Makenna's newborn pics

This is a quick drive-by post! Here is the link to Makenna's newborn photos done by a fabulous photographer in Fargo. The password is mhnewborn.


Enjoy!

Lots of firsts...

Makenna and I went to her first scrapbook store. I had a blast... she slept the whole time! Such a little trooper! We stopped in at the Scrapnook for a few minutes since we got to town early for her 2 week doctor's checkup. I found some very cute stuff:) Then we went to her dr's appt which was fabulous! Not only did she get a clean bill of health but she's gained a lot of weight! She now weighs 7 lbs 11 oz which is absolutely awesome. Her pediatrician said she likes to have the babies weigh the same at 2 weeks as they did at birth. Makenna is 1 lb over that! YAY:) She's an eater!

I also left Makenna for the first time with my best friend for a couple of hours so I could meet my farrier (he puts shoes on horses) to reset Faith's shoes and trim her feet on Thursday. Ember is better with babies then most parents so I had no fear leaving Makenna with her because I knew she was in very good hands. That certainly makes it a lot easier especially the first time! Then I went scrapping with Ember, Marie and Ann last night so Lance and Makenna spent the evening together. It apparently went very well as everyone was asleep when I got home and I didn't receive a panic call:) I haven't scrapped since Feb so I was VERY glad to get some time in to do that.

Right now, Uncle Lee and Makenna are bonding on the couch. He finally made it back from Okla.homa so he drove up to see his niece. They seem to be getting along quite nicely:) Pictures to come!

Baby acne

Poor Miss Makenna has a case of baby acne. She has absolutely gorgeous skin but yesterday I noticed a white head. Last night there were a bunch of white heads and today she looks like she is a cross between a kid with chicken pox and a teenager with a bad chocolate habit. Poor thing! She also appears to have a clogged tear duct in her left eye. Luckily we have her 2 week wellness appt on Thursday so I can ask the doctor to confirm all of this.

The princess is sleeping soundly since 8:45pm. YAY!! Now Mommy can get a few things done including shower and go to bed. I really don't know how single moms do this! At least I have back up (aka Lance) on the weekends. Now if we can just figure out a way for him to breastfeed! I would LOVE a full night's sleep. All in good time, right?!

Here's some more pics!

Happy Friday!

We've fed.... changed diapers..... got dressed for the day.....walked...fed....changed diapers....yelled at the dog for psycho barking at absolutely nothing then wanting to go outside and come back in 75 times in 5 minutes....decided dog was better off outside in his kennel for the day since its so nice out.....made banana bread....fed....changed more diapers.....
Makenna is napping now and I'm heading down to my scrapbook room to start working on the remodel. I'm ~hoping~ to get a shower in today but it might have to wait until Lance gets home. At least Makenna cooperated with me yesterday so I was able to sneak in a shower as she napped in the morning.

I jumped on the scale today to see how things were going in the post-pregnancy slim down process. I was VERY pleasantly surprised that I'm down 2 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight! YAY!! I gained a total of 27 lbs so I've lost all of that (which some was definitely water weight as I was very swollen!) plus 2 additional lbs. I attribute it all to breastfeeding! Makenna eats all the time! I still have a little baby belly left but it's starting to pull back in. Maybe by 3 weeks post-partum it'll be gone. My new goal is to lose an additional 15-20 lbs off of my pre-pregnancy weight. I thought it was going to be a lot harder to lose the baby weight than this. Not that I'm complaining!!

I'm off to the scrapbook room! Have a great weekend! Makenna is 2 weeks old tomorrow so we're going to celebrate by taking lots of pictures of her and eating some popsicles! I might even take a celebratory nap in her honor;)

Today is Makenna's due date!

The day we had been focusing on for 10 months! Today we're going to celebrate Makenna being 11 days old and a great baby! We can't even imagine what life would be like without her! It's amazing how quick this little person has changed us and our lifestyle. We love it!!

