Beating the heat

Makenna had an interesting weekend with the short little heat wave. While we were still in the mindset of "add 1 layer to the amount of layers you're wearing," Makenna let us know just how uncomfortable she got when the temperature went up. We decided to strip her down to her onesie before putting her down. After a long afternoon nap, just about the time the temp had peaked, Kenna woke up extremely fussy. Normally after a long nap she'd be hungry, so we figured we should feed her. Not only did she refuse the bottle, she cried up a storm! Poor baby!

Enz thought it would be a good idea to bring her outside so she could get some fresh air or a change of scenery-anything to get her to stop crying! Once I stepped outside, it was like instant relief, and Kenna was happy as ever. She immediately went into super happy baby mode and was "talking" up a storm with us. As I sat there and entertained the little one, Enz was able to capture some of her best expressions. Now that Kenna's just about 2 months old, we're noticing her personality coming out more, and we're loving it! We can't wait to see how much more she'll amaze us in the near future!

Making changes

It's been nearly a whole week, and Makenna has been getting in some long stretches of sleep. She's already slept through the night twice, and the last few nights she's gone at least five hours before waking up. These last couple of mornings, she's gotten up right before I leave for work, so I've had a pretty fun opportunity to see her so bright-eyed and bushy tailed as she wakes up. She's extremely active at 5am, and she's been starting my mornings off right!

As of late, Kenna has become more interactive with her surroundings. When she's on her activity mat, she focuses more on some of the toys, and has even learned to swat at the hanging bird and rattle. In her small swing, she's in the process of learning how to activate the lights & music. She did so the other day with Enz, so hopefully that wasn't just an accident. All in all, we think she's making great progress as she closes in on her second month. Wow, how time flies...

#1 Dol-fan

Here's the little one in her favorite towel. No Silver and Black on her-then again, we have a little in-house wager going. Makenna has both Dolphins & Raiders cheerleading outfits, courtesy of Aunt B. This season the teams play each other on September 30th in Miami. The team with the better win-loss percentage by that date will determine which outfit Makenna will sport on that day.

Judging by the logo on Makenna's towel, it's pretty obvious which colors she'll have on come September 30!

Great news!!

Last night marked the very first time that Makenna was able to sleep through the night! We're both pretty jazzed about it, even though we know that it probably won't happen all the time, at least for now it won't. We're just excited because we know that she's reaching that stage and going that route. WHEW!

On yet another exciting note, we just learned that our friends are expecting their second child. A very special CONGRATULATIONS to our good friends, The Cunanan Family! It's funny because they recently met little Mak, and we asked them THE question, "so when are you guys having another one?" Come to find out that they were pregnant at the time and just waiting to get into the "safe zone." We wish them a safe and healthy pregnancy! I'm sure Kevan can't wait to meet his little brother or sister! Not only that, Makenna will be happy to know that she'll have yet another playmate!

Reality check...

Last weekend we took the little one to visit Uncle Ricky, Autie M, and the boyz. This was Kenna's first outing to the cousin's house and we all had a great time!

Enz & I were just talking about how things have changed over the years. The both of us used to go over to Rick & Merr's house to hang out, and we would have a few drinks, play some games, or listen to music until the wee hours of the morning. Once they started having kids, that all changed, for obvious reasons! Then on our end, it turned into, "let's go to Rick & Merr's & play with the kids." That was fun too, just that there were probably fewer drinks, less games, the music was a little quieter, and we wouldn't hang out until really late. And just after this weekend, we realized that our little visits have evolved into the next phase! Now both families have kids, and it was fun just passing them around and sharing the attention with each and every one of them!!

I guess the biggest reality check for me was when the girls were in the room with Elliott, getting him ready for bed. Rick was playing with Wesley, and I had Makenna. Sure, we had the tv on, and we were chatting it up on whatever we talk about. The only difference was that we had kids in our laps. What a trip! Made me feel like such an adult! Hahaha...

Party hopping

Last weekend, we were invited to a series of family parties that we would normally attend. That's not to say that we decided not to go because of the baby, we just had to decide if we wanted to expose the baby to so much, so soon. We seem to forget that the little one is barely 6 weeks old! We're just so excited that she's here with us and we're used to being around other kids who are already out & about. Plus we often hear people guessing her age, and they usually ask if she's around 3 months old. Huh? We know she's got some size to her, but damn!

