Oh Happy Day!

It's a special day for someone special!!!

Today is my Momma's BIRTHDAY!!!


Happy Happy Birthday Momma, I hope you had the best day! Just think...when you get home there is an extra special little grand baby waiting to give you lots and lots of birthday hugs and kisses!

We love you!!!

I know you are all anxiously awaiting a birth story post and I promise you it's coming (I just don't have as much time on my hands these days!! :) )...I figured that I would just tease you with some of these...

To see more pictures of our sweetness check out her Bella Baby Photos! www.bellababyphotography.com
click on 'view photos'
password: 0409mckennawitkowski

She's On Her Way!

It's Katie K...getting to be the Guest Blogger tonight! :)

This seems like the moment we've all been waiting for, and I'm so excited to share the news that Rachel is AT the hospital, and McKenna will be making her arrival within the next day or two!

Quick Update: Rachel had her regularly scheduled weekly appointment this afternoon. Little One was non-reactive with her NST (again!) so Rachel was sent to the hospital. She did just fine with her biophysical. But, Dr. Weeks decided that this might be McKenna's way of telling everyone she's ready! So, Rachel has been admitted, has gotten "cervidil" (had to google that!), and will be playing the waiting game. Pitocin will be started tomorrow morning.

Mommy-to-Be sounds fantastic!! Daddy-to-Be went home to grab the bag & everything else that they'll need.

I know I speak for all of Rachel's loyal blog-followers, family, and friends when I say how excited we all are for you, Rachel & Brian...and we can't wait to meet your little miracle McKenna! Love you!!

Week 37... my 150th post!

This week was our Spring Break, so I got to spend the whole week with my Momma! We had absolutely gorgeous weather and we were able to sit outside, read, and get some sun. It felt so good to get out of the house.

I'm really starting to get restless about McKenna's arrival. Along with starting to feel like a big puffy lug, I'm just so ready to meet her. This week my ankles, feet, and hands have started to swell and I definitely can't say that I'm very comfortable anymore.

Week 37 baby bump

me & ChiliMack

On Wednesday I had my 37 week appointment with Dr. Frangella. It was my first time meeting her, although she has been the on-call doctor each time I've been in the hospital. Dr. Frangella is the last of the doctor's for us to meet, we have now met with all 5 of them. Although I'm hoping Dr. Weeks is on-call the day we go in...I'd honestly be happy to have any of them deliver our Kenna girl.

Mom drove me to the Spalding office and Brian met us there. As I had said last week, we were pretty much resigned to the fact that we would be heading to the hospital after our NST, so mom stayed with us.

BUT...we didn't have to go anywhere!!!

McKenna did in fact pass her NST this week and we did not have to go to the hospital!!! See...there's a first time for everything! As you can see from the picture Brian took of the chart:


The top squiggly line is McKenna's heartrate. Each time she moved I had to push a button - kinda like a game show buzzer - those are indicated by the arrows...see? The bottom squiggly line is my contraction monitor. I had a couple of small contractions while we were there, but nothing like labor contractions.

I wish we had a picture of her chart from the first few NST's so that you could see the difference. Her heartrate on the first few was very consistent - the line was pretty straight, it didn't stray much from the 145-148bpm mark, movement or no movement. As you can see from this one, that isn't so. This time it was much more jagged...up and down...especially as she moved.

Dr. Frangella was very happy about her heartrate movement and declared the test reactive!

We continued with the rest of our appointment after our NST. My blood pressure was 126/84 and McKenna's heartrate was on average about 155bpm. The internal exam revealed that my cervix is still closed up tight and not dilated at all. My belly measured big...39 1/2 cm (I was only 37 weeks 1 day)... Dr. Frangella was a little concerned because my belly measurement has been right on up until now, she wanted to make sure that McKenna hasn't gotten too big, so she ordered a growth ultrasound. We were lucky because the ultrasound tech was actually in the office and was able to fit us in that day. McKenna's ultrasound turned out great, everything looked fine with her size and growth. She measured 5lbs. 13 oz!

Dr. Frangella was also worried that my blood pressure medication may be masking what could really be going on in terms of blood getting to McKenna, so she ordered ANOTHER 24 hour urineanalysis and blood work. She wants to make sure that preeclampsia hadn't snuck up all of a sudden.

We left the doctor's office with a couple of possible scenarios...if my blood work or urineanalysis came back with a positive for preeclampsia then we would be delivering this weekend, if it came back negative for preeclampsia then we would be good to go until our 38 week appointment next Wednesday where at that appointment we would schedule our induction/possible c-section.

a nice picture of me getting ready to take my urine to the hospital to be analyzed...fun stuff! See how much color I got from sitting outside!

I love SPRING!!!

I spoke to the nurse this morning about my labs and everything came back just fine...so we are good to go until our appointment on Wednesday the 7th. I was hoping for a little Easter Bunny Baby!!!

I guess you really never know....my water could break...keep your fingers crossed!

Here are a couple of pictures of us sitting outside with the pups this week...

Puffy with her dog, Trip

what a sweet face!

poor Bunny could only stay in the sun for so long...then she got too hot!

she said that she's already dark enough!

laying her head on Aunt Puggie's leg...she could sit outside all day long!

headed out for a Good Friday lunch of Pepper & Egg's sandwiches

at Portillos with Mackie, Mom & Dad!

