Lisa's Life

2012! Wow! 2011 was such a big year for us! Hopefully this year will be awesome as we watch our little man grow and become a toddler! Ethan’s resolution this year is to learn to sleep more than 5 hours in a row! As for me, I am going to try to eat more new foods, learn to cook and bake (without setting the kitchen on fire), take photos, and blog more frequently (especially on Ethan’s blog for those of you who want to follow all the cuteness to come ). I’m really looking forward to seeing what the new year will bring

I’ve always loved babies and have known for a long time that I wanted to be a mom. After being married for a few years and accomplishing many things, Michael and I finally decided to start a family at the end of last year. Fortunately, it only took us a few short months (ok, it felt like forever though) to get pregnant. The pregnancy went pretty well as I’ve blogged. At twelve or thirteen weeks, we had an ultrasound as part of a test for genetic abnormalities. During this ultrasound I was diagnosed with uterine fibroids. These fibroids are benign tumors, which can cause trouble during pregnancy. I had one fibroid that was pretty big and some smaller ones, so this meant we just needed to monitor my pregnancy a little closer. I got extra ultrasounds and saw the doctor exclusively (rather than alternating between the doctor and nurse practitioner). Fortunately, the fibroids did not give me any problems during the pregnancy. At the end of the pregnancy as I was getting ready to have our little boy, the doctor brought up the possibility of me having a c-section instead of going through labor. The fibroids could have caused issues with delivery including putting the baby out of position or preventing him from being able to enter the birth canal. After weighing our options, Michael and I elected to deliver the baby via c-section. It was safer for both him and me, and since I was likely to need a c-section anyway, it was better to not go through the work and pain of labor to end up in the operating room anyway.

So we had a c-section scheduled for October 13, 2011 at 1:30 pm. Michael and I went to the hospital that morning and checked in at 11:30. We were strangely calm, and went through the steps with ease. After check in, I was prepped for surgery. I had an IV put in and was dressed in hospital garb. They hooked me up to a monitor to watch the baby’s heart rate and to monitor if I was having contractions. To my surprise, I was having contractions! I actually had no idea! Lucky me!!! Michael had to get dressed for the OR too. This time went by pretty quickly. My parents came to the hospital around 1 and came back to say hi before sitting in the waiting room. I had doctors and nurses in and out to meet me and my OB stopped by to make sure we were all set. Pretty soon, I was told to walk to the operating room where our little baby would be born! Michael had to go wait in the hall while I was prepped.

In the OR, they had me get on the table and I was given a spinal block. This was pretty painless (the IV going in was worse than the spinal!) and then I was told to lie down on the table. I started to feel pretty sleepy (there was morphine in the spinal I believe) and they quickly started prepping me for surgery with drapes, etc. I felt pretty uncomfortable during this time, mostly because I was lying down with my arms out and couldn’t really move. I heard them say “get the dad in here” and thought to myself Awesome – time to get started! Michael came in and I told him that I thought they were about to get started. He looked at me and said that he wasn’t really looking but he thought that I was already open and that the baby was about to come out. I told him that he was crazy, but in just a few seconds the doctors showed us our little baby over the drapes!

There was some baby crying (a good thing) and Michael was able to go to the baby off to the side of the room where he was cleaned and got his apgar score. I was able to see this, but honestly I was really tired. The doctors closed me up pretty quickly and we were ready to go to recovery before I knew it. Michael and the baby went to a room where he was checked by the peds nurse and I went to a recovery bed where I started trying to move my legs as quickly as possible (so we could go to our room!). Michael and the baby soon joined me.

We had picked a name out the night before, but I really wanted to see the baby to make sure that the name fit. Fortunately it did, and we agreed that he was to be called Ethan John MacFadden. I was also told that our little guy was 21 inches long and weighed 8 lbs 6 oz! Not only do I grow super cute babies, but I also grow big babies!!