Makenna is sleeping in her bouncy chair as I'm typing this. Such a good girl! She is kind of snorting/gurgling because of some snot build-up in her nose/throat so I need to call the ped doc/nurse about that to see if there is anything more we can do about that besides suctioning her nose. Other than that, we're going to relax, read, take a nap, maybe watch some tv and enjoy not having to go anywhere or do anything! The house needs to be cleaned up a little but that is going to wait too. Today is going to be all fun and no work for Makenna and I:)

I love...

• all the faces Makenna makes. We've even named a few of them because we see them so often:)
• seeing her smile... even if it is just gas!
• how she's the loudest eater and sleeper around. She grunts and moans and squeaks like crazy.
• how she must stretch for at least 2-3 minutes after we unswaddle her. She grunts like crazy then too:)
• how much she loves her daddy. She just snuggles into his chest or neck whenever he holds her.
• how she's really starting to look around and at us with her big blue eyes.
• all her hair and how soft it is.
• snuggling her anytime but especially after she's done eating and is sleepy and just wants to be snuggled.
• BEING A MOM!

1 week old! (yesterday)

Umm... didn't I just get home from the hospital?? How is it that Makenna is already 1 week old? To celebrate Makenna's 1 week birthday, we had just about every relative in the tri-county area stop by for a visit (yesterday). Then Miss Makenna decided that she was going to sleep from 11:30pm to 4:30am!! What a treat that was!! I almost feel refreshed from 5 straight hours of sleep. Ok, not quite refreshed but man did that feel good:)

Tomorrow we're getting Makenna's newborn pictures taken in the afternoon. I can't wait to see how they turn out. The photographer we're using has a very unique style and way with colors. I really like her work. Hopefully Makenna will cooperate with the whole process!

Lance is hitting the road again on Tuesday (just for the day) so it'll be just us girls at home. We have very important things on our agenda like writing thank you's, taking walks, making banana bread and taking LONG naps!

I leave you with yet another Makenna picture:) I bought this duck chair as the stationary item that I can take Makenna's picture with every week or month for the first couple of years. She fell sound asleep while I was taking her picture and this is what I got:) Yes, she can breathe!!

A moment of peace.

Lance and Makenna are out cold on the couch. The house is all quiet except for the humming of the breast pump as I'm finally getting a couple of minutes to sit down by myself in peace. ~sigh~ After pumping, I'm heading outside as it's a beautiful day and my flowers haven't been watered for days. The weeds are also giving me the eye so I want to attack those before the herd of family and friends decends upon us tomorrow.

Lance, Makenna and I just got home from a trip into town for my appt and running errands. We were welcomed home by the UPS man, Fed Ex man and a postal delivery. Wow! It's like Christmas all over again! Well, for Makenna at least:) One of the packages was even addressed to Makenna and Staff!!! That's too funny Ranee! Very true though:)

Makenna is proving to be quite the travel companion as she loves to be in the car especially when it's moving. She doesn't mind being in a shopping cart in her car seat but did fuss a little so Dad just carried her around Target and snuggled her. She was a happy camper then.

I guess the silence is over as Makenna is hungry. I've been pumping here and there so we would have the ability to use a bottle in case I run into town or need a break, ect. We brought one with us to Fargo just in case she wouldn't nurse while there so Lance is going to feed that instead of letting it go to waste. I don't want to encourage the bottle use too much as I want to breastfeed as long as possible (within reason!!).

I'll leave you with some more pics!

She's hungry here too:) This girl can eat!

Must be a very serious dream to need such a furrowed brow!

Just a dang cute baby laying on the quilt my mom made for her!!

The miracle that is swaddling!

Makenna LOVES to be swaddled! The hospital nurses swaddle all their babies with 2 blankets. For some reason, maybe lack of sleep, we didn't swaddle her when we tried to get some sleep Monday nite. It was a long nite with VERY little sleep. The next nite Lance decided to bring the swaddle back. What a difference that made! Last nite was even better!! Makenna sleeps very soundly for about 3-3.5 hours when she's swaddled. That is sweet relief to us! Now Lance and I just need to get our nite started sooner than 11pm-midnite. We're aiming to be in bed by 10pm tonight.
More updates later as I have a diaper that needs changing:) I love being a mom!!!!

