I did a photoshoot with Zack (I couldn't help myself) 12 days after he was born. I bought a flower pot just for this exact purpose, but Zack was hungry and he definitely wasn't in the mood to be stuffed into a teacup. We may try again later. Go to kallibarkerphotography.blogspot.com to see what I'm talking about.
Also, a new post is right below, so don't miss it!
It is great having Zack home with us! And it is easier than expected to be the stay-at-home mother of two. Yes, it is twice as busy and stressful, but I am still sane.
It was not at all fun having Zack in the hospital for a whole week, but we did try to take advantage of the time. For example, we went out to sit-down restaurants and we were able to do some special one-on-one things with Mackay for the last time before Zack came home. One afternoon we went to a small amusement park. Totally ghetto, but kids don't know the difference. Mackay had a great time riding on the pony and train around the park. They had some zoo animals to see on the train ride, and also some inflatable alligators. Wow. But Mackay loved it.
Before Zack could come home he had to do a "car seat test", which includes him sitting in his carseat for two hours being monitored all over the place to make sure that he will still be okay in the sitting position. He passed with flying colors.
And then here he is ready to come home...
When we brought Zack home, we placed a toy on his lap to give to Mackay as a present. She loved it (notice her turning to thank Zack). She thought Zack was pretty cool, and she has loved her medical set. All day long she makes cute little comments about Zack like, "He cute." Or, "He talking to me." Or, "That silly kid." 
Mackay also bought Zack a stuffed monkey a few months back. She gave that to him as well. And as you can see, he loved his present, too.
Mackay loves holding Zack--for about two seconds. At which time she promptly drops her arms and tries to get off the couch. Funny story today: This morning I was in the bathroom doing something, Nate was in the kitchen doing something, and Zack was laying on the couch. Suddenly I heard Mackay, as happy and proud as she could possibly be, saying, "I'm holding him! I'm holding him!" I ran to see what she was doing, and she definitely was holding Zack, and carrying him into my room to show me. My first thought was fear, and then all I could do was laugh. I couldn't get mad at her because she had been so proud of herself. We did have a long talk afterwards about the rules of carrying Zack--to not to.
When Zack came home from the hospital, my mom loved the fact that he and Nate were matching, so she made us get a picture. I'm glad she did.
The last few days have been more than eventful. Baby Brother was born on August 11th at 9:43pm weighing in at a whopping 6 lbs. 1 oz. and 18 inches long--very good size for a preemie. We are both doing well. Now here's the story:
On Monday (the 10th) I woke up feeling like I had an awful cold. Weird, since the week before I had just had a cold. Nate went to work like usual, I stayed home with Mackay like usual. I couldn't breathe very well because of my asthma, but a cold always makes me like that. I was feeling really tired, but with pregnancy, cold, and asthma that was normal. When Mackay took her nap I layed down as well, and when she got up I had a piercing stab in my chest. I figured it was some weird muscle spasm or pinched nerve from sleeping weird. But I really couldn't breathe very well and I really didn't feel like I could take care of Mackay for the rest of the day, so I called Nate at about 1:00pm to come home to watch Mackay. He did, what a great husband, and I slept pretty much the rest of the afternoon. Since I had felt so exhausted, I hadn't been eating very well, and I was throwing up a lot of the fluids I was trying to keep down. At about 5:00pm I asked Nate to help me count contractions, I figured the Braxton Hicks were about 10 minutes apart, but he timed them in at 2 minutes. But like Braxton Hicks go, when you change positions a little they go away, so I wasn't worried. The rest of the evening contractions kept coming back, sometimes only being 30 seconds apart, but they would always go away. At about midnight we decided we would go to the hospital, but as soon as we got out to the car, the contractions had stopped. I didn't want to just be turned away at the hospital, so we went back upstairs and tried to get some sleep. My asthma was getting bad, and I couldn't get comfortable. So I spent the night in the sitting position on the couch so Nate could get some sleep for work the next day. Still, relatively normal for an asthmatic to have bad nights like this.
