Christmas 2013

Christmas this year was bittersweet.  It was Kadence's first Christmas and Kamden's first Christmas as a big brother.  But it was also a Christmas that we were missing one very special family member.  Tammy was still in the hospital after her open heart surgery in November.  So, even though we had a lot to celebrate, we also all had our minds elsewhere...wishing Tammy could be with us.

Kamden, Kadence, and I decided to go to Christmas Eve service at Westerville Christian Church with Grandma Hedy, Grandmaw, and Grandpaw.  This service is always very nice, but this one was more meaningful.  Kamden enjoyed seeing his teacher, Mrs. Willison, on stage as she sang throughout the service.  During several of the songs, thinking of Tammy, I had tears in my eyes.  But then I would look down at Kamden and smile as he did the signs for Silent Night that he learned at preschool. 

Kadence dressed up for church

Kadence is 4-months old

Weight:  12 pounds, 14.5 ounces

Height:  24.25 inches

 

Sleeping through the night

Found her feet

Laughs (especially at Kamden)

 

Celebrated her first Halloween and Thanksgiving

First parade--Westerville Christmas Parade

First cold...Kadence had to go to the doctor for a runny nose and cough.

Columbus Zoo Wildlights--We had her bundled in mommy's coat

Breakfast with Santa

Christmas at Grandmaw and Grandpaw's farm

Santa Claus came to the house to visit

Halloween 2013

Tonight was very wet for trick-or-treating.  It rained the entire evening, but Kamden still wanted to go out.  So he and daddy headed out to knock on a few doors so Kamden could get some candy.   Over an hour later, after walking up and down both sides of our street, they arrived home...wet all the way through their clothes but with a big bag of candy!  Mission accomplished! 

Kamden aka Dale Earnhart Jr.

Kadence aka Kadencebug

Kadence is 2-months old

Weight:  11 pounds, 6 ounces

Height:  22.25 inches

Found her hands--She loves to chew on them

Went to the pumpkin patch with Kamden and his school

First trip to the Columbus Zoo

Kadence is 1-month old

Weight:  9 pounds, 9 ounces

Height:  21.5 inches

Starting to smile

First shopping trip to Jeffersonville Outlets

First cookout at Chuck and Leala's house

First Babysitter--

Grandma TT watched her all day while mommy, daddy, and Kamden went to 

Columbus Motor Speedway for the Rusty Wallace Driving Experience

Two days after Kadence was born, the doctors decided that her billirubin levels were so high that she needed to have light therapy.  So she spent roughly 16 hours (from Sunday evening to Monday afternoon) under the lights in the nursery at the hospital.  Every two hours the nurses brought her to me to eat and then she had to go back under the lights.  She did not like this, especially on Monday, so the nurses actually allowed me to sit in the nursery with her so I could hold her hand and let her know mommy was there.  I was in the nursery when they finally got the call on Monday afternoon that Kadence was good to go home!  They were still concerned about the elevated levels and her weight loss so we were scheduled for a doctor appointment two days later.  

August 16          Birth weight:  8 pounds, 14 ounces

August 19          Weight when we left the hospital:  8 pounds, 1 ounce

August 21          Weight at first doctor visit:  7 pounds, 15 ounces

August 27          Weight during home nurse visit:  7 pounds, 10 ounces

Started giving Kadence bottles at every feeding

August 28          Weight Check:  7 pounds, 11 ounces

September 4          Weight Check:  8 pounds, 11 ounces

Kadence getting a "suntan" with light therapy

Kamden's first day of school

Kamden started his second year of preschool today.  He has grown so much since last year when he cried the moment we dropped him off.  Not this year...he walked into his classroom with his head help high and a big smile on his face! By the way, he still wants to be a racecar driver....but now it is more specific...a Nascar driver!

Big Brother = Big Helper

Big Brother Duties

Help Mommy give Kadence a bath

Cuddle with baby sister (and Daddy)

Make sure Kadence is feeling OK

Feed her a bottle

Welcome Kadence Mae Hibbitt

Justin and I woke up at 4:00 AM to prepare for the birth of our baby girl.  We had to be at St. Ann's Hospital at 5:00 for a 7:00 scheduled c-section.  Heather came over to be with Kamden until he woke up.  She was going to get him breakfast and then bring him over to the hospital to meet his baby sister.  Things didn't go as planned.  As we approached 7:00 AM, we are advised that my surgery is being pushed back due to an emergency c-section of twins.  Then another emergency came in, so my doctor went to another area of the hospital to do another scheduled surgery.  Finally, at around 9:30 AM, they were ready to take me into the surgery room to begin my preparations.

This was a totally different experience of a c-section from when I had Kamden.  With Kamden, my water broke at 8:15 AM on April 9 and we arrived at the hospital around 10:30 AM.  They started to induce labor since I was not having any contractions.  And I was not ready to push until about 12 hours later.  Then, after pushing for over 3 hours and after the doctors trying to vacuum Kamden out without success, it was decided that we needed to have a c-section.  I already had an epidural so they wheeled me into the surgery room, put the drape over me, brought Justin in and started the surgery.  At 4:30 AM on April 10, Kamden was born.  And, while they were stitching me back up, I went to sleep for a couple of hours.

With Kadence, I walked into the surgery room.  I was aware of everything around me....the room was cold and sterile.  I had to step on a stool to get on the surgery table.  Then the anesthesiologist began the numbing process by doing a spinal block.  It was amazing how quickly it took effect.  However, I could still feel the pocking and prodding on the right side of my belly so they had to do a second attempt.  It was a strange feeling to sit up without feeling your legs or hips.  It was like I was floating in the middle of the room.  After that block finally took, Justin was brought in the room and they began the surgery.  Kadence was welcomed into this world at 10:14 AM.  She weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces and was 19 inches long.  She was a tubby little girl...so very healthy!  After they stitched me up, we all went back to recovery to wait on a room.  I was able to bond with Kadence almost immediately!

Due to the delay in the surgery, Kamden's schedule of meeting Kadence was not as planned.  Heather was awesome at playing with him and distracting him until after lunchtime when we were ready to have him come meet his baby sister.  He was so excited to meet her!