In Macey’s short little life of eleven and a half weeks, she has learned lots of skills. She has mastered farting, she’s a world champion eater (which is why she weighs 13 lbs 5 oz), and despite the fact that she can’t hear, she is fluent in baby babble. Her newest skill is sitting up… with the assistance of the Bumbo. She only sits in the Bumbo for short periods of time before her neck gets tired, but soon enough she’ll be able to support her head without all the wobbles. The Bumbo is great! Not only does it help little ones sit up, but it also has a tray, so it can be used as a high chair. When Macey starts eating solid foods, I plan on putting her on the table while we eat. She’ll be the cutest little center piece.
Much has changed since we last posted over 2 months ago. Macey now tops the scales at 12 pounds, she is 22.5 inches and has the cutest little hearing aids. She was diagnosed with profound hearing loss 3 three weeks after she was born. Although the news came as a shock, we are moving forward and loving every minute with Macey. She is still adjusting to life with sound and we are still adjusting to life as parents.
Since Macey was born she has had a busy little life. She has taken up swimming, been on four flights, visited three states, and has even been on a road trip.
The road trip was to St. George to watch Auntie Kami play soccer. Despite the cold weather and Macey's diaper explosion in the car, the road trip was fun. Macey met Kami and Kam won their soccer game. Way to go Seasiders!
After St. George, Macey and I were able to squeeze in a trip to Colorado to visit Grandma and Pappy Strait and Auntie Shea. Poor Kristopher had to stay to go to school. Macey was a champ on the flight to Colorado. She slept the whole way. A woman commented on what a good baby Macey was and how brave I was for taking a 7 week old on the plane. Another woman said that I wasn't brave, but that I was crazy. I'd agree with the latter. The trip to Colorado was long overdue since I hadn't been home in almost two years. It was fun to spend time with Mom and Dad and to see Grandma and Pappy in action.
Macey also went to Houston for Benjamin and Crystal's wedding. I gave her an A+ for her behavior on the flight to Houston. Kristopher only gave her an A- (such high expectations for a two month old). On the flight back he gave her an F. He was recruited to change her diaper on the plane. After 25 minutes of me worrying about what was taking so long, Kristopher and Macey emerged from the bathroom. Not only was there a line for the bathroom, but Macey was topless, and Kristopher looked upset. Turns out Macey had an accident mid-change, which resulted in the 25 minute diaper change. Good thing we packed extra clothes in the diaper bag. In Houston, Macey got to see Grandma and Granddad Jones, her Aunts and Uncles and her little cousin Lincoln.
She also got to sport her purple wedding dress that she looked so cute in.
Besides traveling, Macey also celebrated her first Halloween.
Kristopher and I think that her favorite time of the day is bath time. It's definitely one of my favorite parts of the day too because she smiles during her whole bath. I love it.
Doesn't that sweet little face make you want to have bath time all the time?
I know, I know, the hospital adventure is all in the past and all anyone cares to see or read about now is Macey. If that’s how you feel about it, I’m sorry. You’ll have to deal with this post anyway.
On August 29, 2010, Brittney and I left for the Utah Valley Intermountain Healthcare hospital on 500 West around 6:00AM. Apparently, this is also where Kariah was born. We were checked in and shown to what would be our room for the next eight hours or so. The room was nice, had the “home” feeling, I guess. What I liked to see was the large couch which could be used to sleep on. Little did I know that when it came time to sleep, we’d be in another room without such a wonderful couch.
Above, you can see the final picture of Brittney and I childless, and the final preggo picture of Brittney.
Brittney was induced around 7:30 and did have contractions most of the morning. She did not feel many of the early ones and was able to rest. As the day went on, however, the contractions not only became stronger, but moved from her front to her back. I guess this is called “back labor,” and is super painful. It was no different for Brittney. Even as a spectator, I saw the intense pain. It did not take long to change Brittney’s mind and ask for an epidural. Brittney is a pretty tough girl, too tough sometimes, and waited until around 1:00 when she finally asked to endure the pain no more. Below is an illustration of before and after the epidural.
As you can imagine, I assumed photography during the most intense pain was prohibited. Hopefully the illustration will capture the essence of her pain.
After the epidural, Brittney was able to sleep/rest, on and off while nurses continued to check her dilation status. I recall it being around 2:00 when she scored a 5 on the dilation scale. Less than an hour later, nearing the 3:00 hour, the nurses came to check, and found a head. Very quickly, the appropriate tables, instruments, staff, and Dr. Nance made their way into the room. At 3:11, weighing in at a ground shattering 6 lbs 12 oz, measuring a towering 19 inches, Macey Michelle Jones was born.
The nursing staff cleaned her and weighed her while Dr. Nance finished up with Brittney. I didn’t even think that there might be “loose ends to tie up” with her. No one ever talks about what needs to be taken care of with the mother after the baby comes out. They talk about pregnancy, labor, and then all the focus is on the baby. Sure they talk about the afterbirth (which some cultures will eat………..utterly revolting), which they threw in a bucket. I was cool with that.
I followed Macey to the nursery while Brittney was prepped and moved to our new room. They cleaned her again, this time with water, and also took a small blood sample to check blood sugar. Our new room was smaller, without a couch for me L. This hospital offered “room service” for food. And check out the menu! I was excited:
While the menu looked fabulous and Brittney was ecstatic, turns out that menu’s picture was misleading and Brittney was drugged. Also, she hadn’t eaten all day. My meal was ok, but they shorted me by one roll-no one will ever impress me that way. The cheesecake was satisfactory. That night was more or less sleepless for Brittney. She didn’t bother to wake me too many times in my makeshift-chair-pullout-bed. It was actually more comfortable than it looks.
The next morning Brittney had breakfast at the hospital. If I wanted to, I would have had to pay. I opted to pay for something that was good, like a sausage, egg and biscuit sandwich from Carl’s Jr. If you like that kind of food, I highly recommend it. The biscuits were fantastic. After breakfast, we were ready to leave the hospital, but Macey still needed to have her blood sugar tested every few hours up until 24hrs from her arrival, so we hung out in the room nursing, napping, snacking, and watching an 80s info video about caring for your child (the hospital made us watch it). Oh yes, the lactation witch nazi. Brittney and I felt the nursing was progressing wonderfully, but then she came in. We didn’t ask for her help. Apparently, Brittney was performing the nursing ordinance incorrectly. After some “coaching” from the lactation witch nazi, Brittney and Macey were trying all kinds of different “football” and “side to side” holds when the original, comfortable, and successful cradle hold was working just fine. After she left us alone, we pretty much disregarded everything she’d said, except one thing: she said, “….you have nice nipples.”
We finally received the green light to go home and with are new cute bundle of joy, we exited.
And, in case you’re wondering why people become doctors, this may be one reason (at least for Dr. Nance).