It wasn’t too long before I started being able to move my legs and we were whisked away to our room.  The hospital stay went pretty quickly. We were there for three days. The first two nights were in a shared room. Michael stayed with me the first night and we worked together to try to figure out Ethan’s crying and how to take care of him. I was pretty much stuck in bed for most of the night and so Michael was a huge help changing diapers and bringing the baby to me to feed. I wanted to get up and out of bed as quickly as possible, and was able to get up that night. My incision hurt when I moved but it wasn’t too bad (and the pain was less and less each time I moved). It was annoying sharing a room with other people and their newborns (if one baby wasn’t up and crying the other was so there was even less sleep to be had!). The third night we were finally able to get a private room which was significantly better! Before we knew it we were heading home with Ethan! I could not wait to get him home!!!

When we got home we quickly settled into parenthood. There are lots of feedings and diapers. I have been tracking the time that Ethan nurses on an iPhone app and saw that in the month of October after he was born (for the 14 days I used the app!) I nursed him for 40 hours! That doesn’t include time for pumping or feeding him bottles. Then there is the time that we spend changing diapers, giving him baths, soothing him etc! No wonder parenthood is a full time job Fortunately, Ethan is really kind to us! He isn’t a super fussy baby, and we’re actually pretty good at interpreting what he needs (food, diaper change, burping, or just a cuddle!). So far the nights haven’t been too bad either. I’m still pretty tired, but Ethan is typically only up twice a night for a feeding and diaper change. Some nights he wants to eat more frequently, but a usual night is only the two times. One other thing that makes life a lot easier is my parents are here helping out. They have been so helpful even if it is just holding Ethan or watching him while I take a nap or run a quick errand!

One thing that has blown my mind is the love I feel for Ethan. I knew I would love him, but I really did not know how much. I feel like I can spend hours just looking at him, and think he is absolutely perfect. I find myself bragging about anything he can do (which to be honest, newborns are not all that talented but my baby will stare at me, I think he recognizes me, can hold my fingers with his super strong grip, holds his head up, and is pretty much just the greatest baby ever!). He makes the cutest sounds (lots of “chirping” and sweet sighs when he is sleeping and cuddling) and makes lots of noise in his sleep!

Overall, I really love being a mom and love watching Michael being a dad. Ethan is growing and changing so quickly and it is amazing to see what each day brings us! I will try to keep up with his growth and development on his website (Ethan.MacFadden.org) so please continue to check his site regularly for updates, pictures, and videos.

Introducing the newest love of my life, Ethan John MacFadden.

Ethan has his own website that Michael and I will keep up to date as best we can. I will also post about my experience with his delivery and the first few weeks of motherhood in the near future! Stay tuned

Alright…well I seem to have failed about keeping up to date with blogging about my pregnancy with Baby Mac! These last 9 months have just flown by! I still cannot believe our little guy is going to be here in 4 days! It’s crazy. I really do not know what to expect as we enter parenthood but it will be interesting!

So let’s see, I last posted in July. At that time we had found out that Baby Mac was going to be a boy and I could feel him kicking. Well he is still a boy and he still likes to kick…and punch, and roll, and hiccup, and stick his feet and hands out of my sides, and play with my ribs, and stick his little bottom out He’s quite the active baby, moving throughout the day. Fortunately throughout the pregnancy he let me sleep through the night which was awesome. Recently sleeping has become more difficult. Mostly it is comfort and having to get up to go to the bathroom, although apparently I’ve been snoring and tossing and turning and keeping poor Michael up. I had a week of heartburn/reflux which wasn’t too fun but otherwise I really cannot complain. Baby Mac has been very kind to his Mommy! This past week I have noticed that I’ve started slowing down a little, becoming exhausted easily (I keep falling asleep on the couch while we’re watching TV at night), and having a harder time getting around. Despite all of this I realize that I’ve had it pretty easy and am thankful that all my “miserable” symptoms have been short lived.

So let’s back track a little. In August my sister in law, Kerilyn, threw me a baby shower with the help of my sister Emily. It was a lovely event! Michael, Baby Mac and I were very spoiled by everyone and we had a great weekend with the Fountain and MacFadden ladies  Photos of the baby shower are included at the end of the blog post! During this visit, as a wee thank you Michael and I took the girls to a boutique in Mira Mesa that does 3D ultrasounds. There was a viewing area of the ultrasound on a big screen TV with couches for everyone to sit comfortably while we watched the Baby Mac Show. We got a great showing. Baby Mac apparently enjoys putting his little feet in his face and making faces at us. We got some fun photos and they are at the end of the blog post as well. Shortly after we had a medical ultrasound on 8/24 and got some more photos which are also included at the end of the blog post.