She's HERE!!!

(so is the crib and changing table too but that's a whole different story!!)

Introducing Miss Makenna Zophia Haugen!

This is right after she was born.

Makenna on the scale.

Daddy and Makenna right after she was born.

Mommy & Makenna right before we were discharged.

Makenna being very excited about going home for the first time!!

She was born 6-6-09 @ 6:37pm weighing 6lbs 11oz. Apparently ~6~ is her lucky number!

Lance & I were up until midnight Friday nite putting the crib together and organizing the changing table . We finally cleaned everything up and headed to bed. At exactly 2 am I felt my water break. I quickly (or as quick as a pregnant lady can!!) slid off the bed trying not to let the flood gates open until I hit the towels that I laid next to the bed a couple of weeks ago "just in case". I leaned over the bed and whispered to Lance "Guess what? My water just broke!". Now Lance is a very heavy sleeper. He's already proven he can sleep through any noise Makenna makes as long as he knows I'm there. So when I barely got the last word out and Lance was already flying around the room, I was pretty impressed! He jumped up, came running to my side of the bed asking if I was ok. The whole time he was next to me, he had his hand on my butt. He then realized his hand was wet and said "Oh yuck!" Oh man did I laugh at that! I asked him what he expected. To his defense, I don't think he was even awake yet!

So Lance called L&D and told them we were coming in. I took a shower and grab a bowl of cereal. We had most of our stuff put together so Lance had the Highlander loaded in no time. We hit the road by 3am and the hospital by 3:30am. The L&D nurses first wanted to make sure my water actually broke. I guess I should have brought my p.j. pants, the 2 towels and our sheets to prove that I didn't just pee myself! Once they were convinced my water was ruptured, they admitted us and checked me. I was at 1 cm! A LONG ways to go! So they hooked me up to pitocin and Lance & I started walking the halls to get things going. By 10:30 am, I was at 2 cm. Lance and I both thought this was going to be a VERY long day! My pitocin was turned up every 20-30 minutes (since 4am) so the contractions were close together and moving around to my back. We tried all the lamaze techniques including the birthing ball and jacuzzi tub. By 2pm I was at 3cm with major back labor and contractions on top of eachother. I have back problems from playing college sports so the back labor was a killer. I finally said enough and asked how long would it take to get an epi if I wanted one. So my nurse checked and the doctor had 12 cases going in the OR but he did have time right now or in a couple of hours. So I decided that it was take the epi now or probably a c-section later due to lack of progress. I'd much rather have the epi!! Let me tell you... it was SWEET RELIEF! I could still feel the contractions but it wasn't even half the pain. So I dozed on and off until 4pm when I was checked again and I was at 6cm! YAY!! By 5pm I was feeling a lot of pressure so the nurse checked me and we were ready to go. Lance and I just looked at eachother like "Already?!". So we sat there in a daze while the nurses got our room set up. I pushed 6-8 times and then they called the doctor to come in. The doctor got there about 20 mins later and I had to not push through a couple as he was getting ready. Then pushed for about 5-6 times and out she came! What an amazing experience!!

I just barely tore in 2 places and have 1 stitch at each location so not too bad. I'm a little sore but nothing a little tylenol can't help. Breastfeeding is going GREAT! Makenna and I took a little while to get the hang of it but with the awesome nurses and Lance's help, we have it pretty down. My milk is coming in so that makes it much easier! Lance is an AWESOME father! I knew he would be but he is just such a natural. He swaddles even better than most of the nurses do according to one of our L&D nurses.

It has been quite the experience! I can't believe we waited so long to do this! I can't wait to do it again with Makenna's little sister or brother in another year or so. We are enjoying Miss Makenna like crazy! She's a little mixed up on her days and nites but we're working on that. If anyone has any suggestions, we'll take them. Other than that, she is absolutely perfect! Love her to death!!!

Absolutely NOTHING.

