Meeting Grace (Day 1 and 2)

We wanted to capture those first few days and how sweet and tiny our little girl is. J-pa took some amazing pictures at the hospital. Here are our favorites.

Grace holding Mommy's hand.

Love how you can see the hospital bands in this pictures. This was actually taken on top of the hospital bed! She loves shaking her italian hands!

Her little feet! We actually think her feet are huge compared to her body! I guess when you come in at 6 lbs, 8 oz, you are so small that if you have regular feet they look huge! We love her little toes and how they will curl around your finger to grab on! This combined with her long arms and long fingers has earned her the love name "little gorilla" =)




Daddy's love. We wanted to share a picture that really showed off all that hair! No wonder Mommy was having such painful heartburn!
Uncle Taylor holding his niece! I think he has seen her every day since she was born! He certainly LOVES Grace. =)
Mimi holding her grand baby! This was taken October 12th, Grace was 1 day old. =)
J-pa holding Grace. Grace is still wearing the hospital hat and blanket. This was taken the day she was born. Considering she was born at 10:47pm, this was less then an hour and a half after birth! She is still trying to figure out her eyes and her head still looked a bit like a cone. =) It has rounded out quite nicely now.

Happy Birthday! October 11, 2011

Tuesday shortly after writing my 38 week blog we got a call from the doctor. I could stop the 24 hour urine collection because.... my blood levels showed I had preeclampsia and I needed to head to the hospital to be induced! I called up Gabe at school and he headed for home. We were at the hospital by 1:30 and by 3:30 I had been checked in, assigned a room, given an IV and the medication to start labor was being given though the IV.

Here is one of the last pictures of me with Grace still in my belly!

Labor lasted a little over 7 hours. I made it about 3 hours before I desperately needed an epidural. Contractions do in fact really hurt! I learned that I am not a screamer, quite the opposite actually, I just cried! Getting the epidural did not hurt at all (compared to contractions it was like eating a piece of cake!) Once the epidural was in place I started to relax. The first hour of the epidural my dilation went from 5 to 8 cm. The doctor said epidurals can slow down labor, but for some women it actually speeds it up because the body can take a break and the uterus can do its job! I am glad I was a case of "speeding up labor!".

At 10:00pm I started pushing. The doctor came in, he was a riot! He would just sit back and watch and then make funny comments like "Wow that was a good one, I think she moved a millimeter!" I told him that I would prefer he told me things like "Oh my gosh! I think she moved half a football field!" He was entertained by us as well. =)

10:47pm and Grace was born! She was a beautiful and healthy baby girl! Here are some pictures of those first few hours!

First pictures with Mommy, yes this is right after she was born! She has a nice set of lungs on her. =)


6 lbs, 8 oz. One tiny bundle of love!
First picture with daddy! She has blonde eye lashes and eye brows so it almost looks like she has no hair, until you take that hat off! She has a LOT of hair on that head.Mimi, J-pa, and Uncle Taylor were all at the hospital for the whole labor process. They were so excited to meet our tiny Grace Jacklyn! We are so lucky to be blessed with this sweet girl. =)

38 Weeks!

Woohoo! Grace made it another week. Her little brain has gotten a whole week stronger and more developed! Now Mommy is ready for her TO COME! As much fun as its been to carry around a small pumpkin in my belly... any time or day that Grace would like to come into the world would be ok with Mom and Dad!

Last week Mommy went back to work at Bethesda. The 2nd graders were so excited and loved rubbing on my belly and saying hello to Grace. They all said they were ready for Grace to come out and they wanted to meet her!

The dogs are excited too! Bean is wondering why her sitting lap is getting smaller and smaller as she is being forced to share the space with an ever growing tummy. Sometimes she just sits and stares at my belly... lol. Athens is still into the protecting. He finds a place somewhere right underneath my feet to lay down. I think secretly he is hoping if I fall over him then Grace will get here sooner! =) This picture is from Halloween last year - I wonder if they had any idea how different this Halloween would be!

