Great Expectations

Monday, July 16, 2012

2 Months With Sweet McKenna

Wow, time is flying by with our little angel. McKenna turned two months old on Saturday! Now that we're starting to brave taking her out, we get comments all the time about how tiny she is and people think McKenna is only a few weeks old. I find myself getting protective and want people to realize how much she's grown and that she's not tiny enough to be a newborn. I guess technically she is tiny enough to be a newborn since she now weighs a little over 8 lbs but she's much bigger than the 5 lbs 7.5 oz she weighed when she was born! When I tell people she was born at 36 weeks and 5 days, I get the oh she was a preemie comments, that makes sense! Again I feel myself wanting to correct and say no she was near term, only two days from being full term! Near term is the phrase used for babies that come at 36 weeks. Of course none of this matters. Our sweet McKenna is getting bigger and stronger every day and her Mom and Dad can sure tell she's a growing girl.

McKenna has changed so much over the past month! Since my last post, we've tried two different reflux meds and have stuck with Zantac for now. It has helped McKenna's tummy feel a lot better. We started physical therapy three weeks ago for McKenna's torticollis. Her head tilts to the right consistently, probably a result of being in a favorite position in utero; She was always on my left side. I was thrilled to hear the physical therapist say last week that she's not sure if McKenna has a true torticollis because she's progressed so quickly. The tight muscle on the right side of her neck is completely stretched out now and we're hoping the head tilt will stop when she gets more neck control. McKenna is now more aware of her environment and loves looking at faces! She gets so excited when Daddy gets home in the evening. She's probably glad to have a new face to look at instead of Mommy's! She will track our faces and even some toys when she's in the mood now. She's started to smile more consistently, especially in the morning. I think she smiles at Daddy more than Mommy! We were struggling with nap time for a while but we've started a routine of swaddling and white noise which has helped immensely. We've always swaddled McKenna at nighttime but weren't doing it during the day since she was napping in the swing or bouncy seat. Because of the positioning our physical therapist has prescribed, we've started putting McKenna in her crib for naps. She loves to nap in her crib! We swaddle her up, turn on her ocean waves, give her a paci and she normally falls asleep after awhile. She's even started to have more quiet awake time when going down for a nap and after she wakes. She also quietly sits, for a short period of time, in her bouncy seat or swing watching her bird mobile or looking out at the trees outside! Diaper changes are actually fun for McKenna now too! She screamed and screamed at diaper changing time for the first month and a half but now she smiles, watches your face if you're changing her, or just happily looks around! On her two month birthday, she mostly slept through the night! She fussed a little from 4 am to 6am but soothed herself back to sleep. She repeated this the next night but needed a paci to go back to sleep. Unfortunately she woke back up last night at 2am and wouldn't settle until she nursed. So...we're not sure if she's quite ready to sleep through the night but we're hopeful since she's done it twice now. Every day with our little girl is such a joy! It's so fun to see her grow and change before our eyes! Being a Mom is definitely the hardest job I've ever had but it's the best job I've ever had too. I've posted some pictures that we've taken over the month. It's amazing to see how much she's matured over the last few weeks. Enjoy!!

Having fun with Grammie and Grandma!

Cuddles with Grandaddy

One of my many faces

I love it when Grandaddy sings and dances with me!

Daddy opening his first Father's Day gifts from McKenna! This will be the perfect book for them to read together at bedtime when she's a little older!

Grandaddy showing off McKenna's Father's day gift from her!

Father's Day

I love my Daddy!

Cuddles with Grandma!

Meeting Auntie Kamiren for the first time!

Cuddles with Grandpa!

Opening more gifts from Auntie Kamiren and Grammie!

This shows McKenna holding onto her taggie toy, something new she's started doing the last few weeks. This also shows the neck support made out of one of Deric's old socks that the Physical Therapist told us to make. We get funny comments all the time about the sock support when we're out and about.

This really shows how much McKenna has grown! She likes facing out now at times during the day but still prefers snuggling up on a warm shoulder.

More snuggles with Auntie Kamiren while showing off her cute outfit from Harold and Barbara

So excited to see Daddy!

Giving Daddy a big smile

She really fills out her swing now!

2 months old!

She really looks like Deric in this pic!

Fascinated with the bird mobile on the swing

When looking for baby pic poses, I saw this idea and wanted to do it when she was first born but we forgot. I finally got my engagement ring back on the other day and it reminded me to take this sweet picture. I think it turned out beautifully!

McKenna is enjoying looking out the window while sitting in her bouncy seat

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

McKenna Graces Turns One Month Old!

It's hard to believe that sweet McKenna has been here with us for one whole month! It feels like we came home from the hospital yesterday. Although, McKenna looks very different from the baby we brought home from the hospital. She came out weighing 5 lbs and 7 1/2 oz and on Thursday, 6/14/12, her one month birthday, weighed 6 lbs 9 oz! She's only in the 3rd percentile for weight but we're making progress! She was 19 inches at birth and is now 20 1/4 and you can tell she's gotten longer. She has the longest legs, which she didn't get from her mama! She's in the 25th percentile for height and for her head circumference. She's finally outgrown preemie diapers and now wearing newborns. When we first brought McKenna home, we only had a few outfits that fit her. She's now filling out her newborn outfits better and I'm hoping we'll move into the 0-3 month clothes soon.

