Maddilyn Monthisane Kirksey

She's finally here! -- Well, she's been here for a month already, but she's here ;)

Maddilyn Monthisane Kirksey was born on Monday, October 7, 2013 at 11:54 AM. She weighed in at 7 lbs, 3 oz and was 21 inches long.

We had to schedule a C-section because Maddie was breeched and there was only a small chance that she would rotate. Adam thinks she didn't rotate because she is incredibly stubborn like her Mother and Grandmother.

At first, I was sad and scared. Like most women, I had pictured the birthing process going a certain way and had been mentally preparing myself for the last 8 months. I was also scared, aside from having a baby, this would also end up being a major stomach surgery. The anxiety of recovery and ability to do everything like skin-to-skin and feeding her right away also crossed my mind. However, after many conversations and thinking it through my anxiety eased a little bit. Everything happens for a reason right? So with that thought, we chose October 7.  It was within the 39-40 week mark and also was as soon as we could schedule it ;)

We spent the evening before her arrival pretty low key; just enjoying the final hours (and calm) as a full-time family of two. I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything after midnight, so we tried to go to bed semi-early. However, my anxiety level was pretty high, so I didn't actually get very much sleep.

We arrived at the hospital at 9 AM, checked in and were brought to our room to change and meet our nurse, Sarah. She was thee BEST! I honestly don't know if everything would have gone so smoothly if it weren't for her and my doctor.

About an hour before the surgery, I got my IV put in - ouch! My husband, true to form, tried to make the situation as light as possible and had all the nurses on the floor thinking that I had some Grey's Anatomy fantasy. He had them all under the impression that seeing him in scrubs was actually more exciting than the anticipation of meeting our daughter. As much as I wanted to physically hurt him, the distraction was actually nice - yes, he's pretty awesome <3

Then the time came to head to the operating room. I had a harder time trying to hold the "angry cat" pose properly to get the epidural block in place. I was numbed twice, the first one wore off before the epidural was completely given, and also bent 3 epidural needles. In total, I was poked 6 times before the anesthesiologist was able to successfully get the block completed.

However, after they were able to get that done, everything went pretty quickly. They brought Adam into the room to join me and they began the c-section. From the first incision to her arrival was only about 6 minutes. After she was born Adam was with her for her measurements and weigh-in. Since she was so breech, he said the minute they put her on the scale she instantly put her foot into her mouth. ;)

Then they brought her to me so we could do skin-to-skin and she was PERFECT. As cliche as it may sound, I now know what people say when they talk about love at first sight. Words can't describe how much I just loved her instantly.

After they "put me back together" we were brought back to our room for recovery. They gave Adam and I a little time to spend with her and then my parents joined us. It was nice to have just a little time with all four of them. 

Since I had surgery my doctor kept us at the hospital until Thursday. During our stay we had all sorts of amazing family and friends come to visit and keep us company and shower us with love. We really are blessed. The only thing missing was Dillon, thank goodness for Skype. Christmas can't come soon enough so she can meet her big brother in person!

Love, 

The New Mommy

Over Due Post #2: Maddie Day

I'm sure most of you have caught on, however, we are planning on naming her Maddilyn.  A few weeks after the shower, Adam and I decided that we were going to have one Sunday be "Maddie Day."  We had received her crib and changing table from my parents and the rocking chair/glider from the Zajic's (we are beyond blessed for these 4 people, because we'd be lost without them!), so we had all the furniture we needed for her room :).  Looking back we I obviously was oblivious to how much work this would really be. Adam warned me it would be a lot to do, but I didn't realize just how much "a lot" meant..LOL.

Luckily, again, we have amazing family that loves to help and in this case, also build/assemble.  With the help of Julee, Aleena and Daleena we were able to get all of the furniture, pack-and-play, monkey swing, bouncer and gadgets that needed to be put together assembled, in ONLY (hehe) a couple of hours.  But if you've ever been around us for more than 30 minutes, you know that we don't need anything else but each other for some good ole' dumb entertainment.  So at least we had a good time while building it and enough stupid songs and comments to still laugh about now.

We also baked some of Maddie's cookies that people received as favors from her August 17th shower, so I also fed them - I didn't just put them to work for nothing ;)  Thank you loves!