We went to the doctors yesterday (Monday, October 10th) and found out that my blood pressure is running on the high side. No concern would be 140/80 although they want it to be lower - mine was 156/92... uh oh! The doctor is concerned that I may be developing a condition called preeclampsia. After 20 weeks women can get preeclampsia, it basically effects the mother. When my blood pressure is so high there is the concern of me having seizures as well as my heart not getting a rest. They did a whole bunch of lab work at the doctors yesterday and I have to collect my pee for 24 hours - GROSS! They have taken me out of school again. I do not have to rest in bed the whole time, but my directions were "light activity".

On the flip side... I am also getting close to labor on my own! My cervix is effaced at 80%, this is the thinning of the cervix. It is also dilated now to 4 cm! I know 4 cm still seems like a small amount - but I mean this is a hole that is inside of me! After 4 cm you begin what is called "Active labor"(that is when you go to the hospital) Check out the chart to see how big that is:

So The doctor has said the 2 things that are going on, the high blood pressure, and already being at 4 cm will solve each other. Either the high blood pressure will continue and they will have to induce me in the next week, or (more likely) I will go into active labor on my own and have this baby in the next few days! They had me schedule an appointment for Thursday, but they said it was unlikely they would see me.

I am excited and scared at the same time! I am ready to have Grace and meet her, but the waiting and not knowing is not something I'm good at. I like to know what is going on when.... This is part of the reason we decided to name her Grace and I will continue to remember this: Grace is in God's hands, not mine. It is only by God's grace that we get to have our Grace and I will just enjoy every minute of loving her, even the moments that cause Mommy's stress!

Hopefully I will not be writing in here about 39 weeks!!!! But If I am... I will have more pregnancy pictures to share. (That was my deal, I love taking the pictures so it gives me something to look forward to if I still have a 6-7 lb baby in this tummy of mine!)

Oh! And Mimi and J-pa drove up last night! It will be nice to have company now that I'm at home again... and that way Daddy doesn't have to worry that I'm going to deliver Grace at home without him! hehe

Love you baby girl!

37 Weeks - FULL TERM

Grace Jacklyn Macaluso

I have been very hesitant to sit down and write this blog until today. Usually I write my update on Sunday because I am just so excited! Then I wait until Tuesday to post it. This week has been just as exciting, just in a different way. Everyday it is a guess as to whether or not Grace will come. Mommy's one goal was for her to make it to 37 week and GUESS WHAT!?!? Our baby finally made it to full term! We are so filled with thankfulness. To think that 3 weeks ago we were at the hospital crying at the prospect of her coming so early she would need medical help to breath. Today she would be able to breath on her own. =) Of course if she wants to stay cooking in there she still has 3 more weeks to do so! We are so excited to meet our Grace. It is hard to wait but after having been on the other extreme of her coming early, we are more then willing to be patient. Here is what the pregnancy websites say about this week:

Your baby is now considered "full term," even though your due date is three weeks away. If you go into labor now, his lungs will likely be mature enough to fully adjust to life outside the womb.

Daddy has been spending a lot of time watching Grace kick and throw herself at my belly this past week. I am pretty sure she thinks it is a bouncy house in there! Mommy spent another week chilling on the green couch! We have a doctor appointment at 4:30 this afternoon where we find out what Mom will be doing tomorrow. My guess.... it's back to Bethesda until Grace makes her entrance. =)

Can't wait to meet you sweet girl!

36 weeks!

36 weeks and we are counting our blessings that Grace has had 2 more weeks to grow and develop. Of course we would love to already have met her, but we would much rather be patient and wait so she can be healthy and strong!

Mommy has spent the last week again on the couch. I've been scrap booking, sorting old resources I have for school to decide what I want to keep and what I need to get rid of, cleaning a little here and there, and a lot of TV. This show Army Wives is very interesting! Man am I glad that I am not married to a military man! I could not handle them always being gone and at a moments notice.

