Mazie's cute pics

If any of you are interested in viewing some super cute photos of Mazie at the hospital. Go to www.bellababyphotography.com and login with 0526maziemcmillen. They will be up for two more weeks. Enjoy!

Bilibed

Unbelievable...I feel like this little girl is the shining example of health, but as we left the hospital they said her bilirubin levels were high and they wanted to have her tested the next day. So after driving to the hospital 4 days in a row to have her little heel poked and the levels not going down, they decided she needed a bilibed. I was really surprised that this was the case since my milk had come in the day I got home from the hospital, she was eating great, and pooping like crazy. I felt like my other girls were much more jaundiced, especially Eliza, but I guess the tests don't lie. So we ordered a bilibed and biliblanket.
It was very conveniently delivered to my house (I'm grateful for that). And the other bit of good news was that she loved her little tanning bed! She slept like a log (I was going to say "baby" instead of "log" but she is a baby...funny) on it. We got her tested 2 more times and it looked like the bed was helping. So she got to get off the bed. One last heel prick on Thursday showed that her levels had gone up just a little but they thought that she was on her way to getting better. Mazie has been missing her tanning bed but I am happy that I can put cute girl clothes on her now instead of just a diaper.

Time to go home!

Bundled at the hospital...

Mazie in her "take home clothes"...

They always look so ridiculously small in their car seats for the first time...

Libby and Daddy made us a welcome home sign (you can kind of see it in the background by the mailbox), Eliza made me a card, and Daddy got me flowers.

It felt really nice to be home. Rob had even cleaned the house up real nice.

The girls just can't get enough of little Mazie. They have been really soft with her and really good helpers. There has been a little bit of change in their behavior (I think they miss the amount of mommy time they used to have) but I am happy that it hasn't been towards Mazie at all. So far so good!

She Finally Arrived!!!

Mazie Celeste McMillen
Wednesday, May 26 2010 2:57 pm
9 lb 6 oz
22 inches (Yes we have no idea how 2 midgets produced such a tall baby)

The day of her birth:
So I went in for my doctors appointment that morning around 10:00. My doctor had mentioned the week before that he might be willing to start me so I was really hoping he would do it that day and with that hope Rob came to the appointment with me. During the appointment the doctor said that he was so surprised I hadn't gone into labor and that my "cervix was very favorable". Rob and I thought that was funny. Then at the end the doctor said, "Well we can set up an appointment to have you started for tomorrow or Friday." My heart sunk. I really wanted to get this baby out that day. Fortunately Rob spoke up (at the time I was a little embarrased but now am so relieved he did). He said, "Well from previous conversations we were under the impression that we might be able to do it today." The doctor said, "Well usually you can't get in the same day but I will call down and see if we can." Fortunately, they were not busy and I was able to go down. We stopped and got a snack. Rob apparently was hungrier than he thought because I had finished my snack by the time he arrived with a big plate of breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns, toast, etc.). We laughed and I told him I would meet him downstairs and went down stairs to check in. Rob met me soon after and then we went into the labor and delivery room and they started me on potosin around 11:30. About 12:30 I started feeling contractions and then stood up to go the bathroom. Just a few minutes later I started feeling really hard contractions. It was funny because a few minutes earlier I had just told the nurse I didn't want an epidural yet and then suddenly I had changed my mind. I told her to send him in asap. The contractions hurt worse than any contractions I have felt in the past. On my other 2 the contractions were painful but most of all I just couldn't handle them because they had been going on for so long. These were so much more intense but easier to handle because I had only been having them for a short time. The anesthesiologist came in within the next 5 minutes (luckily)! After the epidural I felt so much better but was still having contractions painful enough that I had to breath through them. My doctor came in and checked me and I was at a 6. But since I was still feeling the contractions pretty strong the anesthesiologist gave me another dose. Finally I was feeling so much better. It was the perfect feeling, I could still feel the contractions but they weren't painful. (With Liberty I felt too numb.) Around 2:00 the nurse checked me and said I was a 10 with a lip (whatever that means). She came back a little while later and said that I was completely ready and got the room prepped. The room was ready and the nurses were standing by and the intern, we were just waiting for the doctor. The intern mentioned to us that some doctors let the husbands help deliver the babies. We thought this sounded like a great idea so when Dr. Lloyd arrived Rob asked and he was happy to have him help. Rob put gloves and a gown on and sat in position to catch the baby. I pushed 4 times and the baby was out at 2:57 pm. (Holy cow what a fast and easy delivery!) Rob cut the embilical chord, she was coughing a bit and not crying very hard. It was making me nervouse. I kept asking if she was OK and they kept reassuring me that she was. They let me see her for a minute and then they took her over to check her out. My mom had walked in right around now. (I had told her she could come to the delivery but it happened all a little too fast.) I was glad she at least made it for this part and she seemed happy taking pictures of the new baby. When the scale said 9lb 6 oz I was so surprised because she didn't look that chubby. I remember Libby looking chubbier but Mazie was 22 inches long so maybe that chub got spread out a bit compared to Libby. I was also relieved because I was afraid that maybe I was being crazy by getting started rather than having nature run its course. But a 9 lb 6 oz baby made me feel justified. She was fully baked. And I also felt justified for feeling so miserably large. After checking her out and cleaning her up a little they brought her over and let me and her have skin to skin contact. I got to hold her for a really long time. Rob, my mom, and my dad got to hold her too. She still had the vernix on her, but still seemed so beautiful to me. (She did smell a little stinky though with that vernix still on her.) She has Rob's recessed chin but then a little knob on the end that makes it protrude a little. I thought maybe she had a bigger mouth than the other two but now it is small and peirced like Eliza and Libby's when they were a baby. She (like all my babies) has a round chubby face with black fuzzy hair.
I heald her for a long time. I was surprised that she was still awake and that she hadn't gone to sleep. Usually newborns are so sleepy it is hard to keep them awake. I decided to try to feed her and wow that girl knows how to suck. I couldn't believe how great she did at latching on and sucking. I did both sides for quite a while and she just kept sucking. It was starting to hurt too much that I just had to take her off. (Quite different from my breast feeding experience with Eliza.) During this time Rob called the girls to tell them. He got a little emotional doing this because he said he just loves our family so much. The girls were so excited!



