Meet Maybree…

I can hardly believe she’s a week old today!

Maybree Miriam was born Thursday, December 15th at 8:40 a.m. She weighed in at a whopping 6 lbs 9 oz and measured 19 1/2 inches long. Of the three, she’s our heaviest and shortest baby!

She is precious and perfect and we love her so much already!

Her name... "Maybree" is a name I heard when I was pregnant with AB. It was actually at Carrie's baby shower in Callahan. The girl who made the shower cake was named Maybree and I thought it was such a different and pretty name. "Miriam" was Devin's grandmother's name. She passed away when he was a little boy, so I never had the privilege of knowing her, but I do know the three daughters and son that she (& DW's Granddaddy) raised...I think the world of Devin's aunts and his Daddy, and I know that his grandmother was a wonderful woman just by knowing them. I love that both our girls' middle names are after our precious grandmothers.

Big Sister is adjusting well. Although she’s had a few “show-out” moments, she loves her sister and is so sweet with her!  

Maybree isn’t fussy and the only time we “hear” from her, is to let us know she’s hungry! So far, she’s such a great baby.

She’s so tiny and it’s beyond precious having a newborn around the house again. There isn’t anything like the sounds and smells of a brand new baby!

She’s eating every 2-3 hours, so we’re spending lots of one-on-one time together. :) We had her first dr. apt yesterday and she’s already gained weight! She’s up to 6 lb. 14 oz.

Her delivery went perfectly and we are so thankful for that. We had another scheduled c-section and I don’t think it could have gone better.

We got to the hospital last Thursday morning just after 6:00 a.m.

One last belly pic!

Nie-Nie came and stayed at our house with Annabelle and my parents met us at the hospital. Shortly after our arrival, they started my IV (which I still think is one of the worst parts of the whole deal). They pumped me so full of fluid that my feet and ankles are STILL swollen. :) It felt like it was taking forever for 8:00 to get there (that was our scheduled time), but the closer it got, the more nervous I was. I am a complete sissy when it comes to pain. I don't do shots or blood work and certainly not IV's, so the thought of having my tummy cut wide open REALLY freaks me out. Of course all the waivers you have to sign about anesthesia and surgery help things. I mean what's more reassuring than signing the consent forms that say this may lead to death. I did however, get my refrigerator cleaned out the night before, so that made me feel a little better. DW came into the kitchen around 9:00 that night and asked WHY in the world I was cleaning out the fridge...he didn't understand that if something happened to me in the O.R., I didn't want people bringing him funeral food and us not having a cleaned out fridge.

8:00 rolled around and they wheeled me to the O.R. --  DW was left behind to get dressed. The nurses told him they'd be back for him in 10-15 minutes. He was getting a little worried when they didn't come back for 25 minutes... it took the anesthesiologist a little longer to do my spinal block than usual. But Hallelujah that thing worked. I am always worried it's not and I'm going to feel something! While he was doing it, my left leg went all tingly and numb and I may have freaked out a little and told him I thought it was only working on one side, and I might have told him my mom's epidural story when she delivered my brother and how it only worked on one side...my dr may have laughed a little at my worry and assured me it was just the way I was having to sit that made my leg tingly... they did the pinch test and we were good to go. DW came in and it was time to meet our newest baby!

They started the incision at 8:31 and at 8:40 we heard our girl's first cries. So sweet. She came out louder than both her brother and sister.

Maybree and Daddy headed to the nursery while the doctors finished up my surgery and sent me back to the room for recovery. After an hour of recovery, they finally brought our girl to her momma!

In the past, visitors have been able to go in the nursery with DW and see the babies, but this time was different! They did see her through the nursery window, but no one was allowed in, so everyone was anxious to see our girl up close!

Grammy & Pop

Aunt Nen

DW's Aunt and our pastor had been in the waiting room, but they headed home after the baby came, so I don’t have pictures of them.

We wanted to wait a couple of hours after surgery before having my MIL bring AB up to meet her sister. I know how scary I probably looked right after, and we thought waiting a couple hours would be the best thing for her. Around 10:30, Nie-Nie & Aunt Kels brought her up to meet Maybree!

Nie-Nie & Aunt Kelsey

Annabelle was stand-offish at first, but warmed up fast. She didn't want much to do with me, except to ask me, "What happened to you's clothes, Mommy?" I still had my hospital gown on and she KNEW that didn't look like mommy's jammies. :)

She was excited that the labor & delivery floor had a Christmas tree with PURPLE ornaments (her favorite color), but not nearly as excited as she was to hold her new baby sister! (Thanks, Aunt Stephanie for making her "Big Sister" shirt!) :)

 

Everyone left around lunch time and that afternoon Pappy & Uncle Adam stopped by to meet their newest granddaughter/niece...they'd been in the cow pens all morning, so they didn't hold her, so no pics of them either.

Devin's mom and her husband also arrived from Georgia late that afternoon. No pics of them either...(Grandma had a little cold, so they didn't hold Maybree either)...she did come back the next day though, and got to hold her.

We waited so long to name her, that we ALMOST didn’t have anything with her name on it for the hospital! Aunt Carrie came through though, and brought Maybree a hat with her name on it!

We could have stayed another day in the hospital, but I was ready to come home! Two nights was plenty for me! We came home Saturday at lunch. My Mom bought her going home outfit a couple of months ago when she was in Tampa for a meeting. Oh, it’s so sweet…I plan to have all the kids’ outfits framed in shadow boxes and hang them somewhere??? Maybe a project for 2012! :)

Dressed & ready to go!

Daddy & Maybree getting ready to head home! She IS tiny, but looks even more tiny when DW holds her. :)

All strapped in! (She looks so tiny in that big carseat!

I am healing good and have been well taken care of. My parents have been staying with us to tend to AB and Maybree and the house… my duties have been feeding the baby and napping. I warned everyone I would be taking full advantage of all the extra help this time, and I have! I’ve napped every day and am letting everyone else handle everything else. I think we’ll all be spoiled when Grammy & Pop go home. It's been super nice, though. :)

We are just soaking up the sweetness that comes with a new baby and handling everything else that comes along with it, too. There have been tears as we remember the sweetness of bringing home her big brother and big sister, and as we imagine how things would have/should have been... there have been some "show-out" moments from a big sister who's getting used to sharing the spot light, and even some snaps out of some tired sleep-deprived adults. But that's how it goes. The good with bad. The happy with the sad. Through all of it, though, we know how blessed we are and we are thankful.

~amw~