One month come and gone...

On Thursday, Kacey celebrated her 1 month birthday! Happy birthday little goob! Everything is going so great. I can't believe how much she is growing each and every day. At her one month doctor's appointment, she weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 14oz (72 percentile) and is a very tall 23 inches (95 percentile). She's still fitting into her newborn clothes, but I think that will be coming to an end soon. They're just getting a little too short on her. She's going to be a tall one like her daddy!

We successfully made it through Tim's trip to Chicago. My mother-in-law came and stayed with us and that helped quite a bit. We're so happy to have him home though. She definitely missed her daddy! Kacey and I are finally getting onto somewhat of a schedule. She's been sleeping well at night and she's napping better and better during the day (this makes for a very happy mommy too!). We transitioned her into her bassinette this past weekend and that's letting us get better sleep too. While we miss having her in our bed, the last thing we want is to have a 5 year-old who can't sleep anywhere else but with us. She's even started smiling and cooing much more over the past week. It just melts my heart when she gives me that big toothless grin.

She's just a beautiful and wonderful little girl. We are very lucky parents. Although sometimes it makes me a little sad that she is growing up so fast, I can't wait for the new things that every day brings with her.

Oh how the time flies!

I just can't believe my little girl is already 23 days old! She is just the most miraculous thing that has ever happened to me. I can't even put into words how much I adore our little family. It's certainly been a crazy first 3 weeks, but we get more used to one another with each moment together.

Well, here's just a quick synopsis of the last few weeks. So far we've seen our pediatrician three times. As of last Wednesday (2 weeks and 1 day old) she has gained 4 oz. from her birth weight and grown 2 inches! And that was up 12 oz. from just 6 days earlier! She really is thriving which I'm so happy with. Nursing is going really well and I'm so happy that I stuck with it even when it was incredibly painful and difficult. It's so worth it now. I really hope we can keep it up. Sleeping is going well. We're tired, but she's a good sleeper so we appreciate what we do get. She's usually only up one or two times in the middle of the night. My mommy confidence is improving each day.

I love watching her sleep (looks just like her dad when she's totally zonked out and is totally adorable). And she makes the cutest faces and smiles at us. Although I suspect it is just gas at least some of the time, that doesn't make it any less sweet. She's just a great baby. Even survived 2 BC football tailgates so far. So basically, we're just totally loving her to pieces all the time. I hope time slows down soon though. I know before I know it, she's going to be a toddler running around and raisin' hell and I'm sure we'll be loving every minute of that too.

Our Birth Story

Well, little Keegan Catherine is now busy enjoying her 1 week birthday in this big crazy world. And in honor of that, here is her birth story...

The plan was to begin our induction on Monday morning (the 17th) with cervical ripening gel and then to go home on Monday night for early labor and return Tuesday morning (the 18th) to start Pitocin and have this baby. Unfortunately, the baby's heart rate wasn't having enough accelerations for the doctors to feel comfortable giving me the gel. Instead, the midwife on call decided that we would just start Pitocin on Monday and get the show going since I was still only 1+ cm dilated and 70% effaced. We were a little surprised and unprepared, thinking that we would have one more night at home, but luckily we had all of our supplies with us and we were anxious to meet our little one. We were checked into labor and delivery and I started on a Pitocin drip as well as IV fluid. I was hooked up to monitors to track my contractions and the baby's heartbeat. Then the waiting started....

It was a long day and night of little sleep, contractions, walking the hospital halls, constant nurse visits and monitor readjustments. Timmy even went out and got us milkshakes to help pass the waiting time (I have a great husband!) By 6 o'clock Tuesday morning I was exhausted and I decided I really needed to get some rest because I would need it for delivery. The nurses gave me a shot of nubain. I can't sing the praises of this drug enough. It was like taking 6 shots of tequila without any of the horrible side effects. First I became giggly and then I happily became very sleepy and was finally able to get some rest. I definitely think it was the best decision for me. Throughout the day they continued upping they amount of Pitocin I was receiving. When I got to 4 or 5 centimeters (around 12 noon), the contractions were painful enough that I requested an epidural. I felt no guilt about this since I knew I was going to want it going into labor. The anesthesiologist was wonderful (and also pregnant and understanding) and all I felt was the stinging of the local anesthetic. Before I knew it, I was much more comfortable. I lost all feeling from my abdomen down, but was happy to still be able to feel my legs enough to move my body on my own. I was worried that everything would be limp, but glad that that wasn't the case. By 3 o'clock I was 7 cms and at 5 o'clock, I was surprised to be fully dilated and ready to push.

