Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Today was a very different Christmas for Brandon and me.  We have never spent a Christmas away from our family and we usually visit 3 or 4 houses on Christmas day and eat 3 or 4 Christmas meals.  Today our day started out on a great note when our friends Andrea and John brought us a very yummy breakfast.  Then, we spent the day watching Christmas Vacation for the 10th time this week and spoiling the baby.  I cooked Christmas dinner- corn casserole, sweet and sour green beans and honeybaked ham.  Brandon made candied sweet potatoes and we ended with a pecan pie, which I made from scratch (even the crust).  Even though we really really missed seeing our family, it was a very memorable and great Christmas.  We are so thankful for our healthy Mary Charles and the opportunity she has for eternal life through Jesus Christ.

We were laughing so hard in this picture because it was difficult to get a baby and two dogs in a picture on a self timer.

I love nativity scenes.  I put two out this year:

I was so excited that Mary Charles received her own nativity scene from our sweet friend, Martha.  It is so cute and I know Mary Charles will treasure it and love having it in her room every year.

Out and About

Monday was pretty warm outside so when Brandon got home from work, we bundled up Mary Charles and took her for a short walk up the street.  She cried for the first 10 mintues and then slept until we were home.  She didn't realize she was outside until the very end of the walk, but I think she liked it once she did.

Milk Coma

Even if she is crying and trying to eat her hands at supper time, Mary Charles goes into an almost instant milk coma as soon as she tastes her milk.  Brandon and I do everything we can to keep her awake to eat, but it can be very hard. 

Bath Time

This was Mary Charles' first bath in the hospital:

She didn't like it from the beginning.  Our first bath at home didn't go much better:

The third time, however, was a charm.  Instead of giving her a bath before she ate, we waited until after.  She was much happier- I guess she was just hungry :-)  Live and learn.  Poor Mary Charles.  Sometimes I know she is thinking, "These people have no idea what they are doing....."

Mary Charles- Week One

Week one with Mary Charles was pretty uneventful.  She mostly slept and ate and we took a lot of pictures.  We pretty much cut ourselves off from the outside world, though, and I hope I still have some friends left when we are ready to resurface :-)

We had our first outing on Mary Charles' one week birthday- we went to the pediatrician and to have pictures made. 

I LOVE our pediatrician- Dr. McCain at Mayfair.  At her office, we learned that Mary Charles gained almost 7 ounces in the 4 days she had been at home with us.  Dr. McCain answered all of my long list of questions and then we went on to Heather Swanner's studio.

The photo session was interesting.  Even though Mary Charles slept all week, she did not want to fall asleep at the photographer's studio.  Heather had to rock her for almost an hour to get her to fall asleep.  I was afraid she was being too uncooperative for good pictures, but I was amazed at the online proofs.  Heather is an amazing photographer!!  And, I am biased, but I think Mary Charles is a great model, too!

Click on this link to see Mary Charles' proofs:

http://animoto.com/play/htr9aPJDLkdWYLwYAnXrvA?utm_campaign=share_email&utm_content=escape_link&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_email

Brandon, Mary Charles and I were so thankful that my mom (Mary Charles' Grammy) came and stayed with us for the week after we came home from the hospital.  She was such a huge help to us and we were very sad to see her go.

Mary Charles' Baby Story

Brandon and I scheduled an inducement on Thursday, December 3 at 39 weeks and 5 days gestation.  The night before the induction, Brandon had church choir practice and I went to dinner with my friend, Pam. 

On December 3, we got up early, got ready and walked the dogs.  We got to the hospital at 6 to learn that my induction was not on the hospital schedule for December 3.  I'm not a big "signs" person, but I really thought we should leave and reschedule.  Brandon talked me into staying at least until we saw Dr Hoover and I was glad we did.  The first labor and delivery nurse I had was Kaci.  Her birthday was December 3 and her oldest son's name is Jonathan- the first name we had chosen in case we had a boy.  So, I felt better and we stayed. 

When we got to our room and I was hooked up to the monitor, we found that I was already having pretty steady contractions.  At around 9:30, Dr Hoover broke my water and I got an epidural.  I was 4 centimeters dilated.  I got a very slow drip of pitocin to make the contractions progress.  The rest of the day was uneventful until around 7:30.  At 7:30, I began 3 hours of pushing.  I dilated to 10 centimeters, but Mary Charles would not drop low enough in the birth canal to come, so we decided to do a C-Section at 10:30. 

I actually slept through most of the C-Section.  Mary Charles was delivered at 11:20 and was 20 3/4 centimeters long and weighed 7 lbs and 15 3/4 oz.  We were in the recovery room until 2:30 am and then moved to a post-partum room. 

Since I had a C Section, we stayed in the hospital for 4 nights.  I have had several conversations with people about pregnancy amnesia- my doctor said that about 8 months after delivery, most women have complete amnesia about how bad their pregnancy was and how stressful the first 8 months of caring for a newborn can be.  I must have early onset amnesia because even now I think our 5 days in the hospital was an amazingly great experience. 

Swaddling

We learned early on in the hospital that Mary Charles LOVES to be swaddled tightly.  Brandon learned very quickly how to swaddle and he is still much better at it than I am.