KenD15525 on Xanga

Weblog

Tuesday, 31 January 2012

Maggie - 9 months old

Maggie,

You are growing up entirely too fast! I can't believe you are almost a year old. I think about your birth, and it seemed like yesterday. You are a feisty little bundle of energy. You are more aggressive than your brothers were at this age, but not in a bad way; just going for what you want. You love to make us laugh! If you do something that we laugh at, you will do it over and over to make us laugh more. And, you think your brothers are hilarious - they can make you laugh harder than me and Daddy can. Right now, you are into doing a "fake smile." When someone looks at you and "flirts", you squint your eyes and give a cheesy grin. You are a bottomless pit!!! Everything we eat, you want! If I try to give you baby food while we are having "real" food, you will fuss til you get whatever we're having! However, if there is no "real" food around, you will eat baby food just fine. You only have 2 bottom teeth (that came in at the same time at 7 months), but you put them to good use, eating everything in sight and biting mommy... You have gotten bottles the last 2 days because when you bite, you don't let go... OUCH! I am too sore (and scared) to nurse you at this point. You have been sitting since you were 5 months old, and you started crawling the day before you turned 9 months. You are pulling up now, and I think you'll be walking before your first birthday. You are a thinker - you have a pretty serious face, unless you are smiling. You love your brothers - Mark is quite helpful with you, and you and Seth like to "play" together. So far, you don't have separation anxiety, but you are a mama's girl. You do not pull out your (daily) bows, and I'm trying to teach you that they are a part of your head ;) You are easy to take places, as long as I have food with us. You take 2 long naps a day, one in the morning, and one mid-afternoon. You have been sleeping through the night since you were about 8 weeks old (I actually woke you up to nurse you for several weeks.) You LOVE your paci!

I pray that you keep your feisty personality, but that you also learn graciousness and gentleness. Those qualities will make you a strong woman someday. More than anything, I pray that you will come to know Jesus at an early age, so you can experience His redeeming love for as many days as possible. It's so fun having a girl, but I'm also aware of all that you will face as you grow. I'm praying for the Holy Spirit to walk with you through every circumstance, good and bad and that you will sense the nearness of our God. He has blessed our family so much with Mark, Seth, and You, and I am so honored and overjoyed to be your Mama. I pray that God would use my inadequacies to bring Himself glory and that you kids would trust your Daddy and Me with your feelings and dreams. We love you more than anything and want God's absolute BEST for your life! Thank you for being our beautiful princess, both inside and out!

Monday, 23 May 2011

The Birth of Margaret "Maggie" Karel Kennedy

This will probably be pretty boring to read; I mostly just want to have it recorded for memory's sake.

I went to the OB on Wednesday, April 20, and convinced my doctor, Katherine Kent, that I needed to be induced. (I had a feeling she was bigger than the boys, and thank goodness I did induce, or she might have been 12 pounds!) So, we got on the schedule for Friday, April 22, Maggie's due date. However, on Thursday morning, I got a call from the hospital asking me if I wanted to come in that afternoon for induction. Needless to say, I was all for that! We dropped the boys off at our neighbor's house (until Lovey and Poppa got here around 6), and we went to the hospital at 4. (I ate my last "magic cupcake" on the way to the hospital...:) At UVA, they don't use Cytotech (an induction drug), so they used an inflatable catheter that was inserted into my cervix, along with a low dose of Pitocin. It helped me dilate to a 4, then they took it out, and upped the Pitocin drip. I made no progress after that for about 10 hours! At around 10pm on Thursday, I got my Epidural. It did not work very well. When he placed it, he said he was "conservative" with the dosage. Well, with the Pitocin contractions, it was hardly helping at all, so I did not sleep much Thursday night. Around 8 Friday morning, I was in tons of pain, so the anesthesiologist gave me a bolus of Litocane, which helped for about 45 minutes, but then wore off! Apparently, there was no Litocane in the Epidural drip. (When I was induced with the boys, I couldn't feel my legs at all with the Epidural, but I could feel my legs the whole time, except for that 45 minutes of Litocane with this induction.) At around 11am, I looked at Josh, while crying in pain, and told him I couldn't do it anymore!

Well, shortly after that, the pain turned to pressure, and I felt like it was time to push. (I had just been checked at around 11, and I was only dilated to 5 cm.) When I told the doctors, they thought it was "highly unlikely" that I had progressed that much that quickly, but when they finally checked me, I was a 10! The resident had me do a couple of "practice pushes", and her head was out! I pushed for less than 30 minutes, and Maggie was here! She was a whopping 10 pounds even, 21 3/4 inches long, born at 1:03pm on Good Friday, April 22, 2011. There was so much relief and joy when she cried immediately! I was shocked at her long, black hair! I held her briefly, then had to be sewn up. A first year resident was "learning" how to do this, so it took forever! I always get the "shakes" after I give birth, but with Maggie, it went on uncontrollably for about 2 hours. It was miserable because I couldn't even hold her without feeling like I was going to drop her. When I finally stopped shaking, I couldn't keep my eyes open, I was so exhausted! So, I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours, and then I at least felt functional. But, for all those reasons, I feel like I didn't get to bond with Maggie as early as I would have liked to. Dr. Schmidt ended up being the attending who delivered her, and I was very pleased with the job he did.

Mark and Seth came with Lovey and Poppa up to meet Maggie at around 6 Friday evening. Mark really enjoyed it, and Seth was indifferent. We have a sweet video of Mark singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her to get her to stop crying. She struggled a bit with jaundice, so we didn't get to go home til Sunday - Easter. She also got down to 8 pounds, 13 ounces since my milk didn't come in til day 4! We went for several weight checks and supplemented a couple of feeds with formula. But, once my milk came in, she did just fine.

Russell and Karen were here the first week, and my Mom came the second week. They were such a huge help, especially in getting the boys where they needed to be! I'm so thankful they were able to be here. Maggie is such a good baby - she fusses when she needs something, and that's about it! I am LOVING having a girl! She wears a headband or bow almost every day and gets kissed countless times a day by me, her daddy, and her brothers! The boys are adjusting really well to having her. They both like to help me with her, and most comments from people are that she looks a lot like Mark. She has a much darker complexion than the boys. Her eyes are dark, but really look like they will change colors as she gets older. When I was about 36 weeks pregnant with her, a woman in our church prophesied over me that she would be "peace" to our family. That has been absolutely true so far. She is such a great addition to our family, and I am so thankful for the miracle that she is! We love you so much, Baby Maggie!

Maggie Kennedy, 8 days old

Courtesy: April Bean

Wednesday, 02 February 2011

3 Months in Words, maybe Bullet points

Ok, so here goes a whole lot of information on what has been happening in our lives over the past 3 months. I'm not going to do pictures this post, but hopefully, sooner than later.

December:

-Celebrated Seth's 3rd Birthday at "Bounce-N-Play". (AR people, think Jump Zone meets Wonder Place). We all had a great time, and it is shocking to me that he is 3!!!

-Spent 2 full weeks in Arkansas for Christmas with the Bremer's and the Kennedy's. It was so great to be HOME with the people we love most in this world! We got way too much stuff, and I had to clean out the playroom when we got home, just to make room for all the new stuff! During this time, we also did the annual "NICU meal in Seth's honor" at ACH. I really need to do pictures. It was quite emotional for me this year; I think because I'm so proud of how far he's come, and I have pregnancy hormones raging this year. We drove back to VA on Christmas day and the day after in quite a bit of snow.

-Josh's 31st birthday got pretty much overlooked because it is December 27, and we had just gotten back from AR. (Sorry, babe;I'll try to do better next year!)

January:

-My 31st birthday got over-celebrated! My husband did the "12 Days of Marci's birthday", so I got a gift every day for 12 days! Wow! Talk about spoiled! He is way too good to me!

-Seth was diagnosed with glaucoma in early December, which meant he had to have eye surgery on January 6th to basically drain the high pressures in his left eye. We knew all along that he was at a very high risk for glaucoma to develop, but he had been having regular pressure checks every 6 months since his cataract removal, and his pressures had always been fine, until now. However, he recovered like a champ from the surgery - only had to have a patch over his eye for a day and a half. He is still on drops to help it heal, but he is functioning at 100%. We also got some discouraging news during this event - our ophthamologist does not think that Seth's right eye will ever be big enough to be a candidate for the lens replacement surgery that we had been counting on for him since he was 5 months old. This was like a punch in the stomach to Josh and I. We had been told since day 1 of his diagnosis that lens replacement was definitely in his future (when he's 4 or 5, and the eye is full grown), and that would hopefully allow him to have much better vision long-term (meaning thinner glasses and/or contact usage.) So, although we are very much aware of reality, we would covet your prayers that God would perform a miracle for Seth: either that his right eye will grow enough to receive the implant, that technology would advance enough to perform the transplant anyway, that another pediatric ophthamologist would be open to doing the surgery, or that his vision would improve dramatically on its own! I am so confident in my God's ability to heal, and I am really claiming that over this situation, and I hope that you would stand in agreement with us on this! We will give Him the glory no matter what!

