Easter

This past weekend we celebrated Easter in Macomb with Chad's family.  It was one of the coldest Easter weekends that I can remember.  I was very chilly wearing open-toed shoes to church!

My father-in-law came over on Thursday to pick up Meredith and keep her for a few days, before Chad, Luke, and I went over on Saturday.  It was very bittersweet.  Though it was a much needed break for me (I never realized how easy it is to care for a newborn until I was left with just one child), but very emotional at the same time.  At four months old, Meredith spent the majority of the day with my parents while we were out late at a wedding, but other than this, we've never been away from her that long.  Even while I was in the hospital recently, we at least saw her several times each day.  I was feeding Luke and wasn't able to see her off, but the waterworks started for me when Chad came back in and told me she was such a big girl and said "Bye, Daddy" and waved as they drove off.

And, she really was a big girl in Macomb.  She got out of the crib over there!  She still hasn't made it out of her regular crib and we think it's because the one at Grandma and Grandpa's house doesn't sit quite as low.  Guess it's time to start thinking about a toddler bed.

Well, she did really great and enjoyed her time with the Grandparents.  We had a chance to introduce Luke to the Great-Grandparents:

Prentice Family

Ross Family

Meredith also had her first Easter Egg Hunt at Chad's Aunt Dorcas' home.  She was a pro and easily figured out the point soon after grabbing the first egg.

Let the hunt begin!

On the move...

Such a pro at finding eggs!

"Look how many I got!"

Jett and Meredith after the hunt.

We also celebrated our birthdays.  Chad and I have April birthdays within a week of each other.  I won't mention the number, but this is a BIG milestone birthday for me this year.  Meredith helped me blow out my candles.

Adjusting to Life as a Family of Four

If I could sum up how things are going for our family since Luke's arrival, it would be this: adjustment.  It's amazing how a tiny little 8-pound baby can change things.  Overall, though, I will say things were not as bad as I had imagined they would be.  Part of that is Luke is a pretty mellow little guy, which has been amazing for mommy!

Here are some of the changes in the Prentice household:

Routine, routine, routine.  I'm such a routine-type/scheduled person, that it's probably been a rougher adjustment for me recently than others in the house.  I love to plan outings (errands, playdates, etc.) around nap schedules.  While Meredith is still doing very well with her one-nap-a-day routine and 7:30 p.m. bedtime, Luke of course, is not on any type of concrete schedule.  He eats every 2-3 hours and usually sleeps in 3-4 hour stretches at night, but other than that, who knows what time we can ever do anything.  For example, he has been waking up between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m.  Chad has been helpful getting Meredith up in the morning (around 6:30 a.m.) and getting her breakfast started, giving me a much needed little bit of extra sleep.  So, when I get up around 7:00 a.m. to get my own breakfast, he wakes up and is ready to be fed.  That feeding could last 30-45 minutes and then I try to find somewhere in there to get ready myself.  Usually, by the time I'm dressed and I get Meredith dressed and ready, he's ready for the next feeding and then we start the process over again :)  However, I will say that he is leaps and bounds ahead of how his sister was doing at this age in terms of sleeping well and eating well.  As of four weeks old, she still had her days and nights mixed up and was giving mommy and daddy terrible crying spells.  I think it was a mixture of colic to a degree and her acid reflux problem.  I'm sure it won't be long before he will be on a more predictable schedule; It's not like the Illinois weather has been the best for us to get out anyways.

Recovery.  Overall, my recovery has been much easier this go around than with Meredith.  That is especially nice, since I'm taking care of a newborn and running after a toddler.  I have had to get creative with how to "lift" my 30-lb. toddler.  I'm on a lifting restriction of Luke's weight right now, so it has been interesting to say the least.  The biggest concern I had before his birth was how to get Meredith in and out of her crib.  I now have her climb onto a folding chair and then I lift her into the crib.  This was approved by my doctor, since I'm not lifting her straight from the floor, possibly hurting my back as well.  We also taught her to "jump" (e.g., climb) into her high chair and I change her diaper on the floor.  Also, we didn't realize how nice it would be to have Meredith potty-trained until recently.  She is definitely ready and I think able, but we just haven't had the time to devote to it now.