Here are the rest of the 36 week pictures. Could be the last pictures, so I wanted to get them in! If we make it to 39 weeks I'll take some more!

Current plan - Mommy is staying home until week 37, which means on October 5th If I haven't had Grace yet, and the doctors clear me, I will be going back to Bethesda to earn a little money before Grace arrives! Love you Grace, stay safe in there little one!

35 Weeks

So this week has been one scare after another. The first scare was for our original babies Athens and Bean. They were playing outside when we noticed they were continuing to attack the same spot over and over again. Upon closer examination we realized they were attacking a curled up baby copper head snake! We quickly got the dogs away, killed the snake and removed it from the yard, however we were too late. Both dogs had already been bitten on the nose! Of course it was off to the Emergency Animal Vet. $140 later both dogs had swollen noses but seemed in good spirit, could be the pain killers they were given! Luckily 2 days later there was no sign of the bites! We felt very lucky to have escaped a serious problem so narrowly!


THEN it was Mommy's turn. We had our normal OBGYN appointment. However, when my cervix was checked the doctor was surprised to find I had already begun dilating and having contractions. We were told to head over to the hospital for further monitoring. Once the monitors were on, the doctors realized that my contractions were a little too regular for them to be normal. I was having contractions every 3-4 minutes and they were lasting a minute. Long story short, we spent the night at the hospital being monitored. I also got several shots and took a pill to try and stop the contractions. I was hooked up to an IV - that part was not fun. OUCH! And Grace had her heart beat monitored the whole time.


They were never able to stop the contractions, however it did become obvious that Grace was showing no signs of distress. She was just happy as can be kicking around in there. We did get to hear her hiccup which was really cool! Apparently when they hiccup they jerk the fluid and it makes a really cute sound on the monitor. We were released from the hospital with instructions to stay rested and hydrated for the next 4 days (the rest of week 35). Next week we will be going back to the doctors to find out if I can go back to work, or if bed rest will become my permanent hobby until Grace arrives. Here are some pictures from the hospital. Daddy says the gown makes Mommy look huge. Its a good thing Mommy was too tired to get mad! =)



While on bed rest Mommy did manage to get into the car and drive Uncle Taylor to the airport. Don't worry Daddy was driving, Mommy was just a passenger. Uncle Taylor was headed to Ohio for his second wedding this summer/fall!



One of the moments this week that really made us both realize how lucky we are is when we received a package from Aunt Suzie and Uncle Chris (Daddy's brother and sister-in-law). Grace got a beautiful hand-knitted blanket and an adorable little hat. She will love those things come winter! Thank you Aunt Suzie and Uncle Chris for the taking the time to make these sweet gifts for your niece.

34 Weeks & baby shower!

BABY SHOWER time!!! We could not have asked for a more perfect baby shower for us! We had a couple baby shower because of course, Daddy enjoys a gathering even more then Mommy does and we just knew our baby shower would not be complete without him! We invited friends from both our schools and everyone else that we love here in the triangle! We were so happy that our friends could come out and celebrate with us in our excitement as Grace's due date comes even closer! We received such generous gifts and are so blessed to have people who love us in our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It is my goal to get thank you's out before I write my 35 week blog! =)

There was corn hole, a fire, eating, games inside if people wanted to play. Overall we had a great time! Here are a few shots of people enjoying themselves around! You get the general idea of how much their was to do! =)

We love our cute decorations in the front! Wanted to give you a chance to see them even if you were not able to attend. Grace will have "luau" themed events for the rest of her life! haha! Thanks again Mimi for all the time, energy, and money you put into this shower. It was perfect!

Last but not least, Jpa and Mimi headed back to Atlanta... we will miss them so much! We did get a surprise when we went to use the restroom. They left us a love message using Grace's new bath toys! We love you too!! =)