Over Due Post #1: Showered with Love

To say Bean is spoiled would be an understatement.  We were lucky enough to have two showers thrown for her and are now all ready for her arrival. :)

The first shower was on July 28th, thrown by my younger cousins, Aleena and Debbie (the day would have never been able to be successful without them!) and my mom.  We called this shower "The Laotian One."  

I grew up being raised by not only amazing parents, but also by an amazing community of their friends, as well as my mother's family. Quiet a few of these ladies had never been to a "traditional" baby shower before, so it made for an absolutely hilarious day.  

We played games and watched as they duked it out for prizes. Originally the fear was that these women weren't going to be very competitive about the games and prize, but boy were we wrong.  We had so many laughs that my stomach hurt by the end of the day.

Our second shower was thrown for us by my older cousins: Sara, Maniwan and Julee on August 17th - I know this post is SO LATE!  It was everything I could have asked for and more, the day was perfect.  

We had friends and family come from all over the place to help us celebrate.  Adam and I laid down on Sunday night after the festivities were all over and couldn't believe just how much love we felt from everyone.  We honestly have the most supportive, loyal and loving group of family and friends.  However, the conversation this evening about everyone was different than past conversations we've had on how lucky we were to have the people we do in our lives.  

This evening's conversation was more about how excited and happy we were to know that these people would be in our daughter's life.  We laughed as we talked about how she was going to learn this from so-and-so or what she would say when so-and-so said/did this to her.  Even thinking back to it again now, I can't help but smile and feel a small squeeze to the heart, I'm a sap, I know.

True to form of how my family does things, they did it big with the food, games and decorations :) The spread was huge and it all tasted phenomenal.  Everyone had a good laugh and enjoyed all the games we played, not because it was mandatory to have fun ;)  But because we really did have fun. LOL, we even had to "pause" the fun, for a bit, to recuperate and eat some Cafe Latte cakes.  

Like I said earlier, Bean was spoiled!  With the help of all of our overnight guests (thank you: Kim, Richie, Putty, Codi, Lauren and Tiff) it only took us a couple trips to get everything up to her room.  Hotel Kirksey puts you to work when you stay ;)  Also, lucky for us, Lauren flew out later in the day on Sunday and Whitcher spent an extra night with us, because if it weren't for their help we wouldn't have been able to get through sorting all the gifts in 3 1/2 hours.  It would have taken Adam and I days.  

I don't know what we'd do without you all!

Love, Christina

Checking Things Off The List

With "Bean" coming this fall we've been trying to use our summer months to complete this year's list of home to-dos.  The two biggest projects we had on the list were installing sod and painting repainting "Bean's" room.

Since we moved in during the winter months, we were unable to get a finished driveway and yard right off the bat. At first it wasn't so bad, after a few months it started to become depressing.  Pulling up to the house, seeing the garage, and having to park on the road. Especially during the many torrential downpours we had this spring.  But we waited as patiently as we could...the projected completion date for everything was the 4th of July.

Then the 4th of July rolled around, and we still didn't have a driveway or sod. With all the rain that we got this spring we were told the ground just wasn't hard enough. There were also a ton of other houses being put up in the spring that needed those things in order to close, so we were stuck waiting a bit longer than expected.

Finally, on July 11th we got our driveway installed!!!  Everything else from there went pretty quickly.  Our builder was able to get the property graded that same day, and  get a surveyor out to approve the grade the following Monday.  Then came the fun part, for Adam, installing the sod ;p

With the help of my younger cousins, uncles and Adam's co-workers they were able to finish in about 8 hours.  They started prepping the property around 8AM and the sod actually arrived around 11AM.  I definitely felt bad watching them work.  Luckily, the weather was in the 70's; only a few days before we were in the 90's and 100's.

They finished around 4PM - of course with a couple of hiccups.  Our property line ended up going out further than we had thought and we were about 100 rolls short of grass.  Of course the grass farm was closed for the day, since it was a Saturday they closed at noon.  So we ran to Home Depot and luckily they had enough rolls for us.  Of course, it was for a much higher cost (only seems right with our luck at this point) and their rental truck was unavailable. So, we had to sacrifice the interior of a few of our cars and put the sod rolls in there.  