In the morning Nate called the doctor, and she fit us in first thing to see her. She said I probably needed some fluids, and the pain in my chest probably needed an x-ray, so I should go to the hospital to get that taken care of. I was frustrated that I needed an x-ray, because I knew that it was my asthma, and all I needed was a few good treatments and maybe some steroids and I would be fine. I really felt like I just needed some fluids to help the contractions stop and then we would go home again.
Later on in the afternoon after the x-ray, we were told that I had pneumonia, and a little bit of fluid just on my right lung. "Oh, okay," we thought. We weren't told right then that pneumonia in a 23 year old was extremely rare, and it was the worst case that the radiologist had ever seen. The doctor didn't tell us that it was the highest white blood cell count she had ever seen, and that I was an intensive care patient--they just moved the ICU to the maternity floor for me. When they said "a little bit of fluid", they didn't tell me that half of my right lung was completely incapacitated. We are glad they didn't tell us though, because we weren't stressed at all through the whole process. I had developed a bit of a fever, my blood pressure was a little high, and my blood saturation was a little low, so all those things were contributing to my contractions. I thought the whole time that once all those things were fixed, I was going to be going home. They also didn't tell me that my fever was above 102, which was extremely rare for an adult. (Nate also was able to drop Mackay off at a friend's house, who watched her until the next afternoon--heaven sent!)
But once my fever finally broke, and my contractions weren't stopping, they gave me some medicine to try to help them stop. I'm pretty sure the medicine didn't do a single thing, because my contractions stayed right on schedule and I was told I was having a baby that night. At least finally I got an epidural.
Oh, the epidural. It was heaven until I realized that it was working everywhere except one of the most important places. My stomach was numb, so I couldn't feel my contractions as bad, my legs were numb, even my butt was numb. But where I was going to be pushing out a baby was not numb--not even in the slightest. No one believed me for a while. Finally, when they realized that I do, in fact, know the difference between "pressure" and "pain", they called the anesthesiologist back in. He told me it was physiologically impossible for me to be numb in the places I was numb, and not numb in the places I wasn't. He was a bit flabbergasted, but he believed me. And eventually he came up with the theory that when inserting the catheter into my back, it must have moved around a little bit and missed a small amount of nerves. So we took out the epidural and put in another one. Going through the process of getting one epidural is okay, but the second one is painful and really annoying.
As soon as he walked out the door I yelled that I had to push. Oh, and I yelled it. Not being numb, I could feel it all and I was pushing. That is a weird sensation. With an epidural, when you feel a slight "pressure" you push. But nature has a great way of telling you what to do. And your body has it figured out that when the baby is ready to come out you are going to get it out. Everyone started running around with their heads cut off, yelling back at me that I can't push. They called the doctor, who got on her way, and nurses and extra supplies were rushed in quickly. I was to the point that I didn't care if the doctor was there or not, I didn't even care if there was anyone there to catch the baby--because I was pushing. The doctor got there, the neonatologist and all the other nurses were in place, and the baby was out in 5 minutes. They had him crying after about 30 seconds to 1 minute, and I watched helplessly as all these hands were frantically around my baby. I got to hold him for about a minute before they rushed him off to the NICU. I can't believe that it was only five minutes that I had to push, because I barely made it that long. I don't know how women do it with 8-9 lb babies and pushing for an hour or more. Kudos to you.
They were worried that the baby might have a bit a pneumonia as well, so antibiotics were started immediately. He had to stay in the NICU for the first 24 hours for observation, but after that he was able to come to our room. Everything looked good and it looked like we were both going to be able to come home on schedule, until the pathology report came back from the placenta. Turns out, (extremely rare), that the circulation of the placenta was infected with a very rare bacteria. The kind that can come when the mother eats large amounts of lunch meat--I definitely didn't do that. So, I got to come home and Baby Brother has to stay in the hospital until Tuesday, making it a full 7 days of antibiotics just to make sure he is okay.
Everyone at the hospital is in awe that I was realeased so quickly, and that I improved from my severe state so rapidly. But then again, they don't usually see a young adult like me with pneumonia. So I got to get off the IV and can take my antibiotics orally from home. I was complaining to my doctor that I was getting annoyed by all the people coming into my room all the time. And she told me that everyone was interested in seeing the woman who had such a severe case of pneumonia and didn't know it, and then gave birth--so I was seeing about 10 times as many doctors/nurses as I normally would.
