Sleepy Girl

Okay, I have to admit I love to play dress up with MaKayla. As you can tell it doesn’t bother her much! I love these cute little butterfly slippers that Holly gave her, pretty blanket from Ron and Linda and girly hair bow from Shannon. I have never been a pink person before but now I love it!

Daddy's Girl!

Daddy went back to work on Wednesday. We knew it was going to be hard for him so Mommy took pictures pictures of Pea Pod (Daddy's name for MaKayla) and made a brag book that he could take to work with him. He called throughout the day to check in on his little girl. She has already become a Daddy's girl.

Sun bathing

MaKayla has been sun bathing for about 15 minutes a day. This helps her with her jaundice. She actually loves to lay in the sun. I think it is cute how she curls up and falls asleep. This picture was taken at 6 days old.

Pretty in Pink!

I just had to post more pictures of our darling daughter! What can I say, we are proud parents!

First doctor's appointment

We took MaKayla to the doctor’s office yesterday to have her jaundice checked. She lost a little bit of weight and now is 5 lbs. 12 oz. The doctor said she looks fine and to just put her in the sunlight for 10 minutes a day. It still seems so surreal to Andy and I. We have been blessed beyond our dreams!

The stork has made a special delivery!

MaKayla Marie Morris
At 3:00 am on Wednesday, September 20th, I woke up to find that my water had broken. It is funny because I dreamt that I would go into labor this way. Just to be on the safe side, I did purchase a water proof mattress pad that Andy liked to call my pee pad. Good thing I did! Surprisingly, we did not panic. Actually we spent a very relaxing time at home showering, eating breakfast, packing and talking about the upcoming event. We had a very calm ride to Swedish American Hospital. I was started on my IV and was 3 cm dilated at 6:00 am. At 9:00 am the doctor decided to start me on pitocin because my contractions were not as regular and as strong as he would like them to be. Since I tested positive for Group B Strep, Dr. Manas wanted to get things moving and lessen the chance of baby getting an infection.

At 11:00 am the contractions were on top of each other and I received an epidural. I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t hurt a bit. At 1:00 pm I was dilated to a 9 and baby’s head was right there. The feeling in my legs was returning and I was beginning to feel the pain of contractions again. At 2:00 p.m. I was begging for more medicine in my epidural but the doctor thought it would be best to leave it alone so I could feel the urge to push. At 1:15 p.m. I began pushing and screaming. My epidural was not working at all and I could feel everything. After a few good pushed, I began to get extremely weak. All those weeks of bedrest really did a number to my muscles. I was struggling with being able to push through an entire contraction. I just didn’t have it in me to push the baby out without assistance. Dr. Manas used forceps and did an episidomy. It was the worst pain in my life! Andy had to make me concentrate on holding my breath and pushing and not screaming. I am sure everyone in the hospital heard me.

The next thing I know our baby was born and Andy was announcing "we have a girl!" Our daughter MaKayla Marie Morris was born at 2:49 p.m. After Andy cut the umbilical cord, the doctor laid her on my tummy. My love for her grew instantly stronger! The nurses took her over to the warming bed to clean her and gave her back to me. After a few more minutes of bonding, she was taken to the nursery to be watched because she was having a hard time keeping her body temperature up and was flaring her nostrils when breathing. It was so hard to be separated from our new daughter. Andy was able to go with her and helped with giving MaKayla her first bath. MaKayla weighed in at 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19.5 inches long.

Being separated from our daughter was very hard for me. Each minute passed like it was an hour. Around 5:30 p.m., the nurses finally brought MaKayla to my room. Andy and I were left alone to bond with MaKayla and to figure out breast feeding on our own. MaKayla was a champ and latched on perfectly.

Our time at the hospital was a whirlwind of visits with family and friends. It was a very proud moment for Andy and I to show MaKayla off. The doctor gave us the okay to leave the hospital Friday night. We were both very nervous about bringing our new precious daughter home. The first night was a bit rough as expected and we got very little sleep.

I am still very sore and tired. Trying to recover from bedrest and delivery while taking care of a newborn is quite a job! Andy is a very proud dad and likes to fondly call MaKayla his precious gem and pea pod.