...and yes this is my 150th blog post! What a 150 they've been! It sure is amazing how the meaning of "Waiting for Baby Witko" has changed! It definitely shows how love, support, and prayers can get you through. Love to you all, thank you!

Happy Easter!

Week 36

Week 36...another busy week for this soon-to-be Momma on modified bedrest!

Here's my week's events, day by day...

Monday

Last week I was supposed to have very special visitors, but our visit had to be cancelled because Dr. Weeks sent me to the hospital instead. At the time I was bummed, I was really looking forward to seeing one of my most special students, Austin Cleary, and his mom and sister. That has been one tough part of being on bedrest and not working...I miss my students! We rescheduled our "play date" for Monday the 22nd. It was so great to see my buddy, Austin, and catch up with his mom, Melissa. I miss him so much! He and his sister, Maeve, were really excited to see Trippy!

Best Buds! Austin & I

I love this one...I couldn't resist posting it too!

Maeve, Trippy, & I

Trippy loves the Cleary kids!

Tuesday

Mackenzie came over and since McKenna could be making her debut anytime now, we decided that our big event of the day would be to put the pack-n-play together!

making sure Mackenzie is doing it right! :)

finished product!

view from the top...newborn napper and changing table

Wednesday
This was my busiest day of the week. Not only did I have my weekly doctor's appointment, but Brian & I also had our last BabyCare Plus class. During the day, Stephanie & Tucker Bea came by for a visit! What fun!

Krissy & Tucker playing while we were eating lunch...yummy Portillo's

(Krissy was on Spring Break this week!!)

chubby baby thighs! don't ya just want to nibble on those suckers?!

happy boy!

awww cute one with Macker, Tuck, and Steph

smiley

kissin' on McKenna!

she is going to have such great friends, isn't she?!

Love you Bea Family!!! Thanks for coming over!

McKenna & I can't wait for pool Fridays this summer!

Our weekly doctor's appointment was at 4:30pm this week. Once again, we began with the NST...and once again...McKenna was nonreactive. They weren't seeing enough movement...so after I completed the rest of my appointment they were sending us back to the hospital.

My blood pressure was 120/80 - yay! There's something to be said about medication... McKenna's heartrate average was around 140bpm. My belly measured 36cm - perfect!

I also had my first internal exam...you know you're getting close when they start checking your cervix! Amazing that I could be this far along already...she could really come any day now! I was 50% effaced but I wasn't dilated at all.

I googled effacement to see exactly what it means...so for those of you like me (who haven't had a baby yet) here's more information... Effacement is the process by which the cervix prepares for delivery. After the baby has engaged in the pelvis, it gradually drops closer to the cervix; the cervix gradually softens, shortens and becomes thinner. Effacement is measured in percentages. For example, your health care provider may tell you that you are effaced 50%, which means you are half way to being completely effaced. When you are 100% effaced or completely effaced, your cervix is paper-thin and labor is right around the corner. In your final weeks of pregnancy your health care provider will routinely check for effacement, and as soon as you arrive at your birth location, you will be checked for effacement. If you are a first time mom, your cervix will usually efface before it dilates. If you are a second time mom, your cervix will usually dilate before effacement.

After talking to Dr. Weeks, we headed out to Edwards for our weekly fetal monitoring and biophysical profile.

All was pretty much the same as last week once we arrived at the hospital. They hooked me up to the fetal monitor, the contraction monitor and blood pressure cuff. McKenna still wasn't moving much, so they propped me up on my left side and gave me a big cup of apple juice. After about an hour and a half or so, transport arrived to take us for the biophysical. The same events transpired...McKenna wasn't moving much so the tech pushed on my belly many times to get her to kick her back, it seemed as though the lack of movement is what was holding us up...everything else was fine. We were in there a good half hour.

When we left the ultrasound room the tech wouldn't give us any information, she told us that the doctor had final say...needless to say we were a bit nervous.

In the end, there was no reason to be nervous, Kenna scored an 8 / 8, on her test once again, and we were discharged from the hospital.

I'm not going to lie...we left there saying, "See you next week!" At this point, we're resigned to the fact that our little lazy girl is going to cause us to be sent to the hospital after our weekly NST's. Little Stinker!

We ended up missing our last BabyCare Plus class.

a picture of week 35...not sure if I ever posted it

Week 36!

Week 36 info: McKenna is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

Thursday

Kristen was home all week on Spring Break - wahoo! It was nice having someone around the house to eat lunch with, watch TV with and talk to! Since we're getting down to the wire with McKenna's arrival...Krissy decided that she would build the bassinet all by herself! What an aunt!

Nice job Aunt Krissy! McKenna is sure to LOVE it!

Friday
Today is an extra special day for my mother-in-law....it's her...BIRTHDAY!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARB!!!
I hope you had the best of days! Love you!

All in all today hasn't been very eventful...my one outing was to the bank and Jewel with the prison warden...but I'm not complaining, I treasure those moments of feeling like I'm part of the real world!

I thought I would leave you now with some pictures of my sweet girl...she's loving it over here at my mom & dad's house! She sure is going to miss Pepper when we move into our house!!!

so regal
Pretty Pretty Princess