Mac #3: 8 weeks

This week has been rough! I've been blah all week long. Food sounds, smells and looks gross. I haven energy whatsoever and can barely function! I'm very ready toe doe with this part of pregnancy.

Food aversions: Mexican food!
Cravings: sweets

8 week development:
New this week: Webbed fingers and toes are poking out from your baby's hands and feet, his eyelids practically cover his eyes, breathing tubes extend from his throat to the branches of his developing lungs, and his "tail" is just about gone. In his brain, nerve cells are branching out to connect with one another, forming primitive neural pathways. You may be daydreaming about your baby as one sex or the other, but the external genitals still haven't developed enough to reveal whether you're having a boy or a girl. Either way, your baby — about the size of a kidney bean — is constantly moving and shifting, though you still can't feel it.

Mac #3: 7 weeks

We went to the doctor on Monday and everything looks great. We got to see the little peanut and a flickering heartbeat which always puts my mind at ease. We didn't get a good picture because she is still so little and it was their portable u/s machine. We get to go back in 3 weeks for another u/s.
I am a candidate for weekly progesterone shots starting at 16 weeks so try and keep preterm labor away and me off bed rest. I'm excited to see if this will work but nervous about the shot! It's a big ole needle :(
Morning sickness is actually night sickness! Around 5-6 I am useless and pretty nauseas. I've had my first food aversion: Mexican food!! Which is crazy! Smells are making me sick as well and I cant stay awake past 8. Other than that I am feeling great.

Here is baby Mac's 7 week development: The big news this week: Hands and feet are emerging from developing arms and legs — although they look more like paddles at this point than the tiny, pudgy extremities you're daydreaming about holding and tickling. Technically, your baby is still considered an embryo and has something of a small tail, which is an extension of her tailbone. The tail will disappear within a few weeks, but that's the only thing getting smaller. Your baby has doubled in size since last week and now measures half an inch long, about the size of a blueberry.

If you could see inside your womb, you'd spot eyelid folds partially covering her peepers, which already have some color, as well as the tip of her nose and tiny veins beneath parchment-thin skin. Both hemispheres of your baby's brain are growing, and her liver is churning out red blood cells until her bone marrow forms and takes over this role. She also has an appendix and a pancreas, which will eventually produce the hormone insulin to aid in digestion. A loop in your baby's growing intestines is bulging into her umbilical cord, which now has distinct blood vessels to carry oxygen and nutrients to and from her tiny body.

You can tell how tired I am in this pic!

Poor Jaxson

My poor peanut has a double ear infection and pinkeye. He's been battling a cold that we've all had (minus daddy) for a few days and hasn't been sleeping great. Well, last night he was up and would scream our in pain. He ended up sleeping on me for a couple of hours and got a dose of Motrin. When we woke up he was fine except for a little drainage in his eye so I assumed it was just the cold plus he has a few teeth coming in. We get to daycare and he has drainage pouring out of his left ear. So I make arrangements so that I can head to the doctor.
We get there and his eye looks pretty bad and he's pretty miserable. Dr. J started by looking into his "good ear" and quickly said that's not looking good at all :( his left ear was completely clogged and infected. So he has a double ear infection and pink eye(from the ear infection) both tubes are still in place but since this is his 3rd ear infection in 6 months while having tubes he said if he gets one more he will want us to get his adenoids taken out :( not what I wanted to hear!
Thankfully my mom wasn't feeling great herself and said she would take the rest of the day off and keep him. We are completing semester exams and I cannot miss work. Hopefully the 3 meds he is on will work quickly and he will be as good as new.
Feel better jaxson!
Love,
The Macs

6 weeks

6 week update: I've been battling a cold this week and getting my nightly headaches (i got those with rhe boys as well) I've had a few rounds of nausea but nothing too bad. Mood swings are still in full swing, not use to feeling this way and they are very strong! I'm excited and ready to have the next 2 weeks off from work! I definitely could use the rest.
Baby Mac #3:
This week's major developments: The nose, mouth, and ears that you'll spend so much time kissing in eight months are beginning to take shape. If you could see into your uterus, you'd find an oversize head and dark spots where your baby's eyes and nostrils are starting to form. His emerging ears are marked by small depressions on the sides of the head, and his arms and legs by protruding buds. His heart is beating about 100 to 160 times a minute — almost twice as fast as yours — and blood is beginning to course through his body. His intestines are developing, and the bud of tissue that will give rise to his lungs has appeared. His pituitary gland is forming, as are the rest of his brain, muscles, and bones. Right now, your baby is a quarter of an inch long, about the size of a lentil.

We go to the doctor on Monday! I will update then.
Love,
The Macs

McCollough: Family of 5!

We are excited to announce that our family is expanding again! Jaxson's going to be big brother and if you ask Brody "his sister is in mommy's tummy!"

I am due August 9th officially but will definitely be having a July baby!

I already had my first round of blood work. My first beta was 189 and my second was 632, a doubling time oof 24.5 hours where 48-72 hours is normal. My progesterone was 24.5 where over 20 is good. All indicating a healthy pregnancy thus far. We go for our first ultrasound Dec. 19th

I know they say you pooch out quickly with each pregnancy but my pooch is crazy! No weight gain but definitely bloated!

Til next time!
-The Macs-

5 Weeks

I wrote this on Thursday:
Today I am 5 weeks along with #3! I want to document this pregnancy with every detail as this will be our last child, unless of course the good Lord has different plans for us.

Symptoms different from the boys:
- I am moody! I am snappy, hot-tempered, blood pressure boiling moody! It's almost like an out of body experience! I can't be like this at work or towards the boys so poor Brandon gets the brunt of it. I apologize before and after! I've noticed it gets worse when I'm really tired.

-extreme gassy! It's out of control!! Never had this with the boys

Symptoms same as boys:
-Already tired! Went to bed last night at 8!
-I already have a little belly! It's crazy and shocking but its definitely true that you show more/faster with each pregnancy
-Lovenox shots hurt! Start them from day one
-headaches in the evenings have kicked in

Here is this weeks development:
Your baby now resembles a teeny tadpole (complete with a tiny tail) and is about the size of an orange seed. The circulatory (or blood) system, along with the heart, is the first part of that tiny body to be functional; and as your baby's heart starts to form, you may even be able to see it beating on an early ultrasound. Another part of your little tadpole that is under construction: the neural tube, which will eventually become your baby's brain and spinal cord.

Prayers for a healthy baby and pregnancy for momma. We are going to discuss some options I've been researching that have been proven to help with preterm!