So now we are in the final days of this pregnancy! I can’t believe Baby Mac is almost here! The whole thing has just flown by! We’ve had such a busy time preparing for him and I think we’re pretty much set. The little guy needs a name, but otherwise everything is done in preparation for him. Michael and I have narrowed it down to two or three names and I think something will just fit when we see the little guy Michael has taken photos of the nursery transition and one of us will blog those in the near future!

Well that is it for now, our lives will change forever on Thursday, and I think I can speak for Michael when I say that we are both very excited for our son to come! We’ll try to post photos on Facebook sometime shortly after he is born!

Wow…I have not been keeping up to date about the Baby Mac! So let’s see what has been going on with him lately…

We had an ultrasound on May 23. This ultrasound was the milestone anatomy ultrasound and the gender ultrasound. We were so excited to find out if Baby Mac was a little boy or a little girl. Well, as the first paragraph indicates, Baby Mac is a BOY!!! We also found out at the ultrasound that he is a very healthy baby boy! We had a genetic screening blood test series done which indicated about a 1/250000 chance of there being any genetic abnormalities and the ultrasound also showed that there were no anatomic markers that indicated any genetic abnormalities either. We were able to see his fully developed spine, brain, heart, and kidneys. We got great ultrasound images of his hand, his foot, him in general, and his…well… baby manhood.

Once we knew that we were having a little boy, we started to plan the nursery and of course started buying clothes! The nursery will be an airplane theme (go figure) and I was able to find some really cute bedding with biplanes on it! Baby Mac has lots of clothes now, some from my mom and myself and some from generous friends who had little boys who have recently outgrown their clothes. We bought his furniture recently too (photos to come) and have started to put the nursery together. We decided to get a crib, changing table, glider and ottoman, and dresser.

Baby Mac has been growing and with all the recent growth and development this means I feel lots of kicking! Lots and lots and lots and lots of kicking. Most days I love the kicking, though some days it gets to be a bit much and I wish he could just take a chill pill! Especially when I am working and he thinks I need to be kicked over and over and over Michael has only felt the little guy kick twice unfortunately, despite the fact that Baby Mac never seems to stop kicking. Well to be fair, he does stop…only when someone is trying to feel him kick. I swear the minute that Michael or I put our hand there to feel him kick he goes into “major bratface” mode and stops kicking. Then when the hand has been removed he starts kicking again!

Finally, Baby Mac has a twitter feed! Yes, you read that correctly. You can follow him at http://twitter.com/#!/TheBabyMac. It’s really not supposed to be anything too exciting but rather a fun way for Michael and I to refer to him in tweets. My mom also joined twitter to follow Baby Mac so that has been fun.

Well that seems to be the major updates from the last few months. Hopefully I will blog a little more frequently during this last trimester. Baby Mac has about 100 more days to go before he makes his appearance! I can’t believe how quickly time is flying and how excited I am for him to come! Stay tuned for hopefully more posts in the near future

Today I went to watch my Godfather, Kurt, and his buddies TJ and Ellie Mae surfing at the Loews’ Surf Dog Competition (http://www.loewssurfdog.blogspot.com/). I unfortunately missed TJ’s solo heat (for little dogs) but made it for the Tandem heat (multiple dogs and humans). Michael and I went last year and we missed the tandem heat but made it for the solo heat so I guess it all evens out

The tandem heat was really cool. FIVE dogs on one surf board, people and dogs on the same boards, people on top of people with dogs on boards, and dogs on top of people on boards!

I took the camera with me and got some great shots of the event. Check them out

Today is Mother’s Day. So first and foremost Happy Mother’s Day to the best mom I know, my mom! I’ve been reflecting today on motherhood given the child I am growing in my womb. I’m very excited to be a mother and here is why:

My mom is awesome. She is always there for us, never putting herself first. The present tense is important in those sentences because it shows that not only was my mom the best while we were growing up, but she continues to be the best! I’ve learned a lot about being a mother from my mom, and I know that I will learn a lot more from her when Baby Mac comes along in October. I’m very lucky to have my mom and am fortunate to be able to learn from her as I start the adventure into motherhood. If I can succeed at being even half the mother that my mom was to us, Baby Mac will be a very lucky baby.