The three parties were all fun, and Mak was able to take the whole day in stride. From a housewarming, to a 7 year birthday party, and finally to a family party at grandma's, the little one got worn out! Grandma couldn't get enough of her little granddaughter's visit & proceeded to show off her little star! By the time we got home, Mak was exhausted and even let us catch a four hour nap! We're counting the days until she sleeps the whole night through!!

And the growth doesn't stop...

Yesterday, Makenna had a follow up appointment regarding her acid-reflux. Her doctor determined that it was causing her some discomfort, which in turn, was making her a bit fussy. As of late, she hadn't been eating as much as usual, and we thought she would've lost some weight. But of course, she proved that theory wrong, and weighed in at a healthy 11 pounds 4 ounces! What a heavyweight we've got on our hands!

Nevertheless, she's taking some meds to help her deal with her acid-reflux. Although it'll take some time for her to get over it, we immediately noticed some relief upon her first dose. After eating, she was able to fall asleep quickly, and remain that way for upwards of three hours. She was headed in that direction before, but once this issue came up, we would be lucky if she'd stay asleep for 30 minutes at a time! We'll keep our fingers crossed and see how things progress.

Happy Easter!

Yesterday was full of firsts for our little Makenna. Easter was her first official holiday, she attended her first mass, and she got to wear her first dress. We had the family over our place to celebrate Easter, so Makenna had a very full and exhausting day!

Big girls don't cry?

Yesterday we took the little one to visit the doctor for specific concerns we were having regarding her jaundice and possible acid reflux. As the nurse instructed us to remove the baby's clothing for her routine weigh-in, we were both surprised how much she's grown in the last couple of weeks. Makenna is now at a healthy weight of 10 pounds 13 ounces! We knew she was growing, but to hear that she's close to 11 pounds & she's barely a month old was a pleasant surprise! What a big girl we have!

Needless to say, all is well with the "little" one. Her bilirubin level has gone down to a very acceptable level-most infants range from 1-10 and her's has gone down to 10.1. The doctor also gave us some tips regarding what to do to help with her spitting up. Hey, we're all still learning here! I think we're both just relieved that our concerns were fairly minor. WHEW!

Fatherhood

It's times like this that make me love being a dad...

Just a fun pic

Our little one is growing so quickly before our eyes. She's rapidly approaching the 1 month mark and we're amazed at how quickly she's developing. Of course every parent probably thinks the same way, but hey, we're equally as proud of our little Makenna. Here's a shot of her just minding her own business. What a little ham!

Baby's first bath

This past weekend, Makenna had the pleasure of experiencing her very first "real" bath. Up until recently, we were still sponge bathing her because her umbilical cord was still attached. Of course it did end up falling off when I changed her, and I'm sure Enz was pretty jazzed about that-the whole cord falling off thing kinda grossed her out! Knowing that it was going to be a little bit of a shock, I decided to get Makenna prepared by giving her a little pep talk.
After phsyching her up, I handed her off to Enz, who took charge of the whole "bath project." Auntie Sarah was there playing the papparazzi role, while I stood by with both towel & video camera in hand. Once Makenna's but touched the water, she started crying. We all knew she wouldn't like it, but we also knew that she needed to get through it. So Enz pressed on regardless of the cries.

It only took a couple of minutes, but once Makenna got used to the water, she immediately calmed down and stopped crying. It was almost as if someone hit the mute button, because she did a complete 180! I still think she went pee-pee in the bath, but there's no real proof. Whatever it was, she really started to enjoy herself!

Talking with her hands

Makenna is keeping us very entertained as we watch her grow. It's interesting to see how alert she is, and it seems like she has recently discovered the lamp. Lately she's been fixated on one of the lamps in our family room, and no matter what we do to try to distract her, she always finds her way back to staring at the lamp.

We're still trying to work out a schedule to keep to, but at times it seems like she's got a bigger appetite than her daddy! It's funny how content she acts when she finally gets full. Nothing really seems to bother her when she reaches that point, even a full diaper doesn't seem to phase her! Changing it on the other hand is a different story. The dirty diaper doesn't bother either of us, it's mainly her screaming when the diaper comes off that makes us want to scream back! Makenna is getting better at the whole changing thing, and she doesn't cry every time. But when she does, LOOK OUT!

