wanted to see what his follow up was. I also wanted to talk to him about what had happened in the morning. He once again checked her heart beat, my blood pressure and my measurements (which were all still fine). He then went on to tell me that I should have continued to refuse treatment (the pelvic exam) and we should have asked to see the Dr. from the MMPC practice that was at the hospital. While trying to make me feel better, he also kept saying that I had done the right thing by going in. He said it could be 5 minutes, 10 hours or 3 weeks before I bleed again. He also informed us (my mom and I) that the first time does usually stop on it’s own however it more than likely won’t next time.
The summary of everything: Everyone is ok. I am now 30 weeks. I had a very small episode (we are all calling it a trial run). I am now on bed rest (as of 7/23), biweekly NST (non-stress tests) and weekly Dr. visits. The next ultrasound is still scheduled for 8/13.
Baby Girls nursery decor comes from IKEA. Her room also has a rocking glider that we found at Goodwill, a futon couch that belonged to her Uncle Jeff & Aunt Cindy and a dresser that use to be her Great-Great Grandmothers. Here are some photos of her room. I will post more as we get more pieces done. I would like to thank my dad for his patience as he carried “cribs” up and down the steps, Liz for making her valances and Wanda for making her crib skirt.