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!

No more tubes!!

Well we had a great week and I was hoping we would be entering the Thanksgiving break sick-free but it's just not our luck!! Brody started running fever last night between 102-103 degrees. This morning he was so lifeless and had such a terrible cough I thought I better call the doctor. Sure enough he has an upper respiratory infection. While the doctor was looking in his ears he said his right tubes was completely gone and his left tube was in his ear canal with a bunch of wax so he pulled it out. It was tiny! Luckily his ears aren't infected but we have to ve on the look out for infection and if he starts getting them again we will be heading back to Dr.P for another set. I'm just gladweve gotten this far as I've heard they usually only last 6-12 months! He's had his since he was 11 months.
No sooner than walking into the door that I noticed Jax having a ton of drainage and puss coming out of his left ear! Awesome, he has an ear infection! So I guess I will be calling the doctor back in the morning to get him some drops.
Hopefully we cankickthis in the butt and notcomoletely lose our break to illness!! I will post some pictures laterr this week.

Love,
The Macs

We are in for a ride

This is going to be a long winter!! It's already been a long fall and we haven't been in it that long!

Jax had a bad night on Friday and cried for a hour for no particular reason other than he couldn't breath bc of a stopped up nose.

Saturday we took Murphy to the vet for his 2nd round of shots, little fur ball weighed 17 lbs! He weighed 6 four weeks ago when we got him.

Both boys are still fighting a cold and asthma flare ups. Brody had an asthma attack on Sunday that left him throwing up and left us with very little sleep. They are both still on albuterol around the clock and Brody is taking a cough medicine to help fight his constant, never-ending, keeps you up at night cough spells. We've gotten few good nights sleep around here and I'm definitely ready for Thanksgiving break! We need it. I feel like I'm 2 steps behind with their breathing and never know what will trigger them to have a flare up, it's very frustrating.

They are both on breathing treatments around the clock and Brody is on cough medicine to help is never ending, keep you up at night cough spells!

Brody went to doctor yesterday and weighed in at 32 lbs, he's getting so big.

With love,
The Macs

I didn't knock on wood

I thought we were getting better and apparently I should have knocked on wood. I know most of y'all don't want to hear about my sick kids again but I do this more for "record keeping" than anything.

Today was a 1/2 day PLC but I had scheduled Jaxson's 1 year shots a month ago since he was sick at his 1 year check up and couldn't get them. I didn't realize it was a 1/2 day PLC but thought it was perfect because I wouldn't have students and I could just run real quick to get his shots and come back to finish up my planning. Should have known better.

I quickly pick up Jaxson from daycare and run across town to his 2:00 appointment. I noticed putting him into the car that he felt a little warm but was hoping he was just hot from playing. When we got back into the doctor's office the nurse asked that I undress him so that we could get his weight and I knew immediately he had fever. So I asked the nurse to get him temp before we started the shots and sure enough he had 101. You've got to be sh****** me is what I think I said. UGH!! This child has been on 5 days of steroids and 7 days of amoxicillin! How is he running a fever?!?! He also has been getting a diaper rash that just wasn't getting better so I asked the doctor if it was a yeast infection, sure enough it was. Oh great, is that what Brody has too, he's was on the same steroid? He had a similar rash but anytime my boys get on antibiotics they get some sort of diaper rash due to them. Sure enough both boys have yeast infections. Awesome! I will never be giving that steroid again!

Dr. J ran Jaxson's 1 year blood work and wanted to check his white count just to rule things out with his fever while being on an antibiotic. The nurse popped her head in about 10 minutes later saying we couldn't leave yet because his count is elevated! Greatness. So we waited and Dr. J came back in and ran a strep test (because its going around daycare). Luckily that came back negative. He thinks Jaxson just has a virus but wants us to watch him and if he gets worse or still has fever Friday to come back in to see what's going on with his white count and run more test.

So that's where we stand. I sure hope this is the last of this crap for awhile, I'm about at the end of my rope with the back to back sickies at my house. Cannot wait til Thanksgiving break! 2 more weeks, we can make it....

Halloween

For the past 3 years Brody has been sick for Halloween so I was determined to go to the church festival this year! I knew we wouldn't last long with both boys still not being 100% and a full day at school but we made it and they had a blast! We stayed for about 45 minutes before we started having a melt down (Jax) because it was time for bath and bed. My boys are do "routine" boys and if you get them off their routine I will surely pay :)

Brody was a fire fighter and Jaxson was a Dalmation.

Slowly but surely

We've still have had rounds of illnesses but we are slowly getting better. Both boys have struggled for the past 10 days with a cold which triggers their asthma. The fact that they both have asthma bothers me but I've been assured several times that most children grow out of it. They are both on steroids, breathing treatments every 4 hours and Jax is on amoxicillin to help him fight his upper respiratory infection. It's been a rough week but I'm finally feeling like we are getting their breathing and coughs under control.

The weather is beautiful this weekend and I'm on my way to have a date night with my wonderful hubby, dinner and the grocery store! We will have just enough time to get back to the boys for the next round of treatments, they hate having anyone but us give it and really prefer I be the one. I must have the perfect motherly touch ;)

Here's this weeks iPhone pics