Apparently I'm sealed up tighter than a vault. ~Blah~ That is not what I wanted or expected to hear. Dr. R didn't seem too surprised given how hard it was to induce me with Lily. After talking to my mom, she had to be induced with both Lee and I because she never made progress on her own so I guess it runs in the family. The good news is Miss Thing will be well baked before her arrival! That really is the most important thing here. I did not want her to come early as it is so much healthier for babies to make it to 39-40 weeks. I'm definitely not someone who's ~trying~ to get the baby out early. That would not be what is best for her and just plan selfish of me.

I have another appt next Wednesday to see how things are progressing (or not!). Dr. R doesn't seem concerned about any of this so we're just going to follow his lead. He does not want me to go too long just because Miss Thing is a big girl and I'm so hard to induce. Perfect scenerio would be that I would go into labor on my own next week. Reality is leading more towards having to induce because of size and my vault-like cervix. Plus Dr. R wants to get Miss Thing out by or around 40 weeks to avoid any possible complications that increase when the baby stays in mom longer than 40 weeks. We know all is well with Miss Thing so he doesn't want anything to go wrong (which we appreciate) especially given our history. I didn't realize that the chance of stillbirth increases significantly after the baby is past 41-42 weeks.

So it's back to waiting but not for much longer! The good news is I'm getting so much done around the house that we'll have hardly any projects left after Miss Thing gets here! Well, I won't but Lance will as he's been working his tush off with work. He figures he'll have time after Miss Thing is here to do house things while she and I are sleeping or feeding or whatever!

It's a Happy Friday here! It looks like an indoor day as it's very overcast/going to rain and windy. The to-do list includes calling the crib company to harass them again, moving some of Miss Thing's clothes downstairs so I can fit the rest of the smaller sizes in her closet, horse stuff paperwork... we'll see from there! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

13 days.

That's all that is left:) I had a few contractions yesterday but nothing timeable and they went away after awhile. Today is my 38 week doctor's appt so hopefully there will be some progress in the dialation and effacement department. I'll do an update if there is:)

Still no sign of the crib and changing table:/ I'm giving the company and boutique we ordered it from until tomorrow and if I don't hear anything by then, I'm going to cancel the order and order something different. Dumb crib company:/

Nothing else too new here. Just waiting for Miss Thing to make her appearance. People are calling like crazy to see what's going on and if we have a baby yet. It's funny how June 1 came and the phone calls started rolling in.

It's a beautiful day here so I'm heading outside for some more yard work and to clean out the horse trailer. It's sure nice to get all of this done before Miss Thing is here as I believe we will be spending a lot of time staring at her when she does finally arrive:) I can't wait!!!

15 days left.

OK Miss Thing... this is your first but very official eviction notice that you are welcome to leave my insides at anytime but you MUST be out by June 20. That is an extension of 3 days past your due date should you have forgotten something and need an extra day to pack. That would put you here for Daddy's 1st official Father's Day on June 21. Very cool!

Now I know that you are extremely comfortable in your current home. I've even tried to be a less inviting host as of late by:
a) showing my horse for 4 days
b) planting 16 lilies, 5 perennials and tons of annuals yesterday

It doesn't seem to affect you at all:/

My next OB appt is on Thursday so let's pray for some dialation and effacement! I'd like to get this show on the road:) My bags are some what packed. The car seat & base are going in the Highlander today so we're ready on that front too. Miss Thing's coming home outfit is washed and ready to hit the bag. Now we just need to convince Miss Thing that she needs to make an appearance.

I just got off the phone with my brother and he said that next week doesn't not work for him to become an uncle as he has to go to Oklahoma for work so its either this week or 2 weeks from now. He just wanted to give me and Pork Chop (Lee's name for Miss Thing) our options... if only it was that easy!

My 2 hour pedicure is today and my feet couldn't be happier about that!! They are so awful looking! I need to give the house a good dusting/cleaning before too long. I've had all the windows open and we live on a gravel road so the dust is accumulating rapidly. Pics of Lily's garden to arrive tomorrow as its actually starting to look like it has a purpose. It still needs lots of Lance work but it's getting there!!