More Macee

 Maddi's cute little not to Me: "  I love you.  I am sad that you have to stay in the hospital. To Mommy. From Maddi"

 Mia's note to Macee

Maddi's note to Macee: "I love you. You are so cute. I can't wait to see you in the hospital. To Macee. From Maddi"

Hanging out with Mommy while we wait for Daddy to come pick us up. I throughly enjoyed my hospital stay! :)

Macee Joy Nelson

 After going into pre-term labor in April and a couple weeks of bed rest and then a couple more weeks enjoying being OFF bed rest we were pretty ready to have this baby and she just didn't come and didn't come. In the beginning of May for Family home evening we made guesses about when we thought the baby would be born. When the baby didn't come we crossed off Lance's guess, My guess, Grandma's guess, and Maddi's guess. We had two guesses left: Mia's; May 23rd (my due date) and Ella's; May 31st (WAY after my due date!). Mia had been praying every night for the baby to come on my due date (so she could WIN... Dessert was on the line.) :) Tuesday morning (the day before my due date) after a Fun Filled Family Home Evening of outdoor activities like soccer, catch, and tag (which translates to "Mom and Dad not having anything planned and letting the kids take over"), and a walk around the neighborhood with Lance after the kids were in bed the night before, I asked Mia to please pray that the baby would come THAT day so she conceded seeing as how she could still win and included my wish in the family prayers that morning and then she and Lance headed off to school and work.:)  I had already had some contractions that morning but didn't want to get my hopes up yet. After about an hour I was pretty sure this was the real deal and I've never been more excited!!! It's amazing what happens when it feels like you've been waiting forever for the baby to come...I felt like I was about to run a race! :) I called Lance and told him to come back home and I got ready to head off. My contractions were intense so I thought I had to have progressed a bit but was shocked when we got to the hospital at 10am and found out I was already in transition! This was wonderful news for me though b/c I had decided after having Ella that I didn't want an epidural with my next baby (or I guess I should say that I wanted to TRY going natural).  Anyway...a couple of intense but manageable hours and 20 CRAZY minutes later  (2:22pm)  little Macee Joy Nelson joined us and the next shock was HOW big she was (especially for our babies)! The doctor and nurses were shocked as well and were guessing she was 8lb 14oz but the scale revealed the truth....9lbs 5 oz!!! :) She was just a bundle of rolls and so cuddly.

All the Girls!!!

The most excited Biggest-Big-Sister

The most excited Middlest-Big-Sister

The most excited Littlest-Big-Sister

Random

A few random moments of us soaking up the last month before the Baby was due. In April right when I was almost 34 weeks along I went into pre-term labor. We had been worried about this happening because of Ella's exciting entrance to life and so I had been doing a progesterone shot once a week during my pregnancy which is supposed to help with preventing preterm birth and they had been monitoring things more closely this pregnancy. This time though b/c I was just shy of 34 weeks they were able to stop the labor and give me a shot to help the baby's lungs develop. It was scary for us at first b/c we felt like we were reliving our experience with Ella but thankfully I was able to go home that night and I didn't continue to progress like I did with Ella. They put me on bed rest for the next two weeks (it sure felt a lot longer than that!) and then I still hadn't had any more progress so I got taken off bed rest and once I got to 37 weeks I felt ready to just enjoy the blessing of extra TIME. Made a bunch of freezer meals, and took some time while my Mom was here to take each of the girls out on a date with me. We did fun things like visiting the dollar store, and doing some grocery shopping but b/c it's so rare that it's just me and ONE child, I saw each of them in a whole new light with the one-on-one time. I need to remember this for the future!

Doing a puzzle with Ella while on bed rest. She LOVES this United States Puzzle so she found my lack of activity the perfect opportunity to do it over and over. I think she knows the name of almost every state and can tell you where every piece goes. She also found out where every person in the family was born and loves to tell everyone about it as well.  And using my growing belly to hold the pieces was even MORE fun. :)

Mom and Mia Date

Getting to the end!!!

Grandma and Ella

My Date with Maddi

Little Buddies

Ella and Mommy going on a Date

Mia finding creative ways to get Ella to help her with her chores. This time I think she told Ella that she was a "Shoe Monster" or something of that nature and loaded up her pockets, hand, and MOUTH with shoes to take upstairs.

Washing Barbie clothes with their wash board and drying them on the drying rack. :)