Finally the nurses came in and tranferred me up to the recovery floor. Mom, Dad, and Rob stayed. We ate dinner and then visitors started coming. Dave and Jenn stopped by. (Then she finally got a bath and then you could see the bruising on her nose and around her mouth, it made her look like she couldn't breath. It was sad. The nurses said it just probably happened during birth because she came out so fast.) Then Sarah came and had picked up a birthday cake for us. Adam and Chelsea had kindly babysat the kids all day for us and brought the kids to the hospital with them. We continued the tradition of having a birthday party at the hospital and broke out the birthday cake. The kids were so excited to see the new baby! Libby touched her face so gently and Eliza wanted to hold her. Libby climbed into bed with me and wanted to snuggle and kept saying, "I missed you mommy!" It was really sweet. Then everyone decided to leave. It seemed kinda lonely to go from a full house to nobody but that feeling didn't last for long. I was really tired and needed to sleep. It had been a great day! I am so thankful to my Heavenly Father that he would bless me with such an easy delivery with no complications and such a healthy baby. I feel so blessed to be able to be a mother!

Still waiting for the baby

I want to preface this post that I am not writing this and the last couple of posts for everyone else but for me, since this is my journal. I want to remember these details. Every night Liberty asks that for her bedtime story that we tell her about when she was "borney". It's interesting to hear Rob tell it because there are a few details that we think differently. Hopefully this way we can be more accurate.
So on Saturday morning I thought that my water had broken, but it was just my mucus plug. However since that I kept wondering if maybe I was slowly leaking. Finally Sunday during church I really felt like I was leaking so I went to the hospital to get checked. After answering a million questions they finally checked and said that they didn't think my water was broken. They said that sometimes after the mucus plug comes out that watery fluids can continue from the mucus plug. Or maybe they just wanted to make me feel better since perhaps the reality was that I was just peeing my pants. I swear I have that under control though. While there though I was having contractions every 3 minutes, but I only felt one of them. (So weird.) I am now dilated to a 3 + and 70% effaced. Not really much of a change. Then on the way out I thanked the nurse and said, "Well maybe I'll see you later this week." And she said, "Or maybe tonight." Why do they taunt me like that? I swear my body is ready to have this baby but she just doesn't want to come out.
So I have an appointment on Wednesday morning and my doctor mentioned that he might start me on potosin that afternoon if I hadn't had the baby and I am pretty sure I won't have the baby by then. I actually (which I should be grateful for) feel better than I did last week. My legs feel unconnected to my body because my hips are so loose, and reflux is the constant complaint. But I don't feel like last week where I was having strong contractions and felt like the baby was going to fall out because it was so low. So I am trying to be grateful. I went and visited Amy today and took her kids to McDonalds. It was so amazing to see their new little baby. It got me very excited! But it also was a reality check about all the things that happen after delivery. I forgot about the cramping while your uterus is contracting and worrying about jaundice and how bad it hurts just to stand and do the day to day things. She was amazing and totally with it. I am delirious at this point. I don't know how she is doing it. Anyways, so I am trying to be glad that I am just uncomfortable, not in pain right now.