But we finished!  And after about $15 of vacuuming the cars were as good as new :)

Painting has definitely been a touchy subject in this house the past month ;p Bean's room officially has about 20 layers of paint on the walls.  

Literally, days after the walls went up, one of my best friends, Amy, came up and helped us paint a few rooms: our bedroom, the office, fireplace wall, our bathroom and the baby's room.  

I found a super cute idea for a baby's room on Pinterest - there are soo many cute ideas on there!  Adam is convinced that the site was made to torture husbands ;)  

I knew that painting lines would be hard, I just didn't realize how hard.  We had our argument about it, but ultimately he gave in and we painted the room a gray base with white and baby blue stripes.  This room took FOREVER to do and was in need of a lot of touch-ups...like he said it would - yes, I am admitting I was very wrong!  

Then, we had our ultrasound at 20 weeks and found out we were having a little girl and right as we were leaving the hospital Adam says, "We have to repaint the room."  So the adventure began...again...

Adam went into this set on painting the room one solid color, but little did he know...

After much talking and debate, we decided on three colors again.  This time, white on top, a strip of pink in the middle and navy on the bottom.  He wasn't super excited about it but he started the project while I was on my last business trip in St. Louis.  

The colors he picked out looked absolutely adorable together and I fell in love.  Then, the frustrations started; no matter what we did there was some bleeding and splotches between colors.  We tried switching tape, painting in different directions and still the same outcome. Adam finally decided that he was over it, after about four attempts, he said it was going to be what it was.  I couldn't blame him, I didn't know how we were going to get the stripes how we wanted either.

It took me about a week of brainstorming and just sitting in the room and staring at the walls, to try to figure out how I was going to fix the bleeds enough so that my OCD wouldn't go crazy.  I decided to try and just touch-up the spots with the bleeds and used a straight sponge brush instead of taping the entire four walls and painting the colors over and over, like we had been doing.  Less area had to mean less room for bleeds and splotches, right?  

It took me about three hours on Sunday, but I'm happy to say that it WORKED :)  It's not 100% perfect, the lines aren't 100% straight and there is a little feathering here and there but we're very happy with it.  I'm also excited that Adam is very proud of the room now.  

We figured the imperfects leave a little mark of our hard work, I hope she loves it!

How far a long? 31.5 weeks

Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? A couple here and there
Sleep: A lot of waking up due to discomfort
Best moment this week : Finishing up painting in her room
Miss Anything? Queso Cheese Dip and Ahi Tuna Crisps 

Movement: Yes, but it's different movement than before.  All the movement used to feel like very fast fluttering, now I feel more pushing (like trying to make space) than flutters.
Food cravings: PF Changs, Potato Ole's with Nacho Cheese from Taco John's, Orange Julius' (back on the list again) and Subway
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yep, Adam said I had another "growth spurt" overnight.
Labor Signs: Not yet
Belly Button in or out? Unfortunately, I think it's completely flushed with my belly.

Wedding rings on or off? Off, they still fit okay, but were starting to get pretty snug.  I figured I better take it off before it's too late.

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy during the day, moody at night. I think it's just the toll on my body starts to get to me and I get crabby and tired.
Looking forward to: Our 3D Ultrasound on Friday, seeing some of our closest friends all weekend and my baby shower on Saturday! <3

Love - Christina

Tests and More Tests

July was a month of tests and blood draws.  Earlier in the month, I had the gestational diabetes screening.  The test involved drinking a glucose cocktail, which is basically 10 fl. oz. of pure sugar water, flavored to taste like fruit punch.  As happy as I was that it wasn't grape flavored, the drink was still absolutely gross. I had to wait for about an hour before they drew my blood. Aside from testing my glucose levels, that day, they also did some thyroid testing. 

Unfortunately, we received a call from the doctor the next day that neither tests came back within the desired ranges :(  My glucose level came back just slightly high and the TSH levels for my thyroid were about .08 off the standard value - showing signs of hyperthyroidism.

Being the worry wart/freak that I am, I instantly began Googling everything I could -- even though EVERYONE kept telling me to stop.  I just wanted to know how all of this was going to affect the baby.  Of course, everything you read online is always worse case scenario!  