It’s official….We’re having a baby!

Alright, well you’ll notice some posts that have suddenly shown up. I think there are only three, that discuss the pregnancy but I had originally hoped to blog a little more often. Unfortunately, I ended up getting morning sickness about a month ago so that took a lot out of me! Morning sickness has not been fun but I know so many women have it worse. I was nauseous frequently, but fortunately I was only physically sick once a week. Strangely I was always sick on the same day at the same time each week! Even better (from a work perspective) was that I was alway sick on Saturdays so while that sucked for the weekend it meant that I was usually feeling better at work.

Our first ultrasound was on March 15, 2010, when the baby was just a little blob!

At this ultrasound the estimated that the baby was due on October 20, 2011 and was 8weeks and 5 days along! At this ultrasound we were able to see the heart beat and the baby moved a little.

Today we had our second ultrasound. Typically, the second ultrasound isn’t until 19 weeks at my doctor’s office but we opted to do a noninvasive genetic screening program that California offers. We mostly decided to participate because this provided us an extra ultrasound and opportunity to see Baby Mac. When we got to the doctors office we first saw the baby sleeping on its stomach. My favorite sleeping position is on my stomach (which I have missed terribly since I became pregnant!), so I suppose like Mommy like Baby.

They quickly looked at the baby, saw the heart beat and then made sure that everything was ok with the baby’s environment. The next step was to wake the baby. They say never to wake a sleeping baby, but for an ultrasound with a purpose I suppose it’s a good thing To wake the baby they simply tapped onto my belly where the baby was. Sure enough the baby woke and rolled over. It was better for the baby to be on its back to look at its neck for the genetic measurement (the baby’s neck was well developed and well within the limits for normal, and therefore the chance for a genetic problem is very low – great news and exactly what we expected!)

Once the baby had rolled over it provided an opportunity to watch it kick, move its arms, and do some hiccuping! We also were able to hear the baby’s heartbeat at 150 beats per minute! The little girl or guy has a strong heartbeat! After a little while the baby decided it wanted to go back to sleep, and settled down on its back for another nap! We got some more good photos from the ultrasound

Good view of Baby Mac after he or she turned onto his or her back

Closeup from the previous image of Baby Mac’s little face

Baby Mac is practicing looking scary for his or her first holiday…Halloween!

Being a little shy and hiding his or her face with his or her hands

Baby Mac is in my new favorite position, one hand behind its head, two feet up, chilling on his or her back…This is how I seem to spend a lot of time on the couch! Once again like Mommy like Baby!

So our next appointment is next Monday, April 18th. This is a minor appointment I believe, and will just be us listening to the heartbeat. (Just listening to the heartbeat will still be amazing, don’t get me wrong. There just won’t be any photos associated with this appointment from what we’ve been told).

Never the less we are very excited, and I can’t tell you how excited I am that the second trimester starts tomorrow and hopefully any morning sickness I’ve been feeling will subside completely!

More to come as the baby develops Our next major ultrasound is scheduled for May 23rd when we hope to find out if Baby Mac is a boy or a girl and get a comprehensive anatomy visualization of the baby looking at fingers, and toes, and eyes, etc! Can’t wait for that appointment!

Sigh! Reached 9 weeks on Thursday without too much morning sickness or nausea! Unfortunately, since Thursday it’s been downhill with feeling sick, exhausted, and this morning I was even sick! Yuck! Eating today has not been easy.

Never the less, despite the fact that I haven’t avoided morning sickness, I am starting to get super excited about this little person growing inside of me. I have started wondering who (s)he will be and what (s)he will like. Will s(he) be more like me or Michael? Will the baby like airplanes as much as we do? Will it be good at school (will it have a choice!? ). I’m also starting to wonder about what kind of parents Michael and I are going to be.  I think we’re in store for quite the adventure!