Welcome Kian Charles McHugh!!!

On January 24th at 12:26pm, we welcomed our first Canadian, second son, and third child Kian Charles McHugh.  We knew he was going to be a big boy, but Brogan still had him beat out on birth weight.  Kian was 9 pounds 4 ounces and 21-1/4 inches long.  (For a refresher, Brogan weighed 9 pounds 15 ounces and was 22 inches long.  Neala was 8 pounds 1 ounce and 20-1/4 inches long.)  I had a very uneventful pregnancy until the very end.  I was sick the 2 weeks prior to Kian's arrival and still had a bit of a cough going into delivery (which is not something you want to have when recovering from a c-section!).  Kian was definitely running out of room at the end.  One night, he was particularly active and put so much pressure on my stomach that he made me throw up.  It was not pleasant.  But, all the unpleasantness made me very happy and excited about his arrival!

At this point, maybe I should issue a disclaimer.  Kian was delivered via planned c-section (my third section) and I like to go into details.  If you don't like details, skip ahead!  I was very nervous about my third c-section...this was my first real experience with the Canadian health care system (besides normal check ups), the risk goes up with every section, and my spinal with Neala was not very effective.  I saw my family doctor for prenatal care throughout my pregnancy and met with an OB twice before my surgery (though not the OB that actually delivered Kian...long story).  I had three ultrasounds (had to talk the doctor into the third one...though it wasn't hard).  A week before my section, I had a pre-assessment clinic at the hospital where I met with a nurse and an anethesiologist resident who talked me through the section.  It was actually very informative and really put me at ease especially with the concerns about pain during the surgery.  We reported to the hospital at 9:30am for an 11:30am section.  We had to wait a long time which actually worked out to our benefit as we were able to settle on a name for our new little man.  I walked myself to the surgery room in my lovely gown and booties.  Casey could not be in the room while I got my spinal and catheter, but was called as soon as they were ready for surgery.  (In Wichita, Casey was present for my epidural and spinal, so this was new to me.)  The spinal was AWESOME...no pain at all during the surgery.  During the entire procedure, I kept hearing the doctors and nurses talking about how big the baby was.  Kian was so big that they had to use the vacuum for assistance.  And his head was so big that the vacuum kept popping off spraying blood everywhere.  Of course, I didn't see this as the drape was up, but I got to hear all about it and saw evidence on one of the doctor's scrubs.  (I invisioned a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie.)  I did hemorrage a bit as my uterus didn't want to start contracting after delivery...the OB resident referred to this as a "lazy uterus".  So I told Casey that my uterus is retiring as it is old and busted.  So to give my uterus a kick start, I got to put a lovely pill in my cheek and after 20 minutes, I got to swallow the pill.  Have you ever tried swallowing a cotton ball after not having anything to drink for over 12 hours???  That's what it felt like.  They were nice enough to give me some ice cubes to help the pill go down.  When Kian was delivered, the neo-natal doctors took him into a separate room to check him out and he was brought back to meet mom and dad a few minutes later.  Casey and Kian got to go to a recovery room while they moved me to a stretcher.  The three of us hung out in recovery for about 2 hours while my spinal wore off.  This is where they weighed him.  The OB resident was very anxious to hear how much Kian weighed as I think he might have been one of her biggest babies.  Then we were moved to our PRIVATE post-partum room where we stayed the rest of our stay.  So thankful that I didn't have to share a room with potentially 3 other new moms and babies!!!  Unfortunately, the private room accomodations for Casey were not so great...he got a foam mat to sleep on.  But when you're tired, you can really sleep about anywhere.  He never complained...what a good guy!

Pain management after a c-section in Canada is WAY different than in the States. I'm accustomed to regular doses of Tylenol #3...you know the good stuff with the Codeine? Here, I was given only Tylenol and Naproxen after my spinal wore off. To be honest, the pain was manageable. Would I have felt better on the T#3? Absolutely!

My mom brought Brogan and Neala to the hospital to meet Kian Thursday night.  UTTER CHAOS!!!  They were totally thrilled with their new brother, but a little out of control in the hospital room.  Brogan was not nearly as traumatized by the addition to the family this time around.  He likes holding Kian but only for short periods of time.  Neala loves her baby brother too...maybe a little too much.  She calls him "her baby"...very possessive!  And likes playing with all of his gadgets which annoys me to no end. 

We got to come home from the hospital on Saturday afternoon...so nice to be home!!!  But of course the emotions kicked in.  It's so hard to not be able to do the things that you are used to doing.  Brogan is pretty self-sufficient, but not being able to tend to Neala the way I was just days ago has been very hard.  And I think it's a bit hard on her too as she's reverted back to wanting a binky all day and has been very irrational and emotional.  I'm ready to be pain free and good as new!  And it didn't take long for me to figure out that three kids is going to take some getting used to!  The days fly by and I can't seem to get anything done. (Note that this is being posted a week after Kian was born!)  I am so thankful to have my mom here to help as I have no idea how I would be doing this on my own!

