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Kendall June

One week old...

Kendall June McCabe

Kendall June McCabe

Birth Story..

I was originally scheduled to be induced April 27th, but at my 38 week appointment my Dr. told me we could bump it up a few days to the Wednesday the 24th.  I was so excited to finally be done being pregnant. The back pain was getting unbearable and I could hardly do anything comfortably.  The last week before she was born I could hardly sleep because Kendall was laying on my sciatic nerve in my back and caused a sharp, shooting pain. Women say you forget the pain...well I will always remember how much that back pain hurt!

The day before her due date I was nesting around the house like a crazy person.  I washed all of the slip covers on our couches, cleaned the blinds in the entire house, ran to Target with my mom for some last minute things, did my mom's eyelashes, showered and got my hospital bags ready.  The house was sparkling and ready for Kendall's arrival.  One random thing that happened that day was we nearly got t-boned in the Target parking lot.  This guy was cutting across the parking lot going way too fast, and not looking where he was going. He stopped only stopped short of 10 inches from my car because I saw him out of the corner of my eye and laid on my horn. I was furious! He almost hit the side where my mom and Ashlyn were sitting.  Not only that but if my airbag would have gone off who knows what would have happened to Kendall?  I was really thankful to have averted that disaster.

So after a night of no sleep, Mike and I woke up at 6:30a.m. and got ready to go to the hospital. My mom was home with Ashlyn and planned on coming to the hospital as soon as Kendall arrived.  On our way we stopped and ate Chick Fil-A breakfast because I wouldn't be able to eat for the rest of the day until Kendall got here. 

We got to the hospital at 8a.m. and they broke my water right away.  I wanted to try to go into labor naturally.  Around 12:00p.m. I had made little to no progress and was getting tired.  The Dr. suggested putting me on a low dose of pitocin to kick start my labor.  The contractions started right away by I still wasn't dilating very fast.  Then around 2p.m. they wanted to increase the pitocin so before I let them do that I asked for an epidural. :-)  After that things started progressing quickly.  We called the family and told them Kendall would be here at the latest 6-7p.m.  Catherine, Sarah, and Lauren all came to hang out with us.  They brought enough treats to last them through the evening.  At 4:15p.m. the nurse came in to check my progress and I was at 10cm. She asked me to give a practice push and when I did she said, "Whoa! There she is and she has hair!"  We all were so surprised and excited. I had to wait for my Dr. to arrive because she was doing an ultrasound down the hall.  The nurse told me to hold off on pushing until my Dr. got there.  At 4:30 my Dr. came running down the hall and started laughing when she saw me because she could see Kendall's head. My parents arrived at the same time as well. I will never forget the look of surprise as my mom came in the room and saw that I was ready to give birth. Ha! She grabbed my leg and Mike held the other and after one 5 second push Kendall came out! We all couldn't believe it! She was born at 4:34 p.m. and was 6.3 lbs. and 19 inches long. 

I will never forget the moment when they put her on my chest.  I was in love with her immediately.  She was finally here and was perfectly healthy.  When I had Ashlyn they knew that she had swallowed meconium so nurses took her as soon as she was born.  We were all so worried when Ashlyn was born that it was such a relief to have a normal labor and delivery with Kendall.

It was so sweet to see Ashlyn's face when she saw her baby sister for the first time.  She loves her so much already and is really helpful.

 

She has been such a good baby and we all adore our little Kendall June.  We love having two little girls.  I never imagined how fun it would be to have a house full of girls but even Mike is loving it. He told me the other day, "I wouldn't mind having all girls." So sweet.

  

 

Thanks for bringing so much joy to our family, Kendall. We love you so much and couldn't imagine life without our beautiful little June bug.

My Grandma Betty and Grandpa Hoot were married for 62 years when she passed away on their anniversary this past New Year's Day.  Two weeks later my Grandpa joined her in heaven.  They were such a wonderful example to all of their posterity of a loving and enduring marriage.  We will miss them deeply here, but are comforted that they are together on the other side of the veil.  I wish I could have caught a glimpse of their heavenly reunion. 

Ashlyn with Grandma in August

Grandpa, my Dad and Ashlyn

The nice part about funerals is you get to see family that you don't see very often.  It was fun to catch up with all my cousins, aunts, and uncles. Wish we all lived closer.

The day after the funeral everyone came up to my parent's cabin and we got to spend another day together.  It was so good to see my extended family who I love so much.

Round 2......

 

 

18.5 weeks

 

Baby #2 will be joining our family May 1st and we couldn't be more excited!!!  And guess what??? It's another little girl!!! We are thrilled to give Ashlyn a little sister.  I can wait to see them grow up together.  They will be two years apart in school and hopefully will keep each other in line.  I always wanted a sister that was really close in age to me so now I get to live vicariously through them. Ha! Mike is a little worried about being heavily outnumbered, but I think he will love being their hero. 

 

The first tri was pretty rough.  I had all-day sickness and spent the most part of this fall on the couch.  Poor Ashlyn was going stir crazy.  The house was a pig sty and I hardly cooked a thing. Mike was really sweet and picked up the slack.  One thing I have noticed about being pregnant the second time is it is seriously flying by! I can't believe I am already almost half way done.  Another exciting thing is that I have three sister-in-laws that are pregnant as well.  It is fun talking to each of them about how they are feeling and what not.  So far the count is one boy and two girls (including my baby). We just have one more to find out.

 

We can't wait to meet this baby girl and to see Ashlyn hold her little sister for the first time.  It is such a blessing to see another piece of our family puzzle come together. 

 

Just some pictures we have taken lately...

 

 

An afternoon in Georgetown.

 

 

Ashlyn and I took a stroll around Cheeseman Park while Mike was at an appointment in the area.

 

 

 

 

Obsessed with her baby.  She feeds it, swaddles and rock it to sleep, changes its diaper, and recently has been teaching her to potty train.

 

 

 

Wearing daddy's coat.

 

 

 

 

A good hair day....now that she has hair!

 

 

 

 

Mike peeked in on Ashlyn when she was in nursery and sent this picture to me.

 

 

 

Always playing dress up.

 

 

 

 

 

Eating lunch with Brandon, Steph and Jack.

 

 

Giving Olivia a hug.

 

 

 

Sweet daddy-daughter moment.

Halloween

 

 

 

 

Having a little one makes Halloween so much fun! Mike and I just giggled all night watching her walk around in her butterfly costume trick-or-treating.  Nothing cuter than little ones all dressed up in costumes.  On Halloween we had all the cousins, aunts, uncles and Pop Pop over for chili dogs and then we took the girls trick-or-treating. We really enjoyed ourselves. 

 

 

We also went to Mike's parent's ward Halloween party. It has become a tradition in the family.  Mike's grandma, Mam Maw, flew out from Delaware to see all of her great grandkids. She came out at the perfect time because hurricane Sandy hit that same week. We loved having her visit....especially the food she made and brought us. She packed a cooler full of subs that we only get when we visit Delaware. I am salivating just thinking about them. Miss you already Mam Maw!

The Butterfly



 

The Princess Bubblegum



The Ladybug



The Ballerina