Here's a great pic of our little one. It's more on the "Italian" side, because she appears to be doing the whole "talking with her hands" bit. It's almost like she's saying, "what do you want from me?" Enjoy!

Happy 2 weeks already?!!

So it's really hard to believe how quickly time has gone for our family. It's been a while since I last posted. As of this posting, our little Makenna is two weeks old! Funny how time flies when you're having fun, right?

It's been a real eye opener since the first day we brought her home. Those of you who have been following our journey already know that Makenna had an elevated level of jaundice which prevented her from coming home when she was supposed to. Of course, the staff at the hospital worked diligently to help bring Makenna's level down, and by the next day, she was able to come home with us.

She's been home with us for the last week and a half, and we're all still getting adjusted to the new schedule. Of course Makenna is oblivious to all the changes we've made to work around her, but that's how life works. From what everyone tells us, things almost always are expected to change once you "think" you get on top of a situation. Oh the joys of being a parent!

As of this post, Makenna has reached the 9 pound mark, and has grown 3/4ths of an inch! I guess since we see her daily it's a little hard to see the changes. But being around her so much, we're able to see her progress and become more in tune with her surroundings! We'll do our best to keep the updates coming, although they may be few & far between. Keep checking back, and hopefully the little one can put a smile on your face with one of her goofy little smirks, or just a story we tell.

MAKENNA REESE CAMERO

Please join us in welcoming the newest addition to the Camero family:

MAKENNA REESE CAMERO

The little peanut finally made her presence known on March 7, 2007 @ 11:48PM. She weighed in at 8 pounds & 8 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. Not such a little peanut, huh?

As Enza reached her 40th week, we both were eagerly anticipating Makenna's arrival. We started to increase Enza's walking, and she had been off of work two weeks prior. Although many women go 1-2 weeks past their due dates, our doctor didn't want Enza to go far past hers, mainly because Enza was having an extremely hard time eating much, and started to lose weight during the last couple of weeks of the pregnancy. Our final appointment was the day after Makenna's due date of the 4th, and the doctor tried to stimulate Enza's body to go into labor, since she had been stuck @ 1cm for approximately 3 weeks. Once we found that to be unsuccessful, she recommended that Enza have a prostoglandin gel placed near her cervix to help the dilation process move along. A few hours after the gel, Enz started to have some serious cramping, and the contractions started coming more frequently. We went to the hospital at 4:30am on March 7th, where Enza was admitted, and we waited as the contractions became more frequent.

After a few hours, the doctor checked on Enz and found that her cervix was dilating very slowly. She recommended a drug called pitocin to help induce Enza's labor. Once that was administered, it only took a short amount of time for the contractions to become more intense and more frequent. Another measurement came and Enza was up to 3cm. Not much progress, but enough pain for Enz to request the epidural. Originally she wanted to do this without aid of any drugs, but since the pitocin can make the contractions feel much worse than they are, Enz didn't have much of a choice. We kept our spirits up though, because even through all this, we knew we would have our beautiful baby girl with us soon.



Things went on this way pretty much all morning, with Enza's cervix dilating to 5cm by lunchtime. Increases of pitocin were given throughout the day, as well as the epidural, but her cervix stayed firm at 5cm. Later in the afternoon, she got to 6cm, then 7cm, and by nighttime, she was up to 8cm. Enz was pretty exhausted from all the contractions, drugs, and machines she was hooked up to. It wasn't easy sitting beside her, feeling helpless because I couldn't do a damn thing to help ease her pain.



Later that night, around 10pm, we noticed that Enz started to develop a little fever, but that was attributed to all the stuff going on with Enza's body to help get her along. Shortly afterward, we noticed that Makenna's heartrate began a steady climb, and eventually topped out @ around 215bpm. As we sat and watched the heartrate climb, the staff came in to calm us down. The doctor then came in to discuss Enza having a c-section, because now that she had been stuck at 8cm and developed a fever, we were putting a lot of strain on the baby.

We both felt extremely emotional & helpless because we were doing all we could to keep from having a c-section. We almost felt that we had wasted our time trying to keep this natural, and in doing so, Enza had to lie there in pain for close to 21 hours. But that's life, and of course we all know that sometimes things are out of our control.

