Two weeks later...

Well Casey and I have successfully made it through our first 2 weeks at home with our precious little girl... I say successfully based on the premise that we are not completely sleep deprived, I get to shower on a semi-regular basis, neither of us have dropped the baby, and she seems to be a healthy baby :) Who knows if we would be considered "successful" to anyone else, but we really don't care about anyone else at this point :) haha

In these past two weeks McKenley and I have:
- Gone to the doctors - where they told us she was perfect
- Been on our FIRST shopping trip to BabysRUs
- Played on her awesome new activity mat

She stared at the lights and mirror for sooo long!! (Can you spot McKenley's guardian in the picture?)

- Had several successful bathtimes

Mommy's little flower :)

- Had her first (of many) photo shoot

Is she not BEAUTIFUL!?!

- Had PLENTLY of lounging time

Such a lady-like sleeper!

- Worked on our tummy time, which she seems to LOVE and is already picking up her head and turning it back and forth!! 

Isn't she just the most precious thing you've EVER seen!!! Thanks Cousin Allison for my lounger!!

On MOST occasions, McKenley sleeps for 3 hours (I never thought I would be soo excited about 3 full hours of sleep until now!!) and then is up and ready for a FULL meal! The girl knows how to eat! haha

All in all, I am proud of how Casey and I are making in through these first two weeks. Casey has been SUCH a huge help, making dinners, cleaning up around the house, and ALWAYS taking the midnight/1 am feeding, which always allows mom to get a big chunk of sleep in before I am up for the feedings thru the rest of the night.

Neither of us can believe that she is 4 weeks old, everyone is right, this time FLIES by!!

Finally getting settled!

Well, after 16 of the longest days of our lives, Casey and I finally got to bring our little princess home this past Saturday!! It was such a HAPPY day for us!

FIRST CAR RIDE HOME!!!

We have successfully made it through 2 nights without losing our minds or getting too sleep deprived! Even though getting up in the middle of the night is not the easiest thing, when I look down at her and she gives me a little half-smile, it makes it all worth it!!

We didn't waste ANY time getting our precious baby photographed! Sunday afternoon we had some amazing pictures taken and needless to say, McKenley is VERY photogenic! :) Here are a few sneak previews that I took over her shoulder.

BOOMER!!!!

This was the "Glamor" shot :)

I still cannot believe Casey and I were able to create something soooo beautiful and that we could love her as much as we do already, can you believe she is still technically supposed to be inside of me still!?!   This tiny princess has changed our lives so much (for the better :) and although it was quite a challenge making it through these past two week without COMPLETELY losing my mind, we have a precious and HEALTHY daughter that we already could not imagine our lives without.

Thank you so much to our family and friends that have helped us with prayers, happy thoughts, drives back and forth to the hospital, and food!! We definitely could NOT have made it through without all of you!

Princess Update

Well, it has been a long 10 days... wait, can you believe that she is already 10 days old!!! This has already been a whirlwind of events and is flying by! But look at just how cute she is!!!

 Casey and I are trying to soak in every moment we get with her while we are at the hospital.  She is making great progress and everyday we can see her growing and developing.  McKenley has to fulfill certain criteria to be able to come home with us... so much pressure on such a little girl!!
1) She has to be breathing completely on her own - CHECK!
2) She has to be able to maintain her body temperature without the need of heat lamps - CHECK!
3) She has to be consistently gaining weight - CHECK! She is back up to 5 lbs 12 oz. and counting!
4) She has to be taking 8 FULL "meals" a day without the assistance of the feeding tube - this is the only part that McKenley is still working on.

Our poor little princess just gets so tired sometimes and falls asleep in the middle of the bottle! BUT, this is happening farther and fewer between with each day! We were so encouraged by the progress she showed yesterday! She is up to taking 6 out of 8 full feedings and the nurses and doctors are are very optimistic that this number will keep increasing with each day. 

Haha, the little bean passed out like this and I couldn't bear to move her!!

 So, to answer the question EVERYONE seems to be asking, including Casey and I, when can she come home?!? Well, unfortunately I cannot answer the question with an exact answer.  :( At this point we are being given "probablys" and "estimations" of Wednesday or Thursday, but we will not know for sure until the time gets closer.  I PROMISE as soon as I get a definite answer, the WHOLE world will know!

So for now, please continue to keep McKenley and her daddy and I in your thoughts and prayers. I must say, this process is not easy on any of us and we are ready to all be at home together. McKenley has a beautiful bed and lots of fun things that she needs to take advantage of! I will continue to keep everyone updated and hopefully, the next update will be pictures of her AT HOME!!!!

How it all went down!

I have been asked many times now about when and where I was when McKenley decided she wanted to be a part of this world! Sooooo, here it is! The story of McKenley's early entrance into our lives! :)

Having my water break at school was not completely "ideal situation" for me! In fact I was planning on starting my leave a week early to try and avoid this happening. I guess thats what I get for trying to plan things out!!

So there I was sitting behind my desk as the 20 little fourth graders entered the room. I stood up to greet them and let them know what to do next when, WHOOOOOSH! Lots of water came pouring out of me! Yes, I was quite shocked and NO, I had NO idea what was going on!! Luckily I was wearing leggings so you couldn't really see what was going on.  I sat back down and tried to compose myself. Last thing I needed was to have to have a sex ed class with traumatized 10 year olds while going into labor!!

Not to worry though, things were just going to get more complicated! haha I had agreed to help a substitute out with a complicated science lesson that day, so in walks 23 more fourth graders!! I managed to get them seated at the back of the classroom without them detecting that I was in FULL panic mode! And because I didn't know what else to do, I started teaching the science lesson! :) We discussed producers, consumers, and decomposers!!! Yes, all while going into labor! Gotta love the dedication right!!? After our lesson, we were supposed to take the students outside to do an activity, so I got the students lined up and flagged down the sub, I wanted to hold up a sign that said SOS! haha.
THANK GOD she has had babies and knew that my water had broke, even though I argued with her about that fact! and cleared the students out of my class and went to get the nurse for me.

After that, everything is pretty much a blur! Teachers running in to check on me, unknowing students barging in to what probably looked like MASS chaos, the wheelchair ride through the hallway and down the hill to Casey's car, all the while saying, "Oh My Gosh, WE ARE NOT READY YET! The car seat is in the box still!! Our labor & delivery classes are next week!! What are we going to do!??!!"

We rushed to the hospital, checked-in, and 7 hours later, our little princess officially made herself part of this world! I doubt that will be a day I will ever forget! Look what amazing beauty it created!!!

Thanks to all my girls at school that helped me stay calm and get into Casey's car, couldn't have done it without you!!!

Whoa! What just happened!?!

WOW!! These past few days have pretty much been a whirlwind! I can still barely believe that Casey and I are parents!! Our little girl is here!!

McKenley Grace Boyd made an early arrival into our world on Thursday evening at 7:51pm. She weighed 6 lbs and was 19 inches long... can you imagine if I carried her to term!! YIKES!!

Currently, our little princess is still being held in the NICU unit of Baylor Medical in Frisco. Since she decided to come a weeee bit early, there are just a few more things that need to develop before she is ready to come home with us. The doctors are VERY optimistic about her condition and say that things are progressing perfectly normal for a baby that was born 5 weeks premature.  She is getting so much stronger every day and we are sooo proud of everything her little body has accomplished so far.

The OU hat has DEFINITELY brought her some extra Sooner Strength!!!

Dad and/or I go visit her 3 times a day so that we can be there for as many feedings as possible.  We are loving the time we get to spend with her and can't wait until we can be with her around the clock in our own home!

Isn't he just so precious with his little girl!

It has been sooooo hard to leave her every night at the hospital, but we know that she is in the best hands possible and are fully confident in the nurses that watch over her every night. 


I will try and keep updating so that everyone knows how she is doing. I really appreciate everyone keeping us in their prayers. We are just ready for McKenley to be 100% healthy and home where she belongs!

 

 

 

 

 

Tutus, Ruffles, and Pink! OH MY!!!

This Sunday was the first of our baby showers to come... and boy was it AMAZING!!! It was so great to have so much of my family and friends all in one place to celebrate the little princess, McKenley!

My sister and mom did a FANTASTIC job putting on quite the shower! Needless to say, there was no shortage of pink! I think the first item that caught everyone's eye was Katy's masterpiece... the diaper castle!!!!

 

We had an great time socializing, catching up with friends, eating yummy food, and McKenley DEFINITELY enjoyed getting all of her goodies! 

Below are just a FEW of the highlights from Sunday.

I knew my mom could sew, but she absolutely out-did herself with these 4 outfits! 

 

 

And on top of all that, she made this cute blanket and burp cloths!

Yes, McKenley has more shoes than dad and she is not even born yet...

The purple & green goodie bag! Can't wait to see her in this ADORABLE tutu and onesie!

Lake outfit, complete with headband and flower! Thanks Aunt Virginia!!!

McKenley's GiGi made her some beautiful blankets, the one on the left is SUPER soft!

Thank you Aunt Katy for McKenley's gameday outfit!

All in all, I think we can all agree, I have some amazingly talented family and McKenley is going to be one lucky girl! We are currently at 34 1/2 weeks and watching the days QUICKLY tick down! Not feeling TOO uncomfortable, with the exception of that displaced rib I am dealing with... no biggie, right!?! haha! But, I have been seeing a chiropractor who has REALLY seemed to help get the rib back where it belongs. Other than that, things are truckin along pretty well. My ankles have taken on a permanent look of swollen, which is pretty gross looking, but all is worth it for our little princess! 

I have TONS more pictures of the shower that I will continue to post, there was too many goodies, friends, and fun stuff to put in one post! 

Can't believe we are gettin down to one month!!! CRAZY!!!