Growing Up.  Meredith has grown up so much since we returned from the hospital.  The obvious is her weight...or, it seems that way to me.  Probably because I got so used to changing Luke's diaper that Meredith seems to resemble the kid from '90s movie, "Honey I Blew Up the Kid" when it comes to diaper changes.  Aside from that though, she has expanded so much on her vocabulary.  She is now making complete sentences; It's truly amazing.  One of the funny moments was when we first had both she and Luke in the van together.  He sneezed and she said, "achoo baby boy".  That's another thing - She can't say her "L's", so Luke is out of the question.  Instead, she calls him "baby boy".  It's quite cute.  I find myself calling him Baby Boy now more than Luke.

Diaper Changes.  I'll leave it at this...boy diaper changes are so different than girl diaper changes.  While we used to daily go through 4-5 outfits on Meredith because of her spit-up, we go through just about as many outfits with Luke around diaper change time :)

Managing Two.  I have found that Meredith is much more of a challenge than Luke right now.  He's a pretty content little boy, usually only crying if he's hungry or needs a diaper change.  She, on the other hand, is pretty aggressive around him and is starting to really assert her independence (e.g., entering the "terrible 2's").  It started out that she just wanted to touch him or would pat him on the head.  After about week three, she changed.  Over the past few weeks, she learned how to unzip her sleeper, so we find her half-clothed when we get her up in the morning.  She now wants to unzip his sleeper.  She says, "zip", and proceeds to unzip him:

Caught red-handed!

She also likes to try and pick him up....talk about mommy having a heart attack!  We are slowly, but surely, trying to teach her to be gentle with him.  Hopefully that happens soon.  He already has his first battle scar (e.g., scratch) from her:

No wonder she wants to pick him up all the time - he's right around the size of her doll.

I invested in a baby carrier, but haven't used it quite as much as I thought I would.  Luke doesn't care for it a ton and I find it awkward to get him in and out. 

We tried this once and that was it!  We now bathe Luke in his tub first, then bathe Meredith after in the big tub.

This is how Chad spends his evenings :)  Keeping Meredith away from Luke.

Kids.  The adjustment to say "kids" instead of just "Meredith" has been difficult and kind of weird :) 

In summary, while we are going through an adjustment period, I also wouldn't have it any other way!

He is Here!!!

I am so glad to be writing this blog post.  After 9 months, our little guy made his arrival on Saturday, February 16th!  Yes, you read that right, our GUY!  It's a BOY!!!  What a great moment it was when the doctor said those words.  I would say that "I told you so" or had that motherly instinct, but I really didn't.  I will say the past few weeks I was really feeling strongly it was a boy, but that was just it, a feeling.

Anyway, here's our little guy's birth story:

Based on my last post, it was evident that I would be having a baby within a few days.  We were only a few days away from my c-section date (February 18th) and apparently our little Luke Michael wanted to pick his own birthday.  Later on that Friday evening, I lost my mucous plug and was having quite a bit of cramping.  Then, at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, I started having pretty painful contractions.  It was hard to believe they could be real contractions, though, because I had the fake Braxton Hicks ones for the longest time (several months).  However, these felt really uncomfortable and woke me up from a dead sleep.  It was difficult to time them though, but from 3:00 a.m., I did have several of these contractions each hour and overall, just didn't feel well.  So, fast-forward to 7:30 a.m., and Chad and I arrived at the hospital (with my hospital bags in tow, since I just had that feeling it would be the day) for my scheduled blood pressure check.  We had to wait until around 8:00 a.m. for them to get a room set-up for us, since I had to be checked in as an outpatient.  I told more than one nurse that I had been having contractions, just to make them aware that I didn't think it was a simple blood pressure check.  Nonetheless, I get hooked up to the machine and of course, my blood pressure readings over the course of about half an hour were perfect, within normal range.  The nurse did take note of my concerns with the contractions, etc. and gave my doctor a call.  It turns out that my doctor was already in the hospital visiting another one of her patients, so it wasn't too long and she stopped in to check-in on me.  She made the comment that given my blood pressure readings, there was a good chance we could still have the scheduled Monday delivery.  Just a few moments later, she checked me and sure enough, I was dilated to 4 cm.!!!  She then said, "How about having the baby at 9:30 a.m.?".  In other words, I better have the c-section as soon as possible, since I was progressing quickly and contractions were becoming more painful.