We finally came up with a name, after much harrassment from the birth certificate lady, who came by faithfully every two hours. Thank you to everyone who contributed to our poll, Zack Henry Barker is doing well. Last night his IV came out, and after over five attempts, (one attempt being the vein in his forehead), they got another IV started this afternoon so he can finish his antibiotics. He sleeps constantly, and has no desire to eat--ever. So nursing is coming along a bit slower than I had anticipated.
I am so sick of hearing the word "rare" or "unsual" or "impossible". Those words no longer have much effect on me. Nate and I just laugh every time we hear it. But hopefully we are done with that word, and everything is normal so we can get Zack home with us.
Sorry it has been so long since I have posted any pictures! I haven't even taken them off my camera...yeah...I am that lazy--or I am that uncomfortable. Nate is off having a "Guy's night in" at his friend's house while the wife and kids are away, so I figured it was the perfect opportunity for me to update my blog!
Mackay has turned into quite the character. A tease, actually. The Barker's could have warned me how dominant that gene was. On this particular day I asked Mackay to throw something in the garbage. She came to me saying she did something with my purse, and when I followed her into the closet in the kitchen she was so proud to show me that she had thrown my purse away. I told her I had to run and grab my camera, and so she told me she had to run get her camera. She came back with her phone, and after I took this picture of her I was instructed to pose by the garbage can while she took my picture with her phone. She even showed me how cute the picture was afterwards.
Browsing the internet for free things to do in Dallas I came upon this free petting zoo. We went one evening just before they closed, and got to see some of the farm animals. Mackay loved it, though it was completely lame for Nate and I.
The funny thing about Nate (and one reason why I love him) is if he has to play with a two year old, he is going to do something that is fun for him and entertains him as well. Mackay came and got me off the couch and said she had something to show me. Here are the two kids doing "surgery". 
Nate has a doll's hooded towel around his face and something for fishing as his surgical instrument of choice.
Mackay is laying on the table in her room with a table cloth draped over it. She has cloth napkins on and a nebulizer breathing mask on to make her go to sleep. She was instructed to count to ten, and by then she would be asleep. She closed her eyes after 7--that stuff works good.
Mackay got a package in the mail from Great Grandma Sharon this week. She was so excited to open it and find clothes! She has LOVED wearing her new pajamas. The first night she was actually happy to go to sleep because she got to wear her new pj's. That was a great night! The whole day she was saying, "I want to see Great Grandma." Over and over. We'll have to make our way to Idaho one of these days...
I came into the living room one day to find Mackay reading a book to her baby. She is going to be such a good big sister!
She also put hats on all her dolls. The first one has a camera lens case on, the second has underwear, and the third has a hooded towel. 
Nate dressed Mackay up in snow gear.
I love her faces and poses in these two!
We got to go to Vail a couple of weeks ago to see Nate's family and get a little R&R. Nate went fly fishing every morning he could, and I got a little break to lounge around a little more than normal--and walk and hike a little more than normal, too. 
The Barker girls worked on the new Young Women virtue value. We took this picture and put it on a wooden picture frame. Mackay loves naming everyone in the picture, but for some reason every time she gets to Kim she says, "Who's that?" Kim! The easiest name in the book! (Sorry, Kim. She really does know who you are.) She also always says, "Where's Nicholas?" And I have to explain to her over and over that Nicholas isn't in this picture, it is just the girls. And then she replies, "No, it's not." 
I didn't take too many pictures in Vail. Mostly because I was so exhausted (the high altitude really did get to me--we all thought the doctor was just weird), and also because everyone else usually had their cameras out. I'll have to get more pictures from family and post them later.
And I'm still looking for good freezer recipes! Please send them my way!!
I've got 41 days (hopefully less) before Baby Brother enters the world. I just had an ultrasound today which showed that Baby Brother isn't so little--he is already almost 6 lbs--and I've still got 6 weeks left! So I really hope that he comes earlier rather than later.
