McKay's Third & Fourth Week

McKay is a little chunker! At twenty days old he weighed 8.6 pounds and was 22 inches long!

McKay is still very patient and good tempered, but he always wants to be held.  His whimpering immediately stops when you pick him up.  He doesn’t like feeling alone. 

McKay follows sound really well and is starting to focus his eyes.  Sometimes he won’t fall asleep because he is so interested in his surroundings.  I’ll put a blanket over his head and he immediately falls asleep.

Logan thinks McKay favors his left arm, but I still think it’s a little early to tell...  (He wants him to be left handed for baseball) 

Logan kicked McKay out of our room.  He has become a really loud sleeper, and it keeps us awake all night.  He’ll be sound asleep and grunting.  Luckily, he tolerates his crib.  (He prefers our bed, but we’re mean parents!)  I had a hard time the first night he slept in his crib, but I have since loved it.  He’ll sleep in his crib at night and then come in bed with us in the morning.  McKay and I both love to cuddle during this time and when taking naps. 

I am always laughing when McKay eats.  I call him a little barracuda.  He sucks aggressively, drinks really fast, and makes a lot of noise.  He also gets the hiccups easily.  

Our First Outing... Don't worry, we stayed on the beach!

In my bouncer while mom eats breakfast!

My first shopping experience

Helping mom write this blog

Another stroller ride with mom!

McKay's Second Week

McKay got his newborn pictures taken this week by Kasia Palmer.  She did an amazing job.

I have grown to love this cute little scowl. (Just like his dad)

Such Proud Parents

 McKay is quite strong for a newborn.  He is always turning his neck around and arching his back so he can see more of his surroundings.  As expected, he loves the color contrast of black and white but will sometimes just stare at a blank wall.  We always wonder what he’s thinking.  McKay’s legs are quite strong.  Logan calls them little pistons.  When he’s mad, cold, or getting his diaper changed, he’ll kick them out and in, out and in- just like a piston.

My favorite time with McKay is in the morning after a good nights rest.  McKay is so alert and attentive. He sits in his bouncer on our kitchen table and watches us eat breakfast.

My favorite thing about a newborn is when they nestle on your shoulder and you hold them under there bum.  I love feeling McKay’s hair against my face, and Logan loves having McKay’s head on his neck or chest.  We love when he starts “rooting” for food and it feels like kisses.

McKay went to church this week.  We only went to sacrament, but everyone was so surprised to see us there.  (It felt as if McKay knew it was Sunday and he needed to be good that morning so we could get ready.  He was so happy and alert, and was quite a distraction at church- everyone wanted to see him!)

McKay has turned into a loud little sleeper.  He cues when he’s in a deep sleep and then will grunt for a while before he finally wakes up.  He no longer sleeps for long time periods; he likes to eat every two hours.

He’s a great burper and has loud farts.  Logan and I keep laughing at how were so excited when he passes gas and always encourage it.  When does it change and passing gas starts to become a No, No!

McKay will often go through two diapers in two minutes!  The minute you change his diaper, he’ll dirty the new one…

It's amazing how the human body can expand to fit a child inside.  Here's pictures of one week before and one week after McKay was born.

McKay's First Week

Our first week at home with McKay has been better than expected.  You hear all these horror stories about “the adjustment phase” but Logan and I keep thinking, “What’s so tough about having a kid?  This is pretty easy…”  I would even get excited to wake up with him during the night.  (It wasn’t until later we realized just how much work kids can be!)  McKay rarely cries; he just whimpers when hungry and is so easy to comfort.  He is so lovable, and we feel more love for him than we can possibly describe through words. 

McKay in his newborn cradle that sits by our bed

McKay is the first grandbaby on the Whatcott side and the second grandbaby on the Wadsworth side.  He is so loved and always has someone who wants to hold him! 

Aunt Ashlyn

Aunt Jacee and Aunt Dani

Cousins Brooklyn and Taebree.  Brooklyn made McKay an adorable blanket!

McKay's Great Grandma & Grandpa Whatcott

Great Grandpa, Grandpa, Father, Son 

The Wadsworth Boys

The Wadsworth Family: We keep growing in numbers!