Once it was determined the delivery would soon occur, all heck broke loose.  Nurses were coming in to prep me and registration clerks were getting signatures from us (might I note this is even though we already pre-registered twice with the hospital).  Turns out the c-section was to occur around 10:15 a.m., so we alerted our parents who were already in town (my parents were with Meredith since they arrived the previous evening and Chad's parents were just arriving in town from Macomb).

So at 10:15 a.m. I walked down to surgery and got my spinal, all while Chad was impatiently waiting outside :)  Overall, the surgery was not that bad at all.  The anesthesiologist actually told me I would make a good sniper, since I didn't flinch a bit and was very relaxed in his opinion :)  I was a bit disappointed that they never asked me if I was numb (or "can you feel this") and just began the surgery.  I felt a lot more this surgery than with Meredith, which was a bit weird.  I could feel the cutting, pushing, etc., though there wasn't pain associated with it.  While she was doing her part in the pushing on my stomach, my doctor said "Miss Megan you know how to grow them".  She kept telling me all along that I was going to have a big baby.  So, I was expecting a 10 pounder, of course.  Needless to say, the weight was right a 8 pounds, 3 ounces and the length was 20.5 inches.  So, not as big as I (or she) imagined.

They asked us right before the surgery what we thought we were having.  I told them boy and Chad felt boy too, though he had his doubts earlier that morning when the baby's heartrate was over 140 and according to the Old Wives Tale this means girl.  Sure enough, at 10:34 a.m., the doctor assisting in the surgery said "kahones" (I never actually heard him say this; Chad told me later and had to explain what it meant) and my doctor said "It's a boy"!  What an amazing feeling.  I looked over at Chad and he had a tear in his eye.  It reminded me of the tear he had as I walked down the aisle on our wedding day.  Chad grabbed my arm and said, "We have a boy, Megan!"  He told me later that he wanted to stand up with his arms straight up in the air and say "yay!".  

We named our little guy Luke Michael Prentice.  We picked Luke a few years ago (it was either right before we were pregnant with Meredith or during the early part of my pregnancy with her), because of a full-year sermon series our church was doing in the book of Luke.  We loved that it was a Biblical name, the significance of his writings, the fact that he was a doctor (ha!), and it was easy to spell/pronounce/and overall a strong name.  Michael comes from my side of the family.  My Dad is Gary Michael and my brother is Derek Michael.  We thought it would be nice to carry a name from my side of the family, since he will always have the Prentice name to go with him.  Ironically, I found out after Luke's birth from my Grandma Perry that her father was Frederick Michael.  Very cool!

As I previously mentioned in my last blog post, February 16th is a bittersweet day.  My Grandpa Perry passed away on that day in 1988 and I later found out after Luke's birth that his father, Creed Perry, passed away on that day in 1979. 

Here are some pictures of that special day:

Mommy and Meredith before we left for the hospital.

Luke Michael is here!

Getting ID'd!

Right after he got cleaned up.  All nice and pretty now.

Showing off his lungs in this one.

Our new family.  This was right after Meredith saw Luke for the first time.

We got Meredith a Mr. Potato Head for a big sister gift.  She loved it!

