How McCabe Came

McCabe, with his pops at just over a week old
McCabe's pregnancy was our trickiest yet. At 27 weeks we had our first early labor scare and I had to start taking things really easy. However, at 34 weeks I started cramping up more and more and had to start bedrest. Boo. Every day we would pray that he would stay in longer for his sake. Thanks to our Relief Society, James, and my Mom (who came and helped us for a month) we were able to keep him in longer than either of his older brothers! He came just one day shy of 39 weeks! His due date was Christmas, but as he was going to be a c-section, he was scheduled for the 20th early on in our pregnancy. However, with my history, our doctor had no expectation of us getting near that date and we all planned for a Thanksgiving baby instead. Miraculously, McCabe surprised us by staying in! Bedrest works. For the last so many check-ups, my doctor would have me come in without eating in case we would have to go straight to surgery right then and there. However, each time our little guy and I would be doing surprisingly well and he would let us go a little bit longer.

The week before our scheduled c-section, my blood pressure had climbed high enough that Dr. Noorda told us that we should have the c-section no later than that Friday. We agreed and the surgery was scheduled for Noon on the 17th. I was pretty bummed by the whole thing because that would be in the very middle of James' last day of finals and would make it very stressful for him. Plus, I was grouchy that I would have to spend the whole morning without a snack!

Thankfully, McCabe must have been on the same page because early that morning around 4am my water broke. Hot dog! That meant the the c-sections scheduled before ours got the boot and we Siegs got to sail on to the first surgery slot of the day! Even better, my water broke late enough in the morning to get a whole new group of fresh nurses and doctors, and made it so that my doctor could perform the surgery instead of the on-call doctor that I had never met.

The spinal and surgery went ahead with no hitches and I was so grateful. Our little guy came out healthy and strong and surprisingly small at 7:39am. His size was probably a mixture of my midget genes and a blessing from Heavenly Father. When they performed the surgery, they found that my uterus was paper thin and that they could actually see McCabe clearly even before they made any cut. My doctor said that if I even had gone two more hours I would have probably ruptured, putting both of us at high risk. I am so thankful for all of the prayers on our behalf that made it possible for us to both be healthy and safe.

We like our boys to have names that mean something special to me and James and so we named him McCabe after James' middle name. We gave him the middle name of Porter after my friend Mehgan Porter and her whole family who I adore. While McCabe and I were in surgery in Utah, Mehgan was also being operated on in California to prepare for her cancer treatment. Even though I dreading the spinal and having to be awake during surgery, I kept thinking of my good friend and was able to be stronger because of her example of courage.

Now our little guy is a week and a half and is growing more and more alert each day. We couldn't be more pleased with his little budding personality and feel like the luckiest of all to have three wonderful stinkbugs to keep busy with. Thanks to the timing of McCabe's birth and my mom's help with our other boys, James was able to finish off his first semester in his masters program with a 4.0! We are all so proud of our poppy.

Bed-rest

Max, Char, and Mason, enjoying cousin time. Yes, Max at almost 3 months is nearly Charlie's size at 14 months. A little while longer and maybe he will rival Mason.
I am now 35 weeks in my pregnancy and am so grateful for it! Every week is an accomplishment. For the past little while I have been on bed-rest so I just park my patootie on our couch and do jack-squat all day while other kind people take care of our boys. It hasn't been dreamy but on the upside, youtube taught me how to knit. Now our little newborn will be stylin' all sorts of hats (the obviously homemade and clumsy look is in right now, right?)!

It has been so humbling to have kind people help us make it through this tricky period. James has been a dream come true taking on every responsibility. He promised me last night that if I can keep this baby in till my scheduled c-section date, he will do the dishes for the rest of our lives. As much as I hate being down, his promise is reason enough to stay on my rump and keep this baby in....oh, that and our baby's health.

As kind as everyone is, part of me seriously worries what odd things these new friends are learning about our little Sieg family. The other day I overheard Mason informing a nice young teenager that girls don't have penises. As Mason is our never-ending talker, I can only imagine that what I heard was only the tip of the iceberg.

My concerns were validated on Friday when Aria came to help out for the day. At one point she was upstairs with the kids cleaning the boy's room when she asked Mason if he liked having the house clean or dirty. After briefly thinking it through, Mason replied, "Dirty. My mom, she likes it dirty." Wow. Aren't I a regular Stepford Wife!

Slugs and snails and puppy dog tails....

....that's what our next little one is made out of! Hot dog! We Siegs are all pleased as punch! I remember telling my friends in college that I wanted a bunch of boys. I guess someone heard me loud and clear (I just hope that He was also listening when I mentioned that I wanted at least one girl in the mix at some point). Three little boys, age three and under. Should be fun, fun, FUN!

And speaking of boys, Aria and Tommy just had one! Little Max was born on Tuesday and he is absolutely darling....in a really manly way.

Max, getting to meet his already favorite auntie.

Guess what?!!!