Proud Wadsworth Grandparents 

Great Grandpa & Grandma Wadsworth

McKay's first bath experience was pretty traumatic.  Being new parents, we filled up his little bath tub and sat him in it.  To say the least, he did not like it!  It wasn’t until his Grandma Wadsworth gave us the great lesson of keeping a towel around him while bathing the top half and then switching to the bottom half that he started to enjoy his baths.  Logan likes a really clean kid and can be quite thorough with baths!

  

A few other fun memories of this week include:

• McKay seriously pees on himself every time his diaper is off.  We tried all kinds of tricks to keep his clothes dry; however he still managed to get wet somehow.  One time he even was able to pee on me.  I just laughed!  Finally, I learned the ultimate trick.  I use a DRY wipe and scrunch it around his boy part.  Right before velcroing the new diaper in place I’ll remove the now wet wipe!  For the most part it works every time.  (I’ve heard about Peepee Teepees but who wants to wash 12 little cover ups a day- I like disposable!)  
• McKay hates being cold, especially when getting lotion and while changing his diaper.  During these times he’ll get the jitters and shake. 
• He doesn’t like to be swaddled when sleeping; he keeps both arms up by his head.  It’s so adorable to watch.
• His eyes have a hard time focusing and he’ll sometimes go cross eyed.
• McKay had his first appointment with his pediatrician, Dr. Marsden.  We absolutely love his doctor.  The best news I heard all week was when Dr. Marsden told me to use a binky.  He said, “McKay is using you as a binky!”
• We went on our first stroller ride.  I felt pretty tired afterwards.  It's amazing how wiped out you can be after delivering a child!

The Arrival of McKay

McKay Robert Whatcott was born on September 1^st, 2011 at 2:12 AM.  He was very healthy weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  We are proud parents and love our precious little boy.  McKay is such a sweet little guy who loves to cuddle and be with his mom and dad.  He is very patient and easy to console.  McKay is beautiful in every way and has very handsome features.  He has a full head of black hair which I absolutely love.  We couldn’t ask for a more perfect son!

McKay just minutes after being born... Isn't he handsome!

McKay is very handsome, but immediately after his birth wasn’t so attractive.  He was born purple and at first did not move or cry.  My first impression of McKay was that he looked dead and not very cute.  Don’t get me wrong I love him very much but at first he looked like an alien.  In Logan’s words, he had a funnel head and was purple!  Luckily, his coloring quickly became normal. McKay was born with his cord wrapped twice around his neck.  Soon after Logan cut his cord, they gave him oxygen to clear his air way.  Finally he started crying.  After quickly cleaning him off, they laid him on my chest.  It was the most special moment, and immediately I felt so much love for this little man.

I absolutely loved Doctor Lunt.  I saw him at 7:30 AM on Wednesday, he checked on me very regularly
throughout the day, delivered our baby at 2:12 AM on Thursday, checked on me again at 8:00 AM,
then left for the airport at 8:30 AM.  He literally worked a 24 hour shift! 

Grandma & Grandpa Wadsworth and Uncle Jared

Grandma & Grandpa Whatcott

McKay’s first few days of life were so special; however the poor little guy had to get a lot of blood drawn. He had low blood glucose levels and had the jitters.  Since birth he has always been a great little eater (his nurse called him a little piglet), but his blood glucose was just low.  Consequently, they had to take his blood before and after feedings to ensure he was getting enough nutrients.  His pediatrician wasn’t too worried about his jitters but just to be safe did a full range of blood tests to make sure he wasn’t low or deficient in anything important.  As expected, the tests all came back normal!  His little nervous system just needs to finish developing, but no need to be concerned!  His glucose levels also raised and we were able to take him home the next day.  McKay stayed in my hospital room the entire time except when getting his blood drawn.  I made them draw his blood in the nursery because I didn’t like seeing my little sweetheart cry in pain.  Upon leaving the hospital, McKay had fifteen little pricks in his feet and one in his arm.  McKay was such a trooper.  The nurses even commented that once they finished taking his blood he was so easy to console.  They said, “You have a sweet one!”  McKay rarely cried, but just softly whimpered instead.  He was quite sleepy at first and we had to wake him to feed.  We learned really fast that McKay likes to pee all over himself when changing his diaper.

