The Baby Story

It's about darn time I start catching up on all my blog posts I need to do.  So much to do... so little time.  One of these days I will master being a mom of two... it's hard work!!  Especially when I'm not getting enough sleep.  When I am getting enough sleep, everyone is much happier and things seem to go much smoother.  Lets hope this month brings with it more sleep.  Is that too much to ask?!? 

Well for those of you who care to hear the birth story... Here it is.

As expected, I didn't go into labor on my own.  I had to basically beg the doctor to let me get induced.  I was starting to panic that my mom was going to leave and I was still going to be pregnant!!  That was NOT okay.  My doctors told me at my 39 week appt that they wouldn't induce me unless I was dilated to a 3 and fully effaced.  Unfortunately at this point I was only at a 1.  My mom showed up the day after my 39 week mark (I had mistakenly assumed my doctors would induce me at 39 weeks, so had previously told my mom to book her ticket a week before I was due).  That was a mistake.  Anyway, to make a long story short, my mom and I marched into my next doc appt. with every possible excuse to convince the Dr to induce me.  The good news is, I was dilated to a 2+ and 90% effaced.  That is probably the ONLY reason the Dr was even willing to consider it.  That, and my mom and I practically pleaded.  (Glad I won't be going to those doctors again.)  I'm going to chalk that up to all that walking we did the 3 days before my appointment.  I was exhausted and SO ready to have this baby!!

My doctor agreed to let me come in the following morning and get induced, on the condition that if they were full and had lots of people in labor, I would be the first to get the boot.  I tried not to get my hopes up.  I couldn't sleep all night, worrying that my phone was going to ring and they were going  to tell me I couldn't come in.  Luckily that didn't happen.

 This is the last pregnancy pic... leaving to go to the hospital.

Jeff and I showed up at the hospital at 7am.  They were quick to get me hooked up to an IV and pitocin.  I decided to hold out for a little while before I got my epidural (why?  I'm not sure).  After a bit I started having some pretty intense contractions and opted for the epidural.  Wishing at this point I wouldn't have waited.  By 11am I got the epidural.  Heaven.  I wasn't sure after my last experience whether epidurals were that great. (Never really worked with Trey) But I am now here to testify that this epidural was GREAT.  I could still feel the pressure of the contractions coming and going but I wasn't in pain.  Nothing like with Trey.  Thank goodness.  Probably an hour later the doctor came in to brake my water.  The contractions started really picking up.  Then I just sat there... waiting...

 
I started wondering when the doc was going to come in and check me.  It felt like it had been a long time.  I was feeling lots of pressure so I asked the nurse if she would check to see how far I was dilated.   I think it may have been my nurses first week on the job and I was a little leary of her assessment.  She said I was about a 5 or a 6.  Umm... what!?!  I waited another 10 min before I asked to have the doc come check me.  The nurse came back with a catheder and said the doc would be in shortly.  While she was putting in the catheder I started feeling nauseous.  Jeff grabbed the closest thing he could find and I lost my breakfast and anything else that could have possibly been inside of me.  (Sorry if that's more info than you care to know)  The best part about it was the doc had to stop mid-catheder to help me, and well... you get the idea.  Awesome.  Might as well come out both ends, right!?  The doc came rushing in to see what was going on... she checked me and said I was at a 10 and ready to start pushing.  (Note:  I was at a 5 maybe 6, 15 min before)  Yeah, the nurse was either way off or I dilated WAY fast.  Either way, I started pushing and 15 or 20 minutes later we had a beautiful little girl!  The whole labor experience was so much better this time around.  I couldn't believe it.  They handed me Kate immediately and it was such a neat experience.... as opposed to being in so much pain when Trey came out that I actually said no to holding him.  Lets hope the rest of my deliveries will be as pleasant as this one was.

 (Getting her bath)

I was a little surprised when they told me Kate was 9lbs.  I thought that with her being a girl and a few days early she'd be smaller... I was wrong.  The first thing the nurse said when she handed me Kate was, "wow, she's heavy!"  Good thing they induced me when they did!

(Right after they handed her to me)

 Daddy and Kate

 Grandma Wendy and Kate

 Aunt Ash and Kate

Trey seeing Kate for the first time.  He was very skeptical... but I think he understood that she was the baby in my belly.

Opening his gift from Kate.  He loves firetrucks!

 He was so sweet with her... but then after being there for 10 minutes he wanted to go!  He kept bringing me my purse.

Kate leaving the hospital.
Apparently she wanted to stay. :)

Although I did tear, I felt pretty good (minus being exhausted) by the first week.  It amazes me how quickly women can heal from delivering a baby!  You'd think we wouldn't be able to walk for months after!  Nursing was a bit of a struggle at first but is now going great.  Our little munchkin is growing like a weed and already weighed 10lbs at her 2 week appt.  It will be interesting to see if she grows as quickly as Trey.  We may have another little chunker on our hands!