The nursery is done in the nick of time!

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Our Winnie the Pooh nursery turned out just as cute as can be! We completed it just in the nick of time! Andy did an awesome job with picking out the colors for the walls and incorporating the theme to include my butterflies. It is kind of hard to tell from the pictures but there are seven butterflies hanging from the ceiling (same number that we let go during our wedding), they look like they are flying around in the clouds that Andy artistically painted. His endless talents never cease to amaze me! There are also four more butterflies that are attached to the walls (another lucky number, keeping up with the Native American legend). We incorporated both the Disney and Classic Winnie the Pooh themes in the room. I couldn’t be happier with the way the nursery turned out! It is hard to believe that just two weeks ago this room was an dual office and a storage place for all my scrapbooking supplies stacked haphazardly in the room. Andy is so happy that my scrapbooking room or what he fondly likes to call the crap room is completed! I have been warned that if anything is left outside my room he has all rights to throw it away! I guess that is only fair since he did build me an awesome craft room! Pictures to come soon of the basement.

Freedom!

36 weeks & 5 days

I have been enjoying my freedom these last few days! It is so nice to be able to get out of the house. I have been looking forward to going out to dinner with Andy for months. Last night we went to Don Pablos and enjoyed being out together as a couple again. After dinner we went to a couple of stores to find a few items that we still need to finish the nursery. I barely made it through Lowe’s so when we went to Wal-Mart Andy pushed me in a wheel chair. Normally I would have been embarrassed to be pushed around just because I am pregnant but not last night. I was too worn out to care!

Today I was able to go to church for the first time in 3 ½ months. It was such a treat! Once again we went to a couple of stores to try and find a shelf and basket for the baby’s room. Finally we were successful at Michael’s. Now I am resting on the couch as Andy is cleaning the house from top to bottom. He wants the house to be squeaky clean for when the baby comes home. I do get up and help for short periods of time then I have to lay down and rest again for awhile. I cannot believe how weak I am. I am getting a little stronger each day.

36 Weeks = 9 Months!!

36 weeks and 2 days pregnant! On Tuesday, September 19th we will be 37 weeks pregnant and considered full-term.

We had our doctor’s appointment today. The doctor said that I am good to go anytime after next Monday. I am 1cm dilated and 50% effaced. He took me off all my meds that have been controlling the contractions and has given me the okay to start taking small ventures out to build up my strength. I feel like I have been let out of jail! I over did it a bit and went shopping and to get my hair cut. It wore me out!!! I have another doctor’s appointment scheduled for next Thursday that is if we don’t have our baby before that. The doctor thinks that with being off the meds and up moving around that it will get things started. Andy and I are both very excited and nervous! It is so hard to believe that our dreams are about to come true!

So it is time to make your bets. Will it be a boy or a girl???? We will know very soon! My toes are painted for the occasion. It is hard to tell from the picture so I will explain it. The right side is painted pink with blue crystals and says "Boy". The left side is painted blue with pink crystals and says "Girl".

35 weeks

It has been a very busy weekend! The basement is pretty much completed. The carpet was installed in Andy’s office and my scrapbook room on Saturday. Thank you Vikki, Nick, Nick’s friend and Mandy for helping to move everything out of the upstairs office and downstairs to our new rooms. Today Andy and Floyd painted the nursery. Andy surprised me with his Winnie the Pooh themed painting. You can see some of his detail work in these pictures. It is a little difficult to see the puffy clouds that he added in the blue area above the yellow line. He also painted a tiny skydiver under one of the clouds. I will take more pictures once we get the furniture installed. Tomorrow we are having the carpets cleaned throughout the house and Andy is picking up the baby furniture. I am getting really excited now! It is so hard to believe that a little person will be occupying this room very shortly. We have waited so long for this moment it just still seems so surreal.

Poor Andy has been going non-stop for months preparing our house for our upcoming new arrival. He has done a wonderful job. I can’t wait to post more pictures of the basement and show off his handy work. I am just waiting until the final cleaning and touchups are complete so you can see the real beauty of everything.

34 Weeks

We have made it further than we ever expected. I am falling in love with my big belly and will miss it when it is gone. We are counting down the final weeks or days...YEAH!!