If anyone knows me, they know that I like to prepare and make lists. I LOVE lists. (And if anyone knows my sweet husband Nate, they know he HATES lists. We are a perfect match.) And when I get excited for something, I have to make a list of some sort. I remember going to EFY (Especially for Youth) for the first time and my packing list was so precise and specific, "green Gap shirt", and "dark Silver jeans", etc. That way I knew that when I was packing (two weeks in advance) that nothing was going to be left out, and I would have exactly what I wanted when I got there. No stress! Growing up lists were also good for activity ideas when I had a friend coming over to play, that way I never needed to stress about what else we could do, I just needed to look at my list. Now lists serve me in my business, when I run out of pose ideas in the middle of a photoshoot, I have a list of other ideas that I have previously thought of to jog my creativity. Maybe I should become a professional list maker...
Anyway, (I really love lists.) I was just sitting on the couch making a list of things that I still needed to buy before the baby comes. And then I started making my list of things I need to get from people before the baby arrives. And then there was "Things I need to do before baby is born" and "Things I need to do before we move" and "What to pack for hospital" etc, etc, etc. You get the idea. Well, one of the things on one of those lists is making freezer meals for after the baby comes for those days that there is no way I am showering, let alone making dinner. I did this for when Mackay was born, but a lot of the meals I made weren't really that good for freezing, and when they were re-heated they were dry and not very appetizing. So an appendage to my "What to do before baby arrives" list is "Recipes to make and freeze" and thought that it would be great if anyone had any great ideas for recipes that they froze and enjoyed later.
*Whew* that was a long explanation for the question: Can you please send me some good freezer meal recipes?
Thanks
Kalli (And I'm sure Nate, Mackay, and Baby Brother will be thankful, too)
You can either leave them in comments, or e-mail them to me: kallibarker86@gmail.com
Thanks, again!
I had the opportunity to go to Utah one more time before Baby Brother is born. Both Mackay and I had a great time! And the plane ride there was even okay. We did get stuck in Denver for a couple of hours due to weather, but she was great and I was great (if I do say so myself.) Oh, and kudos to Mackay. I got the courage up to let her stay in underwear for the plane ride--and no accidents the whole day! We were very lucky she didn't have to go to the bathroom during take-off or landings, that is what I was most worried about. She even got to use the bathroom on the airplane. Which was a mistake because then she wanted to keep using the bathroom on the airplane.
Here is a picture of us waiting for the fireworks to start. You may think it is out of order, but these were for Cedar Hills Days, which was at the end of June. It used to be July 24th, who knows why they changed it. It was weird listening to regular music, not patriotic, while the fireworks were going. Mackay was pretty tired, but she sat pretty well watching them. Five seconds before they started, I was holding her and she looked up at me and said, "Mackay close her eyes." Oops, and then they started.
Mackay and Pappa watching the fireworks.
Of course I didn't think of packing a jacket of any sort for Mackay and I, so my mom dug through some old things and found this jacket. She was so proud of it, having no idea the statement she was making wearing it around. (It says "Utah", not BYU.)
Mackay's favorite person in the world, even above Nate and I? Chad. Definitely Chad. Mackay found these matching aprons in a kitchen drawer and made Chad put it on. (She started calling him "Chaddy" while we were there--so funny! Sorry, Chad. You are the youngest, which means you never grow out of your little kid nick-name.) 
Mackay and Pappa. Probably her second favorite person. It helps that she gets an unlimited amount of chocolate whenever he is around. 
My mom had the great idea of borrowing a bike seat from a neighbor for Mackay to use while we were in Utah. Unfortunately, it didn't come with all the pieces, so we went to the store and got a new bike seat and helmet. EVERY night Mackay had to go on a bike ride with "Gamma" and "Pappa." And every morning she woke up needing a bike ride. My mom commented that she should stick around to keep everyone in shape.
Since Mackay loves the temple and was so let down when she didn't get to go into the temple here in Dallas we arranged to go to the Oquirrh temple open house going on in Utah. She absolutely loved every minute of it, and it was nice that it wasn't very busy when we went so we could take our time throughout. As soon as we left she was in the back seat crying about how she wanted to go to the temple again.