We wanted to get Kian circumcised, but they don't do circumcisions in the hospital.  Instead, we had to take him to one of the doctors at our family doctor's practice.  Since I knew when baby was arriving, I got to make the appointment ahead of time and get it done as soon as possible...Kian was 6 days old.  Circumcisions aren't covered by health care here, so this was one of the few things that we had to pay for, but our US health insurance should cover the majority of the cost. 

The social health care has been nice on the pocket book.  (I know that we pay for it with taxes...not truly "free".) We had good insurance in the States, but it still cost quite a bit to have a baby.  We have figured the following as our total expenses after filing with our US insurance:
Private Hospital Room:  $60
Parking at the Hospital:  $50
Circumcision:  ~$20
Total Cost: $130

So, now to what everyone really wants to see...pictures!!!

Getting ready to go to the hospital...Leann longing for coffee and maybe just a little mascara

Kian's first photo

 

Kian offering peace to the world

This is the face mommy sees every 2-3 hours

 

Siblings

MeMa and her new grandson

Neala is so excited to be a big sister!!!

Neala and "her baby"

The new party of five

Grumpy old man

All dressed up to come home from the hospital

Look at all that blond hair!!!

Mommy and Daddy need a bigger bed!!!

All bundled up ready for the outing to get circumcised...it was a very cold day!

I'm one week old!!!

 

Happy 2nd Birthday Neala!



We celebrated Neala's 2nd birthday a day early since Casey was leaving to go out of town on a business trip on her birthday (what a bad daddy!).  Neala has been very excited about her birthday...telling everyone that she is going to be 3.  Already wanting to be older than she really is and I'm not ready for that!

 

Seeing as I am 9 months pregnant, I was not up for a huge party, but wanted to make the day special.  We invited our friends, the Dechkas, to join us at the Fun Factory so our kids could play together.  Izzy and Brogan are best buds and Neala and Lil are finally getting to a stage where they play well together, although I think Neala might scare Lil a bit!  Casey was left in charge of running around after the four of them...what a great guy!!!  Maybe there was some guilt there leaving his baby girl on her birthday.

 

Brogan and Neala going down the rolly slide

Crazy Mirror!!!

Ball Fight!!!

Casey and Neala peeking up at Brogan and Izzy

Trapped!

Brogan too!!!

 

This girl is CRAZY flexible!  And she eventually made it up there!

 

Slushy Cheers to Neala's Birthday!

After the Fun Factory, we had a birthday dinner at our house followed by cake and presents.  Neala, of course, had to get naked ("naken" in her vocabulary).  It's her new "thing" and it is very hard to get clothes on her once she takes them off.  There is usually kicking and screaming involved.  Thankfully, she only gets "naken" at home...so far.  Neala enjoyed her cake, but not as much as her 1st birthday.  And she loves opening presents now!!!  She had a great birthday party!

Neala's cake...she loved the balloons

My silly, silly girl and her cake

Only minor frosting coverage this year, but the frosting stained her skin a bit

Neala loves her backpack from MeMa and PePa!

The bathtub Care Bear was also quite popular

Neala modeling the dress that she got from the Dechkas (Brogan was helping)

 

I have to admit that I am not looking forward to 2.  Neala is very stubborn and has to do things her way.  She is so irrational at times, and there is no talking her down.  It's like she turned 2 and the "terrible" switch got flipped. (I'm really hoping it's just because she misses her daddy!)  But she is still very sweet and cuddly which makes up for all the terrible two tantrums.  I think she's going to have a tough time coping with the addition to the family in a couple weeks, but maybe she will surprise me...

Holidays 2012

Christmas was a little different for us this year...our first year of Christmas on our own with the kids. I felt obligated to come up with all of these special activities to make sure it felt like Christmas for them, but I think it was more for me.  We definitely missed our families tremendously, but I think we ended up having a great Christmas and New Year despite being stuck in the frozen tundra on our own.  I thought I would share some of our holiday fun...

Of course, we had to visit Santa Claus!  Normally, we see Santa at the Cargill Kids Christmas Party, but he wasn't available this year.  Instead, we went to Lawson Heights Mall with the Dechka Family to visit Santa.  We got there a little before Santa arrived, and didn't have to wait long.  Brogan was very excited to see Santa and so was Neala until it came time to get up close.  As you can see in the photo, she is not very excited about being there, but she eventually warmed up to the guy and gave him a high five.



Santa Visit

Our friends Marilena, Nicholas, and Lucas invited us over to decorate gingerbread men.  5 moms, 11 kids, and 2 new babies was a crazy bunch!!!  The kids had a great time decorating and eating the cookies.  