Our new little family

Aunt Tiffany came from Reno, Nevada

Grandma & Grandpa Hafen

Around 6:00 PM on September 2nd, we took our precious little boy home.  We had such a wonderful hospital experience.  I felt great, and Logan and I both were so happy and excited for our new adventure as a little family.  As we walked out of the hospital, my nurse said, “I’m sure we’ll see you in here again.  You two are great at this and I predict you’ll have lots of kids to come!”  She’s probably right!  We love being parents...

Labor & Delivery

Delivery of McKay:

Walking into the hospital!  We were so excited...

Waiting for our little guy to arrive.  I have a wonderful husband...

All of our visitors.  They had a little party in our room with pizza and card games!

My last few days of pregnancy went pretty well.  I felt great.  I even worked at my dental office on my due date, Tuesday August 30th.  I woke up on Wednesday August 31st just in time for my 7:30 AM doctor appointment.  Needless to say, I looked really cute; I figured I would go to my appointment, hear the same news (no progression), than I could go home and get ready for the day.  Just as expected the first part of my appointment went as predicted.  I was checked; the baby was great but not ready to come.  We discussed Dr. Lunt leaving out of town for the next week, and he wrote in my chart, “Scheduled to be induced on September 8th”.  All things considered, I was in pretty good spirits.  As I was getting ready to leave, Dr. Lunt asked if I would like to do a “more involved” baby stress test monitoring, just to be thorough.  I was thrilled to have another ultrasound!  As we got started, the ultrasound technician got a concerned look on her face and asked, “So do you have your bags packed for the hospital, because I think your going to be having this baby today.  The doctor needs to come in and verify, but your amniotic fluid is extremely low.”  While waiting for the doctor, I went in the waiting room and called Logan.  He thought I was completely kidding when I told him the news.  I guess I was quite funny to watch during this time.  To my surprise, two of my pregnant girlfriends were in the waiting room for their appointments.  I was so glad they were there.  I kept announcing to everyone, “I’m going to have a baby today!” I was quite excited, but quite surprised. Normally your fluid level should be at a ten and mine was only at a four.  I had an “expired placenta” and the baby wasn’t receiving enough nutrients.  Dr. Lunt told me to quickly go over the hospital.  To Logan’s dislike, I was determined to go home and wash my hair first before going the hospital.  We arrived at the hospital at 11:45 AM.  A nurse walked me straight to my room and waited for me as I put on my ugly gown.  Within minutes I had an IV and Pitocin (a labor inducing drug).  By 12:30, Dr. Lunt broke my water.  It was crazy how quickly everything was going.  I started to feel pretty strong contractions and so I opted for an epidural.  Oh how grateful I am for modern medicine!  Being on Pitocin, I was supposed to dilate one centimeter an hour.  I was quite excited when I got to a five since no one in my family had progressed that far.  However, by 6:00 PM I was still only at a five.  Dr. Lunt said we were at a deciding factor between being able to up the Pitocin levels, or contemplating a possible cesarean section.  Pitocin levels can only be administered at 20 units without an internal monitor (Or else you can possibly risk bursting your uterus).  An internal monitor checks to see how strong your uterus in contracting.  To birth a child, they like your uterus to be contracting at 200.  Good news for me, mine was only contracting at 116.  I was able to up the Pitocin!  It was turned up many times before I finally reached 200.  (Normal amount is 20 units, and I was at 42 units before I finally dilated to a ten!)  To sum it all up, I had a wussy uterus and would have never been able to birth a child without medical intervention…  I am so blessed to live at this time with medical advancements!  At 11:30 PM, I was finally told “You’re baby has hair!”  I was so excited.  Since I didn’t have much hair at birth, I figured he wouldn’t either.  At this moment, I thought the baby was going to be delivered with minutes.  Little did I know, I still had hours of pushing!  I had an amazing doctor, great nurses, and a wonderful husband helping me throughout the process.  At 2:12 AM, McKay was born.  Being so exhausted and not quite thinking straight, Logan was quite surprised to see how big McKay’s head was.  In Logan’s words, “For hours I saw this little head and kept thinking, man it’s small- why doesn’t he just come out.  After he was born and I saw how funnel shaped his head was, I realized why it took so long!”  We love our little boy!