Thankfully the scheduler was able to get me in the following day to do the actual 3-hour diabetes testing, so we could at least get one thing figured out.  I would still have to wait 2 weeks before I was able to get in with the endocrinologist for my thyroid.

I didn't think it was possible but the glucose cocktail for the 3-hour testing was even nastier than the first drink. At about the end of hour one, I seriously thought it was going to come back up.  It took everything I had to keep it down, especially with the knowledge that if I threw it up, I would have to come back another day and start all over again. Over the course of 3 hours, they drew my blood every hour, on the hour.  Have I ever mentioned that I HATE needles?  I felt like every hour was just a countdown to the next time I had to get poked, I'm a wuss, I know. And I also knew that if I failed, I would most likely have to begin poking myself daily.

Luckily, my doctor is aware of my anxiety and worrying issues and posted my results online that night via MyChart.  It was a great relief reading that I did not have gestational diabetes. 

Last week, I finally got in with the endocrinologist.  Since thyroid disorders (hyper and hypo) run deep in my family I brought my mom, thank goodness for this women because I don't know what I would do without her!

After some further testing, they found that my T3 & T4 levels are exactly where they want them to be, which is very good for the baby.  It appears as though my TSH level (which is the brain function part of it all) is still a little bit off.  However, the doctor thinks that it is gradually starting to regulate and is just taking a bit longer than most people.  They want to retest all the levels again in 4 weeks, however, right now the off levels do not pose any risks to the baby.

Through the past 3 weeks, we are beyond grateful for the people we have in our lives.  I know that our problems are nothing compared to what some other's are fighting or going through in their lives, but I was still very scared.  Being lucky enough to have the people we have to listen, get advice/wisdom from and share our fears with, made us realize even more just how fortunate we really are. 

Love,

Christina

How far a long? 30 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yes
Stretch marks? A couple
Sleep: Only up a few times a night
Best moment this week the past couple weeks : Getting through all the tests
Miss Anything? Being able to do things as quickly as before

Movement: Oh yeah!
Food cravings: Subway, LOL
Anything making you queasy or sick: Nope
Have you started to show yet: Yes, every much so!
Labor Signs: Not yet
Belly Button in or out? Just about out

Wedding rings on or off? Still on, but I have a feeling we'll need a temporary replacement soon

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy!
Looking forward to: Celebrating my Mom's 50th birthday :)

Dillon is here!

What a great start to July!  Dillon got here on the 30th and he and Allexies have been inseparable since.  They argue like brother and sister, but miss and constantly ask about each other when they're not together. We've been spending a lot of time at the park and skate park, movies, riding bikes, doing crafts/projects and he's also been to the water park a few times -- and we're only on our first week!  It's always busy, busy when he's here.  

We told him once he landed that we were expecting, his first question was, "We're having a little girl, right?!?!"  Good thing we were able to say yes!  

He's very excited that she "hopefully" won't try to fight him and "she's going to be so cute!"  I overheard a conversation he and my mom were having, at the restaurant, that just made me laugh.  He informed my mom that he would babysit, ONLY if she didn't try to beat him up or annoy him.  

My mother's words of wisdom: "Dillon, it's okay, if your little sister doesn't listen or tries to beat you up,  you could just put her in the crib and walk away because you're bigger and older.  I bet she'll be less annoys if the door is shut."  
Dillon: "Yeah!  You're right, good idea Grandma!"

SMH, you have to know Na and her sense of humor, I love watching the relationship that my parents have with Dil, it makes my heart smile :) -- yes, I'm a cheeseball.  It makes me even more excited to see her and my dad with our little girl.

We spent the 4th in Iowa, with some great company.  The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, the only thing missing was an alcoholic beverage, but my root beer did the trick ;)

I can't believe we're 26 weeks already, 2/3 of the way done!  She's moving around like crazy, which is fun at times but occasionally painful, too.  I've been noticing that she loves to sleep during the day, I only feel movement here and there.  However, at night, especially when Adam starts trying to talk to her, she starts moving like crazy.  Adam has a little song he likes to sing to her about kicking his hand -- a few nights ago, he was asking her why she doesn't listen (because she doesn't kick on cue) and began singing his song...well she must have wanted him to stop telling her to listen, because right on cue, she kicked him right on his face, that was planted on my tummy.  It was definitely a hilarious moment for us.