At my six week check-up after Charlie was born, my doctor told me to make sure I waited six months before getting pregnant again. I thought to myself, "NO PROBLEM!!!!!! Who in their right mind would do that?!!!!" Well.....I guess we do.

To say that we were surprised is an understatement. The first night that we suspected we might be pregnant, I wanted to cry. Charlie is still my baby and I still look like I'm pregnant from having him!!!! However, by the next morning I was clicking my heals! We are thrilled to have another little Sieglet join our family. Plus, the Chinese gender predicting calendar calculated that this little friend will be a girl....and those are a hundred percent accurate, right? Just joking. However this little one comes out, we will be pleased as punch!

Especially if Charlie is walking by then....

How Charlie Came....this post was obviously written on pain medication.....

Our last family of three picture. Taken right after we got the news that I was going in for a c-section. YIKES!!!!!

This whole past pregnancy, we figured that we would be having our baby earlier than his due date of October 18th. He had a scheduled c-section for the 13th, but we figured that he would come earlier still, like his big brother Mason. Just like with Mason, I had early labor pains starting about a month ago but nothing serious. I even was feeling really the weeks leading up to his birth. On Tuesday morning Mason and I were on the floor playing while James got ready for school. Out of nowhere, my water broke. However, since I had a check up a couple hours later so we just carried on with business as usual figured we would find out soon enough.

Proud Poppy, all ready for the surgery. He finds that stuff fascinating. Different strokes for different folks.

When we went to the check up, they ran a test and told us that it was my amniotic fluid and that I could scoot right over to labor and delivery 'cause our little guy (they actually did mess up and say that. We figured it was already so we weren't too bugged) was on his way. While I was freaking out, we drove home to figure out babysitting (our families have been WONDERFUL!!!) and said a quick good-bye to our little Mason. They took me into surgery about an hour and a half after we signed in which was nice because I didn't have to stress for too long.

When I got to meet Charlie an hour or so after surgery.
The surgery went well and performed by Dr. Gammette. James was thrilled to be able to watch another c-section and I was thrilled to get it over with. Right after our little guy came out, he stopped breathing and so they "bagged him" and sent him off to the NICU to get his lungs working. I knew something was wrong but all I could do was pray for our little chap. Luckily, they were able to get things under control and he didn't have to stay there any longer than seven hours. After my surgery, they wheeled my bed to his little NICU space and I got to touch his little feet and say hello. Needless to say, I was pleased as punch when they finally released him and let me hold him at nine that night. Unfortunately, I was so far gone and gross from my surgery and medication that our introduction was quite short before I had to send him off to the nursery for fear that I would fall asleep on him.

Our little trooper.
We decided to name him Charlie. Charles Rodney Sieg, after his two grandpas. Charlie is almost as long as Mason was, but is soo skinny! Luckily, he is quite the porker, so we hope that he will bulk up soon. So far Mason is smitten with his little friend. Hopefully that will never change.

Getting closer...

Me and Mason on my 27th birthday

This evening our little baby kicked my lower back so hard I thought he was trying to break me. He/she then proceeded to move around with so much vigor that I thought that I was going to go into labor any second. That little one has no more room to grow. Mason was born into chaos as he was unexpectedly 3 weeks early and we were in the process of organizing our little apartment. This one has threatened labor several times already so I am getting ready for the big day extra early, to help ease some of the post-baby stress.

As I fold the little baby clothes and stack the newborn diapers, I can't help but get SO excited for the chance to meet our new little Sieg friend. It also reminds me of all of my happy memories with little newborn Mason and makes me both of them even more. I feel like the luckiest of all!

Today Mason guffawed loudly at every single event. He played with nearly every toy he owns, colored, helped in the kitchen and showed off his mad jumping skills. The highlight of the day was when a heavy storm blew in and we watched the rain and lightning together from our front window. He was enthralled! I will miss having special time with my little pal. I am starting to feel more ready for the big day but I have no plans of wishing away my last little while of life as I know it.

Getting closer

Picture taken last week while camping at Strawberry Reservoir. More pictures to come when I can finally get back into blogging.

Sweet Baby James

Little Baby James with his Siblings in 1982

This is one of my favorite pictures ever of my honeybunny so I had to get a copy of it when we were visiting his family a couple weeks ago. Aren't they all so cute? I just adore James' saggy little cheeks and red hair! I recently had a dream that I was holding a snuggly little James look-a-like and it made me so excited to have this little baby! Boy or girl. The dream was the usual random/weird type so I don't think it was any revelation on the gender. It just made me happy. Happy to officially be in my THIRD trimester?!!! Hot Dog!!!!

Some days we think we have a little boy on the way and other days we are certain it is a spunky little girl. Who knows. Only time will tell! Any predictions?

Meet the newest Sieg!

Mason, getting to know his younger sibling.

Today James and I had the happy opportunity to get a glimpse of our little one. Our kiddo is now about 10 inches long and weighs about 14 oz.. Hot dog!!!! We opted not find out the gender so we'll all have to wait for the big birthday till the mystery is solved. Pretty exciting!!!!