By 11:48pm, our daughter Makenna Reese was born, and it was such an exhilirating moment. Hearing her cry was such a wonderful and unforgettable sound. Enza was exhausted, and I was relieved. Our baby girl was finally with us!

Peanut at 40 weeks???

How your baby's growing: It's hard to say for sure how big your baby will be, but the average newborn weighs in at a little over 7 pounds and is about 20 inches long. Your baby will continue to grow with every passing day (her nails and hair will continue to get longer, too). Your baby's skull bones are still separated and they'll stay that way to allow the bones to compress enough to fit through the birth canal during labor (you'll notice soft spots or "fontanels" on your baby's head for a year or more after birth).

So today WAS our little Peanut's due date, and at the time of this post, she has yet to make her appearance! C'mon now little one, the weather has been beautiful this past weekend, what are you waiting for? Obviously Enz & I are still anxiously awaiting her arrival, and we do have another appointment tomorrow. Hopefully the doctor will help all of us out and we can determine exactly when we do expect to have her. Everyone seems to be just as anxious as we are, so please be patient! Just remember, she is half filipino!

That being said, special Congratulations to Nancy & Anthony on the birth of their baby daughter Brianna Isabella! Enz got a message today that Nancy had the baby! We can't wait to see you guys & meet the little one! Glad everything turned out well! Maybe our little peanut will be born the day Brianna was scheduled to be born this week? That would prove to be a strange turn of events now wouldn't it?!

Playing the waiting game...

Well, so far one of our wishes came true-we'll be having a March baby, making us the March family =) Not that big of a deal, but nevertheless, pretty cool.

Still no baby at this time though. We've increased our walks, which I've noticed have started to take their toll on Enz. Who am I fooling? I think I get tired before she does! It's almost like all that cardio didn't help me for $hit! Hehehe... Yesterday was probably the first time I've heard Enz really complain about feeling uncomfortable. The weight of her belly is doing a number on her back, and these past few nights she hasn't really slept well. All the stuff that others have told her to watch out for seemed to have just started a couple of days ago. Go figure!

We're keeping our fingers crossed that something special will happen this weekend. God knows the little peanut wants to come out and play. Besides, we're pretty certain that the inside of Enza's belly is permanently bruised!

Filipino time?

We had our 39 week appointment yesterday and so far it seems like the little peanut loves the warmth of mommy's belly. It's almost like she knows how bad the weather's been lately, and she'd rather wait until daylight savings time to make her grand entrance. So far she's keeping all of us guessing. The doctor mentioned that Enza's belly has dropped, but she's still holding tight at 1 cm, no pun intended.

At this point, the doctor scheduled our next appointment for early next week. If nothing changes by then, we'll probably look at our options to get the ball rolling, as the doctor doesn't want Enz to go more than 1 week past the due date of March 4th. We're hoping for something big this weekend! We also found out that Auntie B will be going out of town on the 7th, and that would be a huge bummer if she missed out on the birth =(

Enz hasn't really started to feel uncomfortable, much like a majority of pregnant women do during their last few weeks. Although yesterday was probably the first time she complained of discomfort, aside from the regular bouts of heartburn. Keep your fingers crossed, and your phones on-we're praying for a miracle this weekend!

Still counting down...

As we enter into the 39th week, a sense of excitement has come over us. We're down to the last few days of the pregnancy, or should I say, the last few days until the due date.

This past weekend, we visited with some friends, and all we could think about was that this would possibly be our last week solely as a couple. Just the very thought that we will soon have our baby with us, and that we will be responsible for her gives us both the chills. Sure, Enz has been carrying around the little one for the last nine months, but things will certainly be different once she's actually & physically here with us. We both feel that we're ready for her, and we're fairly confident that everything in the house is ready for her. We've gone through all the preparations, now all we need is for Enz to have the baby and then we can move onto the next phase.

We've got another appointment coming up this week, and hopefully the doctor will tell us that everything is good. We're still trying to figure out whether or not the baby will be early, on time, or late. I'm shooting for late, just because she's half filipino! As is stands, we have 5 days left until the 4th. We're still counting, even though we know it can be ANY day now...

Peanut at 39 weeks

How your baby's growing: Your baby's ready to greet the world! He continues to build a layer of fat to help control his body temperature after birth, but it's likely he already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds. (Boys tend to be slightly heavier than girls.) Your baby's organs are fully developed and in place, and the outer layers of skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath.