Special Delivery...

On August 31st at 1:00 p.m. at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital, Kaitlyn Joy Cunningham joined our family, nine days earlier than expected. She was 8 lbs 5.75 oz and 20 in. Due to much bruising, she became jaundiced during the second day, causing her hosptial stay to be extended an additional 5 days. Although Mommy was discharged after the second night, the hospital allowed her to remain in the room for free until Kaitlyn was released. On Labor Day, Kaitlyn was finally discharged, and we were finally all home. To see pictures taken by the hospital photographer, click here:

http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=71652cf2-00e9-4440-952c-a1693e1428d9&babyid=79d2558e-cdf2-4354-90e8-8365afc581a2

We have discovered that Kaitlyn has Mommy's dimples too! Since being home, we have been trying to catch up on sleep and find a rhythm that works for our lives. So far, all that seems to be happening is eating and sleeping for both Mommy and Kaitlyn, but life will eventually return to normal.

The family paparazzi was present the day Kaitlyn was born and those pictures are posted on Facebook, both Mommy and Daddy were tagged in many of them so if you're friends with us then you can see those pics. As for us, we've taken a few and here's some of those...

A few hours old...

One day old...

Ten Days Old...

Fifteen Days Old...

Hannah loves being a big sister and is always willing to lend a helping hand. She's not shown any signs of jealousy and rather is very proud to to have Kaitlyn in the family. She loves showing off her little sister. We weren't sure if she really understand that we were going to e having a baby, but we were proven wrong. She enjoys giving Kaitlyn hugs and kisses, and is eagerly awaiting the day when Kaitlyn will really be able to play with her.

Daddy is readily adjusting to life with three dimpled girls, and enjoys spending free time with them. He greatly helps Mommy out by taking care of Hannah if she wakes during the night. He loves cuddling with Kaitlyn and Hannah whenever the opportunity affords itself.

Mommy is doing great now that Kaitlyn is here. She had been in poor health this summer due to having breathing (due to asthma) and blood pressure troubles, plus catching Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease which turned into sinus and ear infections. The last week before Kaitlyn was born, she had headaches in addition to the blood pressure fluctuations, which led to the doctors deciding to induce. Since the delivery, the headaches have gone away and the blood pressure fluctuations have ceased. She's lost a total of 30 pounds since the start of the pregnancy; during the first half of the pregnancy, she lost 18, then regained 15 by the end, and since delivery has lost 27 more.

For those who are interested in the details of the labor and delivery: So the morning of the 31st, she was admitted to the hospital and given a low dose of pitocin (starts contractions). We discovered that contractions were already happening before being given the pitocin but they just weren't noticeable. The normal dosage of pitocin is about 30 units, the most they used was 8 as her natural pitocin kicked in, by the time of delivery they were only giving 4 units. So after about three and a half hours of noticeable contractions, including less than a half-hour of pushing, Kaitlyn was here. No pain meds during the labor and delivery, and only a few doses of ibuprofin since.

Just for comparison purposes, here's a picture of Mommy when she was a newborn:

News and pictures from the rest of the summer will be coming soon!

Pictures and More...

So since the last post, we finished moving then Hannah and I spent three weeks in Colorado Springs, and we're still playing catchup. Meanwhile, Josh started his new temp position, which is going well, but we're still on the look-out for something permanent.

Hannah and I had a great time in Colorado Springs although our time felt far too short. We tried to get together with as many people as possible, but with the time difference, working full-time, and my being pregnant, we didn't get to see everyone.

We did go to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo one weekday morning, that was the extent of our site-seeing. I figured Hannah wouldn't be interested in Garden of the Gods or other such places. For Hannah's first zoo trip, it was great. She even fed the giraffes. By the way here's a money-saving tip I found out from J.C. Nordyke, if you go to Safeway you can buy Ry Krisp plain crackers (see pic), take them with you, and they will let you feed them to the giraffes. Otherwise you can buy crackers at the zoo for 3 crackers for $1.

So most of the pictures from Colorado Springs were taken at the zoo. My camera is built into my phone but I kept forgetting to take pictures, sorry!

"Cheese!"Feeding the baby giraffe..."Oh! Yay!" When the giraffe ate the cracker."Hi" to the mommy gorilla... She loved the apes and monkeys...

Petting the tortoise...

Watching the orangutan...

So happy about watching the orangutans....

Talking with the lioness...

Sharing her "old" friend with the lioness, who appears to have wanted to cuddle...

At the Dallas Fort-Worth airport waiting for our flight...

Back in KY...

Our little poser... Any time she thinks you're about to take a picture, she poses. No idea where she got that from, but here she is in her pink Sunday dress

Walking with Gramps (Josh's dad)...

Taking a break from driving to take a picture of herself on her phone (it's an old but real phone that's not in service): Wearing Mommy's glasses.... Sorry it's on the dark side, we were in my parents' basement...

Posing again while waiting on the doctor to come talk to mommy and daddy about the ultrasound (those pictures are further below)....

May 5th - 4-D Ultrasound to determine gender and overall size. Baby #2 is a girl and is on target for growth for my due date:

May 19th - Another ultrasound to try and check anatomy, like the heart and kidneys. Baby girl was laying length-wise across my belly with her spine up, so they didn't get to see everything. Heartbeat was 153 bpm, weight approximately 1 lb 6 oz. Size of all anatomy that could be seen is on target for due date. Here's a 3-D pic of her feet and a 3-D/4-D pic of her opening and shutting her hand (we surmised she was waving). When we told Hannah the baby was waving and to wave back, we were expecting her to wave at the screen showing the ultrasound, but she turned to my belly and waved, too cute!

As for me, the second pregnancy is going pretty well. I'm much rounder this time than last. I pulled up pics from last time and I'm currently the size I was at 35ish weeks and I'm only 24 weeks. They started me on bp meds before going to Colorado as a precaution, my bp was borderline at 130/80 averages at the doctor's office. But since I had post-partum preeclampsia, they were afraid I'd end up with preeclampsia, so they put me on the lowest dose and I haven't needed any higher of a dose. They've also been monitoring my thyroid levels and made some adjustments there. I have lost 18 pounds, not intentionally of course, but I think it was all water being retained in my face, arms, and legs. At the next visit, I'll have the standard blood work and glucose tolerance test, so if anything else comes up I'll let you know.

As for Daddy, last week he turned in grades for the two classes he taught this spring, and I don't think he'll be teaching again until the fall. He too has now felt the baby move, and is excited about having another little girl running around some day. He recently got a PS3 (PlayStation 3) and has been enjoying spending some of his free time playing games and watching BluRay movies.

So please let us know how you are doing! Until the next time...

News, News, and More News

We're moving! Due to a couple of reasons, this move came somewhat unexpectantly and definitely fast. This past Saturday, March 13, we moved the bulk of our belongings and furniture into Josh's parents' house in Somerset, KY.

This past week, Josh learned of an open temporary, full-time position on staff at Somerset Community College, applied as an internal candidate (since he's already part-time faculty), interviewed by phone and then in person, and has already done some training. As soon as the official sign-off takes place, he'll start working full-time.

This past week, I learned that FOF needs me on-site the first two full weeks of April, so Colorado here I come! I fly out Easter Sunday, and fly back the morning of April 19th. I'll be working part-time on-site Monday afternoons and Tuesday through Thursday mornings. So if you're friends who live in Colorado and would like to see Hannah and I, please let me know! Josh may come out the weekend of the 10th-11th, but it will depend on work.

Baby #2 is doing great. So far no complications, although the doctor did put me on blood pressure medicine as he was concerned by my readings. Below is the video I took on my cell phone this Thursday when Hannah and I got to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time. I hope you can view it!

Hannah's vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. She's been a parrot in recent weeks, repeating words I had no idea that she could say. She's still on the small size in stature and weight at 23 pounds, so I'm still able to pick her up, for now but before the pregnancy's over I may not be allowed to. Since the last post, Hannah turned 2, well unofficially since she's a leap day baby and did't really have a birthday. To celebrate, we drove up to Cincinnatti (just over an hour) to the aquarium. Family and good friends joined our celebration, and it was a nice day. I haven't taken very many pics of Hannah recently, so I'll work on that and upload some pics sooner than later.