-Ordered baby girl's nursery furniture - crib and dresser. Waiting for it to get here before we finish decorating her room! Wow! It is so fun doing PINK!

-Had a fetal echocardiogram (a detailed ultrasound to look at her heart). It was recommended by the doctors since Seth had a heart defect at birth. Although they can't be 100% certain, there were no obvious problems with her heart! Praise the Lord!

-Had a couple of snow days, and the boys had a BLAST sledding and playing in the snow! (Again, really need pictures...)

-Started my first Kay Arthur Bible study - "Covenant". I am really enjoying it and just being in the Word consistently.

-Preparing for a consignment sale - WOW! What a lot of work! I hope the money I make from it will be worth the effort I'm putting into it. I'm getting rid of boy clothes size 0-3 months through 2T. And, I'm selling the "Surfer" bedding/decor that we had for the boys' nurseries.

-Leading worship every other Sunday. Hosting young family small group every Sunday evening.

February:

Yay! Nothing to report in these 2 days we've had of this month so far! Except that today is Zach's birthday (Josh's brother). And, he is in Ethiopia, laying groundwork for orphanage/church partnerships. Praying for him and his team to be used mightily by the Lord.

Uggghhhhh! Sorry I waited so long to blog! Hope you made it this far! Pictures to come...

Friday, 26 November 2010

WE'RE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!

YAY! The ultrasound was yesterday, and my parents made it just in time to see it! Josh was able to "Facetime" with his mom, so she could "see" too. Sometimes, technology is awesome! And, "Lily Andrew" (the baby names Mark picked out), is a LILY! Mark knew it all along. He is so excited! And, Seth just thinks everyone has a baby in their tummy! I could not be happier to get to have PINK! I told Josh that I am astounded by God's goodness. I am such a control freak, He could have easily said, "You need another boy, just to show you Who is in charge!" But, in His goodness and grace, He has given me the desire of my heart! Thank You, Lord!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! I have so much to be thankful for! Highest on my list this year is the heightened appreciation I have for this pregnancy. After everything with Seth, I am so much more aware of the miracles that are taking place each moment in my womb to form this baby. So much stuff has to happen just right for everything to work well! It's truly amazing, and I am in awe of my God who created such life, and allows me to carry it! I am also super thankful for Josh's fellowship, and the fact that I am no longer a "single mother". It is such a blessing having him around so much more! He's truly an amazing man, and I'm so blessed to have him. (He's also a really great cook!) Along with that, I am so thankful that he is enjoying his work so much. He comes home everyday, excited about what he's doing in research and the new things he's learning in the world of Allergy/Immunology. I am thankful for our new church home, whom we spent this Thanksgiving evening with. I am thankful for way too much to list, but lastly, I am thankful that we are going to Arkansas for Christmas! Can't wait! There's just something about HOME that makes the holidays so special!

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

November 2010

We have been busy! Pictures say it best!

This was the boys at King's Dominion, an amusement park near Richmond, where we took Mark for his 5th birthday! We had a blast!

Here they are driving a car.

The boys were Elmo and Toad (from Super Mario Brothers) for Halloween.

Here are the pumpkins that Josh so skillfully carved. The Mario one won "Most Creative" in the neighborhood contest, and we got a gift card to Maggie Moos!

Seth had a "Bear Parade" at his school. We made the "car" that the bear rode in.

This was his Thanksgiving Feast last Friday

This is Mark, aka, "Chief Sunlight" (his Indian name) at his Thanksgiving Feast at school

After we ate, the kids did a little performance of their daily routine songs. It was adorable, and Mark did such a great job!

We went to Montpelier (James Madison's home) last weekend, and got some really good family photos.

And, my parents are coming in tomorrow for Thanksgiving! I am SOOOOO ready to see them! Hopefully, they will make it in time to make the ultrasound, where we will find out if we're having a girl or a boy! I can't wait! I'll post as soon as I can what our little Kennedy is! HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!