The first time Meredith got to see Luke up close and hold him.  She was in awe!

Sister and Brother.

The Prentice Family

Uncle Derek and Luke.  I love how he is looking up at Derek in this one.

Grandpa and Grandma Perry with Meredith and Luke.

Grandpa and Grandma Prentice with Luke.

Mommy and Luke.  I'm in love!

Daddy's Little Guy.

He wasn't too happy about getting in his car seat.  This was right before we headed home.

We had an interesting moment, to say the least, as we left the hospital.  Chad pulled the car around and loaded all our stuff, which took two trips (we aren't light packers!).  We then all left together with the nurse pushing me out with Luke in a wheelchair.  We all get seated in the car and it won't start.  Ahhh!!!  Nothing seemed to work and of course, it was pouring rain (really cold rain, mind you) outside.  Thankfully, my parents were still in town and my Dad rescued us in our minivan and later came back and jumped the car.  A few days later we ended up replacing the battery.  But, seriously, what are the chances of that happening on the night we bring Luke home. 

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Here are some of the professional pictures taken at the hospital:

Really, Really Close

Wowzer!  What a crazy few days it has been.  We are soooo close to meeting our little one!  Three days away from February 18th - the big day!!!  I can't believe it.  It does seem like the days over the past two weeks have been dragging by, mainly because I have not gotten out of the house a lot with Meredith, so we have a bit of cabin fever.

I will be 39 weeks on Sunday and to be honest, we're (including my doctor) not sure if I'm going to make it that long.  I have been having quite a few contractions since Monday, though none too bad or able to be timed.  I was at 2 cm. dilation last week and almost 3 cm. this week, so I know my body is ready.  So, physically and mentally, I think we are ready :)

Last week, the nasty blood pressure issues I had when pregnant with Meredith seemed to have resurfaced.  I had high blood pressure for quite a bit of the pregnancy with Meredith, really hitting a high right around 35 weeks, though I was never officially diagnosed as having pre-eclampsia.  At my 37 week appointment with this one, my blood pressure was a bit high, so I had to come back a few days later and my blood pressure was a "perfect" 80 for my bottom number.  Fast forward to Wednesday of this week and at my 38 week appointment, my blood pressure was almost high enough on the bottom for the doctor to consider taking the baby.  She wanted me to come back today for another blood pressure check, and unfortunately, the first reading was extremely high.  Let's put it this way, I've never had my bottom number be over 100.  I'll leave it at that.  So, after an hour in the office and three readings later (that thankfully decreased over time), my doctor wants me to go to the hospital's L & D area tomorrow for a blood pressure check.  If it's high, then we will probably have the baby tomorrow.  If not, then Monday. 

The grandparents are in town now to help out, since I was put on bed rest for these last few days.  Much better than the two weeks of bed rest I had with Meredith....I can handle a few days compared to that. 

So, we will see when the baby will come.  I really wanted to make it to 39 weeks, but at this point, I just want to see my baby, so I say come on February 16th!!!  It's a little bittersweet if the baby does come on the 16th, because it's the 25th anniversary of my Grandpa Perry's death (2-16-1988).  We shall see...

February is Here!

It's official, we will definitely have a February baby.  There were times I wondered if the baby would make an early appearance in January.  I'm so happy I've made it this far, in relatively good overall health.  My blood pressure was a little high at my 36 week appointment this week, but other than that, things are looking good.  We are praying my blood pressure doesn't go up so that I can make it to February 18th!  I only made it to 37 1/2 weeks with Meredith, so to make it to 39 weeks will be such a different experience.  Reflecting back, I was on bedrest with Meredith at this point right up to delivery (I went out on bedrest at 35 weeks with her), so it feels so nice to still be going strong with this one.  Also, it's the little things like the fact that I haven't gained as much overall weight and my wedding ring still fits!! :)

Here is my 9-month pregnancy shot.  My how I've grown in the past few months!