Look at this flexibility! Also, note the flat tiny rump....looks like they might take after momma.

Don't they look just like James?!!!! Just joking....we are hoping our baby comes out looking a little differently than this. If not, we'll have to go with the name, Eskelito or Eskelita with this new family member.

****I don't know why I said they. We are not having twins****

Pregnant woman waddling

James, with his harvest of radishes...too bad we don't really like radishes....

I am now 18 weeks pregnant and feeling mighty fine...in a pregnant sort of way. I had been running my entire first trimester to fight off the morning sickness. However, as soon as I started feeling better and after I strained my calf, I have been living the sedentary life of grandeur! I tell myself this is okay because I waddle after Mason all day long (Isn't that aerobic enough?). In fact, I waddle so much so that I decided to jump back into fitness to strengthen my stretching muscles.

There certainly are some perks to perpetually living the student life. Since James is going to school, I get a free pass to BYU's swimming pools and have decided that swimming laps and aqua jogging (woot!) would be the way to go. To start up my fitness fun, we Siegs stopped by to get my pass activated this afternoon. The plan was for me to run in and take care of things while James and Mason stayed in the car.

Students were milling around while I climbed heftily out of the car. Their presence only invigorated me more and I thought, "I'll show you what a pregnant woman can do!" With that I bolted across the lawn and up the front steps.... pretty much the definition of fitness. Then I heard a familiar male voice booming behind me.

"Slow down, Baby, you're not wearing a helmet!"

Thanks for the reality check, James.

*****Thanks, everyone, for joining in on the giveaway! Mason and I are getting more and more excited to see the results!!*****

I am happy to report that I had my 16 week check up on Monday and all is well with the baby. I had been nervously awaiting the appointment for the past couple of weeks. Worried that there would be no heartbeat.

Some of you may know that we Siegs were pregnant last Summer. Everything seemed to be going well until we went in at 15 weeks and didn't hear the heartbeat that we hoped for. The baby had died a couple weeks previous but my body refused to give up the chance of renewing motherhood. I ended up having an emergency D and C several weeks after before it all was over. We were heartbroken.

I remember feeling all kinds of emotions when we heard the news. Remember having all kinds of thoughts. Was it my fault? Was I not excited enough? How did I not know? Several weeks after we found out that we would be joined with another little one, James gave me a blessing. In that blessing, I was told that this little baby would be a blessing to our family. After I miscarried, I wondered how that was possible. Now I am starting to understand.

In previous pregnancies, I rode an emotional roller coaster of fear and elation. I was happy about having a little one on the way, but was so nervous for the C-section and everything that goes along with that. I spent so much of the pregnancy worried about myself that I forgot to focus on how lucky we were to have more joy added to our family. More opportunities to laugh and smile.

This pregnancy has been very different for me. I haven't fallen into my usual pit of fear. I haven't felt put out. Just lucky and hopeful. Blessed, really. Blessed by the little baby that didn't come. The one we miss and look forward to someday meeting.

Hot Dog!!!!

It's official! We went to the doctor today and got to see our new little one on the way! The ultrasound measured us at about 11 weeks along. So we have quite a while. But a happy while. This pregnancy has been SO much easier than my usual (I found that if I go for a run, I am not as pukey. Who knows if that's it, maybe it is a girl), so I can't complain too much. The due date is October 18th but they will schedule a c-section for the 13th. However, Mason came three weeks early, so we'll see how things end up.

Our doctor is really nice, but he is not giving me as special treatment as I got with Mason. For that reason, we have to wait till we are about 20 weeks along like normal people have to find out the gender. Before I got to see a prenatal specialist to monitor our baby's bone development, and as a result, we had the fanciest of fancy ultrasounds and got to have them early on. I guess we will still be monitored, but he figures that we have plenty of time and should start when the baby is bigger. Bleh. Me no likey. Because we have to wait to find out the gender anyway, we figure that it would be fun to really wait. As of now, we are going to wait till the little miss/chap is born and just pick out two names for the surprise.

Anyway, we Siegs are pleased as punch to have another little Mason/Masonette in our lives. We feel incredibly blessed. Wish us luck!

Sieg and Winkle Reunion

Mason and I were able to visit one of my oldest and closest friends this week. What a treat! Sarah and I were eachother's bestfriend when we had nobody else to do hair-brained things with. Since then, we have both grown up, gone to school, and been married. Even though Sarah started having her kids sooner than I did, we ended up having babies two days apart last year! What fun! Ava Winkle was born on August 28th and Mason was born on August 30th. Until this week, we had not met each other's babies, so this was really fun for me to see.
This picture was taken two months before they came.
Aren't they cuter outside of our bodies?!!


Mason and Ava got to go swimming for the first time! Ava enjoyed the splashing, but Mason only found it distracting. He was more interested in the five-fingered hand on Ava's wrist.