It looked just like the Rexburg temple, which made me miss our Idaho days!
Mackay had a run-in with Sarah, the family dog, while we were there. Chad, Mackay and I were filling up water balloons to throw outside. Mackay walked away from me for two seconds before we heard Sarah barking and growling, and then Mackay crying. We rushed into the mud room and saw Mackay lying on the tile floor and Sarah standing by her. Mother Bear instinct set in and that was the first time I have ever kicked a dog. (And hopefully the last.) One of Sarah's only vices is food dominance. Which is fine when the youngest child in the house is 13. But Mackay walked in by Sarah while she was eating and it just wasn't a good time. Sarah was outside the rest of our stay there, and Mackay was pretty afraid of her. We tried working with Mackay on getting comfortable with dogs again, so hopefully we can get a dog (and actually train it) someday. Oh, and don't mind the chocolate milk mustache.
Even though Sarah "hit" Mackay (that's what Mackay told me after), I still thought this paw mark was cute.
We got to go visit cousins while we were down, which is always fun. From Kim's house we walked to Macy's and got ice cream cones. (Actually, Mackay got ice cream in a cup--we are not as daring as Kim and Kerstin.) Afterwards, Julianna found a great deal on sandals, so the kids were entertaining themselves by playing Ring-Around-the-Rosies; Mackay's personal favorite.
We also went to "The Wood Park" (formally known as Discovery Park) in Pleasant Grove. Mackay loved being spun around on this dizzy-ing contraption. And I'm sure Emilie did, too--until she flew off.
Oh, and thanks to Kim for following the girls around! There were some tight spaces that me and my belly just weren't going to go into.
Once these two girls get over their own independence they will be great friends. I don't think either Mackay or Emilie are followers--which left them wandering around by themselves much of the time.
Nate got to come up during the weekend to spend the 4th of July with us. He got in at 12:30am, and no one knows how he actually made it. He definitely shouldn't have, that's for sure. I didn't tell Mackay that he was coming, because we weren't exactly sure if/when he would make it. And you can't tell Mackay anything exciting before it happens or you won't hear the end of it. Example: the morning we were leaving to go to Utah I told Mackay for the first time. We weren't leaving until later on in the afternoon, but she jumped up so excited, ran and got her shoes on and backpack, and was ready to go that second! So then I had to deal with tantrums, etc all the way until it was actually time to leave. So when she woke up in the morning with her dad there she was so excited! Her first words were, "It's my dad!" And then "My panda bear!" (Heart-melting!) We had a movie night a couple of weeks ago with Mackay and watched Kung Fu Panda. She loved it, and after it was over Nate became a panda bear, Mackay climbed on his back, and that is how she was transported to bed. Ever since then Nate is "Panda Bear". All day she will say things like, "Panda Bear at work."
Oh, the wonderful world of sparklers. I personally hate them. I hated them when I was little and I hate them now. Unfortunately, Mackay loved them. I was a basket case while she was holding them--I should have just gone inside and stayed there.
And this was yesterday after we got back. I was trying to make dinner and Mackay was trying to get into the tiny pantry closet. She sat down in the corner and wanted me to close the door. I tried closing it, but it was still open since her knees were sticking out. I left the kitchen to go get something, and when I came back the door was completely closed. "How in the world..." I thought as I opened the door to find her new position.
Oh, and not shown was the opportunity to see Mark and Christine from Rexburg! They were also in Utah visiting family for the 4th, so we got to go out to lunch with them one day. After we left them, we went to get into the car (my dad's car) and saw a car pulled up behind us--literally right behind us. We had parked on the side of the road in between drive ways, and another car desperately wanted to also get into the space, even though there really wasn't room. Nate got in the car to pull forward while I stood outside to see if any damage was done. He pulled the other car forward for a while before it released and they had dented the bumper (very minor). Since it wasn't our car, we had to call the police, who got ahold of the elderly couple who didn't even know they hit our car. It was a very long, painful process.
Anyway, 10 more weeks until Baby Barker enters the world! Thank you for one last Utah trip before I have to hassle two children on an airplane and airport!