Kate is such a sweet little girl.  She has a little different temperament than Trey and is more easy going.  She has her moments for sure, but overall she's a dang good baby.  I love having a little girl and am already sad that a month has almost come and gone.  The cuddly newborn stage does not last long enough!!  It really is crazy how fast time goes and how fast they grow.  I almost have a 2 year old for heavens sake!

I'm so grateful to be a mom of two beautiful little babies!  It's crazy how much love you can have for each of your kids.... my heart is ready to explode!

Introducing....

Kate McKinley Wegener

Born on January 11, 2012 at 2:23 pm. 
Weighing a whopping 9lbs 5oz and 20.5 in tall.  Yep, we make BIG babies!!

Kate and I are both doing great.  I can't get enough of this snuggly newborn stage.  It really is the best thing.

I am currently in survival mode, so when I get some time I will post the birth story... because we all know everyone wants to hear it.  Ha. ;)  

And because I love them ALL... I couldn't just pick a few....  so please enjoy these pics of our sweet baby girl in all her chubbiness.  I could just eat those chubby little cheeks!

I can't forget about the Mr.  I could just eat this little man right up!  Too bad he wasn't willing to get in any pictures with Kate.  Little stinker does NOT like the camera.  We were lucky to get this one.  It's called.... fruit snack bribery!

**Photos are courtesy of my awesome friend Carlee.** 
She did an AMAZING job.  I couldn't be more pleased with the way they turned out. 
THANK YOU CARLEE!!!

Christmas in Pittsburgh

This is the second year we've spent Christmas away from our families, and although it would have been nice to spend it with our beloved families, I have to say it sure was a lot less stressful and actually quite relaxing to spend it here with our little family in the 'burgh.  This is the last Christmas we will be here... I can't handle that thought....  which gave us another reason why it was nice to stay home this year.  Not to mention the fact that a certain little missy (who still doesn't have a name) will be joining our family in the next couple of weeks (hopefully sooner), and it wasn't really even an option of whether or not we could go home.

I loved waking up with Trey on Christmas morning and seeing the excitement on his face when he came downstairs.  I'm not sure he really understands who Santa is but I think we told him enough times that Santa was coming and going to bring him presents if he was good, that I think he may have understood to some extent.  Either way, it was fun watching him open all of his presents.  It makes me even more excited for the following years when he starts to understand Christmas more and more.

We decided to let Trey just play with the gifts he got from Santa in the morning, so that we'd have time to get ready and have a nice breakfast before church.  When we got home we all took a long nap and then opened all of our presents.  I kind of liked it that way, it gave us something to look forward to instead of just being done opening gifts in the morning.  I made my favorite Christmas dinner, complete with ham, funeral potatoes, rolls, and green beans.

I wanted to get a picture of all of us together in our church attire, but Trey HATES having his picture taken lately so I gave up on that idea.  Here is the one and only picture I got.

For Christmas Eve morning we got together with our Pittsburgh "family" and had a nice little breakfast at the church.  It was great, the kids all entertained each other while the adults all sat around and chatted all morning.  I'm so glad we did this, I think everyone had a good time.

If you're wondering what's with the 'stache and beards, Jeff and about 75% of his class decided it would be fun to have a graduation picture with mustaches.  Pretty soon it'll be just the 'stache.  Sexy huh?

For Christmas Eve, some friends had us over for fondue.  We are lucky because we have been able to put Trey to bed at other people's houses lately so that we're able to hang out after the kids are in bed.  It's been great, especially since he transfers so well.

I've decided I really like fondue... and I really like the people who invite us over to do fondue.  :)
Thanks Brett and Carlee!

We had planned to have cobbler that night but after we were finished with the fondue we were all too stuffed to eat one more thing.  So instead they had us over on Christmas Day to relish in the deliciousness of peach cobbler and vanilla ice cream.  Thanks guys, you rock!

As I mentioned, Trey has been great lately at going to bed at friends houses, so we've also gotten together a couple of times with some other friends who had us over for games and treats.  We stay up until way too late, which we end up regretting in the morning but it's definitely been fun.  I didn't get a picture either of these times which I'm mad about.  But here is the lovely couple and their little boy.  This was the only pic I could find of all of us.  Our boys have become great friends over the years since they are so close in age.  Too bad we're all going to be leaving soon.

We've had some great friends offer to watch Trey while Jeff and I go out on a date, since it probably won't happen for a while once this baby comes.  We took them up on their offers and went to the Cheesecake Factory one night and then to Mission Impossible and dinner another night.  I love date nights.  It's fun going out without a little toddler tagging along.  Dinner is much more enjoyable. :)

And last but not least, we had a great New Years!  Again, we decided to get together with a bunch of our friends and have an early New Years Eve party.  We all brought appetizers and drank some bubbly.  And some of us were able to play games.  The church has become quite useful for us since none of our houses are quite big enough to host everyone, especially with the amount of kids that we have.  We ended the night around 8 and then Jeff and I came home and rang in the New Year while watching the movie "Warrior."  We may not have banged pots and pans and lit off fireworks, but trust me, our neighbors did enough for the both of us.

Happy New Year!!

2012 is going to bring lots of new and exciting things our way.
Here's to hoping it's a good year!

What we've been up to lately

This past month has flown by!  I can't believe it's already January.  Seriously, where did the time go!?  I've spent much of my time lately finishing up projects and getting things ready for this baby to arrive...  and I am just about there!  Whew!  It's a good thing too because she's gonna be here any day now.  (Unless she is stubborn like Trey, and in that case I've got a ways to go.)  I'm not holding my breath but I AM hoping for an early induction.  We'll see if I can get my doctors on board, I'm gonna have to do some serious convincing.  I'm slightly nervous I'm going to have another very large baby.  The first one was hard enough, I don't know if I can push out another 9 pounder!  Speaking of baby... here is a recent belly pic.  I really don't love these pictures, but I posted so many with Trey that I think I'll appreciate it one day for journaling purposes.  So here it is.

Okay so it's actually not that recent, this was me at 34 weeks.
I told you this baby's gonna be big!

Back in November my friends threw me a baby shower for our little girl.
My friends are great, I just love all these girls.

I have to say, I made quite the hall.

Little girl clothes really are the cutest thing.

We took Trey to the Dentist (aka Jeff) for a cleaning a few weeks back.  Let's just say, Trey was NOT a fan.  I tried to get some pics but since he wasn't cooperating these were the best I got.  Can you tell he was nervous?  haha.  I pretty much held him down while Jeff quickly cleaned his teeth... if you can even call it that.  Little stinker.

Jeff spent a good chunk of December studying for boards.  It was a long few weeks, but the good news is, HE PASSED!!!!  I am so proud of him.  It's such a relief knowing the studying part of his dental career is over.  It's all down hill from here.... Way to go Jeff!!

Trey gets so excited whenever Jeff comes home from school.  I will always tell him when Jeff is about to come home and Trey will quickly run and climb up on the couch to look out the window.  This particular time I found him like this.  He cracks me up.

As I mentioned before I have been keeping busy working on a bunch of projects.  I am happy to say that I FINALLY finished my Quiet Books that ended up being way more work than I had anticipated.  I sure hope it pays off.  A bunch of girls here decided to get together and do a Quiet Book page swap.  So each of us picked 2 pages and then made enough for everyone in the group.  Some only did one page and therefore only got on page.  In the end, I ended up making 24 pages.  It was crazy.  Like I said, it better be worth all the time and money I spent on this book.  If I have to, I will force my kids to play with it.  :)  Seriously.

Here are the pages I ended up making.  The second two were ones I just made for myself.  It was meant to be a church themed book, so aside from a couple... that is what it is.

And here's a glance at a few of the others.

Some other things I've accomplished these past couple of months include: burpcloths, wipes case, carseat canopy, hooded towel, lots and lots of little girl bows, blog books, wedding book, (yes I know, we've been married for almost 5 years and I just now finished our wedding book) and these Christmas cards.

Here's a few more pics for your enjoyment.

Thanks Tyler for taking these pictures for us and Stacey for doing our Christmas card!

I only finished 08-09' of our blog, but it took me forever and I'm afraid it'll be a while before I get to 2010 and 2011.  But hey, at least I'm half way there!

Here are some random pictures that were taken throughout the month in no particular order.

Trey has really gotten into reading books and doing puzzles lately.  When he wakes up from his nap, he often wants me to put all of his books in the crib with all of his stuffed animals.  He then proceeds to show all of his books to his stuffed animals.  It's pretty darn cute.

We had a small little baby shower for one of my friends who is only a week behind me. (She's second from the left)  We went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  I love that place.  I have a feeling she's going to have her baby before I have mine.  I will not be happy if that is the case. ;)

In addition to lunch, we've been able to have a few other girls night outs this month.  Thank heavens for our husbands who are willing to stay home and watch the kiddos!

We are currently getting ready to sell our house.  Great timing right!?  We've been trying to organize, de-junk, clean, fix things that need to be fixed, and our latest project or I guess Jeff's latest project is painting.  He's right in the middle of painting all of the trim, base boards, stairs, and doors around the house.  It's intense.  Our hope is to get our house up for sale either by the end of Jan. or first of February.  We shall see.

It's been so great having Jeff home these past couple of weeks.  Especially since we've been able to get a lot done.  I'm going to miss these long breaks that he gets over the holidays and during the summer.  It's unfortunate these long breaks only last while he's in school.  I guess I'll enjoy it while I can.

We had a great holiday (which I will post about soon).  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!