Neala and her gingerbread man (mommy helped with the decorating)

Brogan working on his masterpiece

The Cargill Kids Christmas Party was at Fuddruckers/Ruckers this year.  After dinner at Fuddruckers, the kids got to play games at Ruckers.  Neala was in the young group that got a $20 Toys R Us gift card instead of tokens to play at Ruckers, but when we went to play games, they gave her a bag of tokens anyway...BONUS!!!  But now she has to share the gift card with Brogan to make things fair.  The setup this year didn't really give us a chance to associate with the other Cargill families there, but I can definitely say the kids had a GREAT time.  Both of them get so excited every time we drive past Ruckers now!

They really do love each other!!!  (Waiting for dinner)

Daddy let Neala cheat

Brogan slicing up some Ninja Fruit!

Brogan had a "Christmas Concert" at school that was all about holiday traditions in different cultures.  It was a K-4 concert, so there were lots of kids and parents everywhere!  We actually had to request tickets for the evening show, and it "sold out" quickly.  The kindergarten classes sang "Feliz Navidad" and "The Hanukkah Song".  It was a very cute show.  In most cases, the older classes helped out the younger classes which was very cute.  Neala enjoyed cheering (loudly) for "her Brogan" and made friends with a couple guys sitting behind us.  I think she ended up being their major source of entertainment for the evening...making funny faces and playing peek-a-boo.

All three kindergarten classes singing the Hanukkah Song (Brogan is in the front row with the red sweater with white and grey stripes)

Neala decided to stick her fingers in her ears shortly after the singing started...so embarrassing!!!

We decided to make a gingerbread house this year.  Well, I bought a pre-assembled house, so we really just decorated it.  Neala started eating all of the decorations so we had to give her some chocolate so we would have something to put on the house. (You might notice the chocolate on her face in the pictures.)  Brogan and Casey made some paper snowflakes too, so we had quite display going on when all was finished.

We're ready!!!

Everyone carefully placing on the decorations

Brogan and the finished product which took most of the day

On Christmas Eve, we tried to get a few family photos...even got the dogs squeezed in, but of course, Brogan's eyes were closed in every single picture.  Ella our shelf elf is even hanging out on the star on top of the tree!  The kids loved Ella (this was our first year with a shelf elf) and finding her was first on the agenda every day!  They were very sad to see her go back to the North Pole.

Our best family photo even though Brogan's eyes are mostly closed

This is my favorite...Neala's favorite funny face!

Christmas morning did not start out well for the McHughs.  Neala woke up crying and soaking wet, so she didn't get to wear those cute Christmas pajamas all morning.  She was very happy to wear her sparkly red shoes instead though.  But we decided to let her wake up a bit before heading downstairs to see if Santa came (very painful for Brogan).  We wanted to start out with a happy group!!!  When it came time to go downstairs, we found Brogan puking in the bathroom sink.  The puking continued throughout the day, so Brogan's excitement level was a little disappointing while opening presents.  Neala wanted to just tear through everything and was very frustrated with us when we told her we had to take turns.  This caused her to give up on the presents about half way through to go play with her new kitchen.  (This kitchen took mommy and daddy 2 hours to put together on Christmas Eve, so mommy and daddy were very tired too!)  We managed to have a wonderful family dinner and Brogan was starting to feel better too. 

The kids with their goodies from Santa

The picture that pretty much sums up Christmas morning for the McHughs

Other happenings during this time...
We went to see the holiday lights at the Forestry Farm, and the kids loved it.  Of course, Brogan had to pee in the middle of it all, so Casey pulled over and took him for a little stroll to pee on a tree.

We had one last ultrasound with baby #3 on the 20th and found out that the baby is a BOY...a very big boy!  I was 34 weeks 1 day at the time of the ultrasound and measuring at 39 weeks 2 days.  The technician estimated the baby's weight at 7 lbs 11 oz that day.  Looking like we are going to have another huge baby boy!  The last couple weeks have been busy with getting stuff ready for baby...shopping for necessities, moving Neala to the bunk beds with Brogan and moving all of her stuff into his (now their) room, and washing clothing.  On New Year's Eve, I ran to Babies R Us to buy a video monitor...decided to splurge since we don't have any medical bills this time around.  And I really wanted to try it out on Neala.  The big bunk bed is a little too exciting at times and sometimes she doesn't want to go to sleep...just play.  But she's settling down in her new space and trying to get used to her old room being the baby's room.  I find her in the crib on occasion messing with the baby's things...naughty girl!!!

We had a very low key New Year's Eve.  We got to Skype with the GBS/Rolla crew who were partying at the Lake of the Ozarks.  Casey and I actually stayed up until midnight, but were in bed by 12:30.  The weather New Year's Day was beautiful...a bit windy, but the temperatures were mild...so we took the kids tobogganing.  Brogan can't get enough and Neala enjoys a few runs down the hill, but then prefers to just eat the snow.  Tobogganing really wears her out though...she ends up being a lump of clothing that you pull along on the sled by the end of the trip.

Brogan tackled the mountain of snow in the front yard before heading down the street to go tobogganing

Daddy and Neala pushing off

Brogan and Neala taking a turn

Neala's snow moustache

The purple sled is slow-going, so even Mommy took a turn with Neala

And she's spent...