Maybe she got the soccer gene from me ;)

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In all honesty, I actually forgot to post this blog earlier last week.  I will be posting another one today too to catch up, so I'm going to cut this one off here..

How far a long? 26 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yes, loving the maxi dresses right now!
Stretch marks? Not yet
Sleep: Only up 3-4 times a week
Best moment this week: Getting to tell Dil we're expecting
Miss Anything? Alcohol ;) - I think it really was just due to the holiday weekend and extra warm weather.  

Movement: She's a mover!
Food cravings: Belgium Waffles
Anything making you queasy or sick: Riding the swings at the playground
Have you started to show yet: Haha, large and in charge
Labor Signs: Not yet
Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? Still on, but getting puffier 

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy :)
Looking forward to: Our next prenatal appointment next week!

A Month of Celebrations

I know, I stink, it's been a few weeks since my last post -- I promise I will get better.

We had our 22 week check-up on the 7th, it was a pretty basic one.  Our doctor took some measurements and we also got to hear Bean's heartbeat on the doppler again -- I swear it never gets old.  She's currently at 150-160 BPM, which the doctor said is very strong. Next appointment is the gestational diabetes testing  at 26 weeks :( BOO! Fingers-crossed it goes well and I won't have to do the 3-hour testing.

This week we're 24 weeks!! 

We've had a lot to celebrate in a 2-1/2 week span.  One of our favorite little girls, Sydney, turned 1 so we kicked off our month of celebrations with her <3.  It was great watching her smash her cake :)  She sure had a good time devouring all that sugar!  It's crazy to think that she's a year old already.  Soon she'll have a little cousin to beat-up on play with.

We celebrated Adam's birthday with my parents at Seven Steakhouse and Sushi, on the 9th. He and my dad were in heaven with the Blue Point Oysters and Ribeyes.  On his actual birthday (the 11th), we had a nice quiet dinner at home.  Since I was a little kid birthdays have always been a big celebration however, Adam is the complete opposite and doesn't actually like to celebrate his birthday.  So I did my best to keep it as low key as possible.  He actually spent time cutting down one of the trees in our backyard (who wants to cut down a tree on their birthday?!? -My husband) while I made dinner and I picked up one of his favorite cakes from Cafe Latte. 

For Father's Day, Adam and my dad actually spent the day together golfing.  After they got done we went to my dad's favorite restaurant (I swear the man eats every meal there on the weekends), Pho 83, and had noodle soup for dinner.  When we got home Bean and I gave Adam his gift, he loved it!

We ended our celebration month with our anniversary on the 19th.  I can't believe it's been 3 years already!  As much as I joke about it being FOREVER ;) it really has gone by quickly.  Adam actually had to leave for Arizona on a business trip that morning until Saturday; and I had to turn around and leave after he returned, on Monday for the week.  So we celebrated by just spending Sunday together and staying in.  It was actually nice to have a slow paced day/evening for a change.  Below is a collage that our wedding photographer made for us right after the wedding as a preview.  I love to look at it and remember our day and the amazing people that helped us celebrate.

A couple weeks ago, I found myself bored waiting for an appointment.  So I decided to try a site given to me by a friend.  This is a preview of what Bean could potentially look like, LOL. 

Adam just shakes his head at me, but I'm positive he finds it amusing too! Only 5 more days til Dillon gets here!

How far a long? 24 weeks
Maternity clothes? Yes, and Adam's basketball shorts :)
Stretch marks? Not yet
Sleep: Still sleeping pretty well, thanks to my Snoogle!
Best moment this week month: Adam getting to feel her move
Miss Anything? Raw Sushi

Movement: Oh yeah, especially at night; looks like she's going to be a night owl like her daddy.
Food cravings: Check out the board above
Anything making you queasy or sick: Still apple juice and Buca
Have you started to show yet: Yep
Labor Signs: Nope
Belly Button in or out? Still in

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time:  Happy :)
Looking forward to: Telling Dillon we're expecting when he gets here!

xoxo,

Christina