My doctor's appointment

I wanted to write down what happened today at my doctor's appointment because I wish I had done better at documenting this stuff with the other two kids.
I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. (Last week I was at a 2-3 and 60-70% efffaced so not that much progress has been made.) But the doctor asked me if I wanted my membranes stripped and I said yes.
I have been just so uncomfortable these last couple weeks. I can't sleep good. I'm so tired but it is too uncomfortable to lay down. I get really bad reflux and it wakes me up and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Last night was not as bad but Eliza for some reason woke up at 4 am. The night before that I woke up at 4 and was having contractions so decided to get up and clean to see if they went away. They kept on strong until 6 and then died off. The night before that I was up from 1-3 cleaning because I was so uncomfortable. So I feel like I am sleeping like I have a newborn.
My doctor also asked if I wanted to be started on potosin friday if stripping my membranes didn't work. I decided not to, even though I am so desperate. I usually want to let the baby come when it is ready, but I think if it is not here by Wednesday I will get started.
Also wanted to put down how much I have gained on this pregnancy. I started at 120 lb and have now reached a grand total of 167 lb. I think I only gained 30 lb on Liberty but on Eliza I gained about 60 lbs. I can only imagine if I hadn't gone 2 weeks early with Eliza how big and miserable I would have been. Hopefully tonight is the night!
My friend Amy Teemant just got started on potosin today so it is exciting to talk with each other when we are experiencing such similar things. She is such a kind friend.

Baby #3 Details

So it's 3 in the morning and I am just too uncomfortable to sleep so I thought I'd write about this pregnancy with baby #3. I keep trying to think back when I was pregnant with Eliza and Liberty and I just can't remember anything, so I wanted to write down a few things about this pregnancy. I feel uncomfortably large. I think I started feeling this way a little too soon. I feel like I have been ready to have this baby since about a month ago. I kept thinking, I can't get any bigger and then I do. I have reached the peak of uncomfortable largeness. My hips ache a lot. I think that is my biggest complaint. My feet and hands have started to swell a little but nothing like my pregnancy with Eliza. I wish (like I always do) that I had exercised more and eaten healthier but it really is a vicious cycle. By the time I feel good enough to exercise (no more nausia) I start feeling large and off balance, but this is a reminder for next time...You are not that big, start exercising!
Fortunately I think the end is in sight. My due date is not until June 2nd (according to ultra-sound) or May 28th (original due date) but I the doctor told my at my last visit (last Wednesday) that he wouldn't be surprised if I didn't make it to my next appointment. I am dialated to a 3 and 60-70% effaced. I was so excited to hear this news because I am so hoping to go early. However, until tonight I really haven't had any contractions. So I am starting to lose hope. Even tonight it's not really contractions, just mostly uncomfortable.
I feel ready but no ready to have this baby. I suddenly realize that I feel like I have forgotten everything about having a newborn and the birth. With the 3rd baby you just go in feeling like you are a pro. So I haven't done any reading or things like that and now I am thinking do I really know what the heck I am doing? It's been a while. Hopefully it's like riding a bike and it will all come back. Hope she arrives this week. I think I prefer the sleepless nights while holding the baby rather than not being able to roll over in the bed because my stomachs too big. (Might regret ever saying that sentence in a couple of weeks.)