McKenna has started to have more awake time especially in the morning and evening when Daddy gets home. She really focuses in on us now and seems to recognize both Deric and myself. She's started making a consistent "ahh" sound and other noises that seems like she's communicating sometimes. Just this week, she's remained calm and not screaming for a few diaper changes but we have a ways to go in that area. I've started to create a routine, or maybe attempt to create, in the morning. We have play time and then I take her out for a morning stroll. I'm thankful that the newborn specialist we've been seeing this past month said that I had to get her out for a walk everyday or I'd really be going crazy since we can't take her out in public yet. I feel a bit like I've been a prisoner at the house for 5 weeks but I'm thankful she's healthy and doing well.

One thing the nurse practitioner noticed is that McKenna's neck pulls to the right a little. We've been doing neck exercises for weeks now to help but she noticed it again at her one month appointment. She said it's a mild torticollis so she's referred us to physical therapy. I wish we didn't have a need for physical therapy but I'm grateful that we caught this early and hope that it can be corrected. The nurse seemed to think it should be corrected easily and was a result of how McKenna was lying in the womb.

This week Deric flew to Texas for work Monday and Tuesday so I was a little nervous getting through the night with McKenna since she can be difficult to get back down after her 2am feeding as well as giving her a bath by myself. My sweet sister and Mom came over and helped which was a blessing! Also, the past few days McKenna has decided again that she doesn't want to be put down for a nap. She falls asleep right after her feeding, unless she's fussy from gas and reflux which is getting worse, and cries as soon as she's put down. I ordered a Moby Wrap which came yesterday so I'm hoping I can put her up on my chest and get things done around the house when she refuses to nap on her own. We'll see!

I'm loving this new chapter in our lives! It's certainly been challenging thus far but a blessing beyond measure. I've included some pictures of sweet McKenna over the past month. As I look through the pictures, I just can't believe how much she's changed in 5 weeks

Wearing her take home outfit

Showing off her smile!

McKenna was only a few days old here!

First time home

First sponge bath at home

Cuddles from Auntie Lauren

Meeting Grammie

Going on my first walk

At home photo shoot

Princess and the Pea

Enjoying Grandma

Meeting Grandpa

Proud Grandaddy, Grandpa, and Mommy

First real bath

Visit with Kim and Taylor

Visit with Lyn and Terry

One Month Old

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Welcome to the World McKenna Grace Swanson!

McKenna Grace Swanson came into this big world on May 14, 2012 at 8:25pm weighing 5 lbs and 7 1/2 oz. Her arrival was quite the surprise as she was 3 weeks and two days before her due date! We ended up at Northside Hospital Mother's Day evening with a suspected slow amniotic fluid leak but we weren't sure. Even the on call doctor wasn't sure and allowed me to make the decision to come into the hospital for testing. We really thought the test would come back negative. We were shocked when the nurse came back twenty minutes later and said it's positive so we're starting you on pitocin in the morning and you'll have your baby tomorrow. Thankfully on the way out the door for the hospital, I remembered to grab our bags just in case. We both just stared at each other for a few minutes when the nurse said the test came back positive. I started having contractions that night after giving me some initial meds and by the morning I was having pretty intense contractions before the pitocin was started. Right when they started the pitocin, I had a contraction that lasted 4 minutes and McKenna's heart rate dropped for a period of time. The next thing we knew, four nurses were huddled around me shaking me from side to side, putting oxygen on me, and working to get her heart rate back up. Thankfully she improved and we continued to labor for hours. Because of the pitocin, I ended up having contractions, one of top of the other without any breaks, which is not natural. They finally turned the pitocin down but only momentarily. My OB, happened to be the doctor on call, so he ended up being the doctor that delivered McKenna. About halfway through Monday, he told the nurses to keep increasing the pitocin. Once I hit transition, I could no longer tolerate the contractions as I hadn't had a break in hours from them. You would see them peak on the monitor and come down slightly and go right back up. I finally gave in and begged for an epidural. Deric did such a great job keeping me focused and really I was surprised that I could get through a contraction just using the rocking chair in the room until I wasn't getting a break. Dr. Marcus told us earlier in the day that McKenna was already struggling to come down into the birth canal. She seemed to be stuck trying to get through my pelvic bones. After more than 24 hrs. of labor, being fully dilated, she still hadn't even made it into the birth canal. I pushed for an hour and after that we decided a c section was the only way that she was coming out. All went well with the cesarean delivery and we were thrilled to welcome our baby girl into the world Monday evening at 8:25pm. She shares a birthday with her Auntie Tyler! I've posted pictures we took of our beautiful girl when she arrived. Enjoy!