Rachel, one of the midwives who took care of us during this long labor, had already delivered 3 babies that day and was hoping that ours would be her fourth. Unfortunately, I was still pushing 2 hours later when all of the shifts changed and we got new nurses and midwives. Although I really had the pushing technique down, our little girl was in a posterior position or "sunny side up" and therefore had a much more difficult time passing through my pelvic bone. My usual midwife, Helen, took up the job that Rachel had to leave and it was nice to have someone I was so familiar with being there with me. Tim was the best coach and he held one of my legs while counting me through all of my pushes. Unfortunately, my contractions, even with the help of Pitocin, weren't occurring often enough to really make the baby progress between pushes. At 10 o'clock, the medical personnel had decided that I had been pushing for far too long and they were going to have to use the vacuum to assist our little girl on her way out. Along with this would come the dreaded episiotomy that I had insisted I did not want. I assured them I could continue pushing and luckily my attitude was positive enough that within minutes, I had made just the progress that I needed to. Everyone was amazing and so encouraging. Before I knew it, there was some slight burning and then I felt my whole body empty and I heard my little girl crying. It was absolutely the most surreal moment of my life. Tim and I were both crying and I just kept asking "Is she pretty?" I think I must have been unable to wrap my mind around the extraordinary thing that had just happened. Tim says she was blue when she first came out, but within seconds, she was pink and in my arms. Tim cut her cord and there we were, a brand new family.

We stayed in the hospital until Friday. I had developed a fever while I was pushing and so they needed to keep Keegan on IV antibiotics for 48 hours. It's been a huge transition being home, but we're all getting much more accustomed to eachother as each hour goes by. Tim has been absolutely amazing and my confidence is getting better every day. Breastfeeding has left me pretty sore to say the least. It's not easy, especially with the baby blues and hormonal craziness I've been experiencing, but she's just such a joy, it's hard for me to feel anything but total love for everything she does. We're just very very lucky new parents.

Announcement to the World

I'm guest authoring my wife's blog today as she is currently busy taking care of our 8lbs. 4oz. bundle of joy, the little girl formerly known as Tazby...

Keegan Catherine Parcell entered the world at 10:11pm on September 18, 2007 and both mom and girl are fantastic, healthy, and beautiful.

I'm sure that Smokin' Hot Mama will have plenty to write about as the next chapter of life begins. One things for sure, the belly won't be growing anymore!

Stay tuned...

+5

So I'm 5 days overdue and there's still no sign of Tazby...

We met with our midwife, Helen, today to check my progress. Unfortunately it wasn't as much as I'd hoped after many hours of increasing contractions over the last several days. I'm still between 60% and 70% effaced and 1+ cm. dilated. I know it doesn't mean that she's not coming soon, but it was somewhat of a disappointment and, I have to admit, it was really hard for me to hear. Timmy and I are both just very anxious to get through this phase and onto parenthood. Thank goodness for Timmy though. He never fails to put things in perspective for me and make a tough situation much look so much brighter.

The good news is that we know for sure that if she's not here by Monday, we'll get started with an induction. Helen just said that I wasn't "favorable" enough (i.e. I haven't progressed on my own enough) to schedule one any earlier. Plus, she said she wants to be selfish and deliver me herself so she picked her next 24 hour shift to induce me. I personally think she just wants me to avoid the induction and let this little girl come at her own time, but I appreciate her excuse too :-) Although 7 days seems like an eternity from now, I'm thrilled to have an absolute end date in the calendar. I know this waiting has been so nerve-frying for everyone who cares about us and hopefully this will ease things a bit.

We'll be seeing Helen again on Thursday morning to check on my progress and then, in the afternoon, we'll be getting a biophysical profile for little Tazby so we know that she's fine for a few more days, if need be. I guess I'll just have to take my mother-in-law's advice and enjoy the peace and quiet I have now because as wonderful as having our daughter here will be, I know that it won't be able to be described as peace and quiet!

Maternity Leave: Day 1

"The time has come. The time is now.
Just go. Go. Go! I don't care how.
You can go by foot. You can go by cow.
You can go on stilts.You can go by fish.
You can go in a Crunk-Car if you wish." - Dr. Seuss

I was hopeful that I would be able to begin maternity leave as a new mommy, but, of course, our little Irish girl is being stubborn for sure! So, little Tazby, I'm getting ready to send you your official eviction notice. Don't get me wrong. I have loved having you the last 9 months, but I know you're running out of room since you've expanded to taking up residence in my ribs and you have a lot of people out here who are so excited to meet you, especially your mom and dad.

I'm glad to not have had to take the train into work this morning. It certainly is more comfortable sitting in my own living room than at my desk, but I have a feeling that this day is going to drag on as I try to find things to occupy my time and encourage my water to break and contractions to start. And I know it's tough for Timmy having to be at work an hour away from me in case something happens. So, send me some labor dust! I think I'll go eat some pineapple now...

Patience is a Virtue...

...which I have yet to master. Well, today is my due date, but as Timmy reminded me this morning, it is only an estimated date of arrival and certainly not a guarantee. As you can probably tell by my lack of news, Tazby has yet to make her grand entrance into this world.

I had an appointment with my OB yesterday. I'm making progress, but there's really no way to tell when this whole thing is going to go down. If she's not here by Tuesday, I have another appointment and we'll talk about doing a biophysical profile to assess how she's doing and whether or not an induction will be necessary. I'm hoping to avoid that, but we will, of course, do whatever is safest for her.

Although it is disappointing to see your due date come and go, I know she'll be here when she's ready. At least I only have 1 day of work left before I start my maternity leave so I'll be able to get plenty of rest to prepare for labor and delivery.

As the waiting continues, wish us luck that we'll meet our little girl soon (Any time would be fine with us, but I know Timmy is secretly hoping she'll come sometime this weekend between the BC football game and the Patriots season debut)! Thanks for checking in!