The Triplets

My initial impression of Luke was that he looked nothing like the girls.  I remember when Kailee was born it was like a deja vu of Hailey and while they still look a lot alike, I see a lot of myself in Kai and Hailey is just like Leevi.  Still, I have countless people ask if they are twins (odd because clearly Hailey is taller than Kai, but none the less, it is a common question right along with "do you highlight their hair?")  :) 

Luke's face was very swollen and red when he was born and his hair is much darker than the girls, but after those first few days you could start to tell that he looks just like them!!!!  He's growing so fast and I'm sure it won't be long before the arm and leg rolls start chunking out like the girls did!  :) 

Pregnancy Recap

This was the post that was partially finished when I went into labor....

It has been like waiting for Christmas around here!!!  The girls are super excited to meet their brother or sister!  My belly gets more hugs and kisses than I do!  :)

The baby will sleep in the pack n play until we move this summer...we didn't see the point in setting up a nursery for just a few months.  Still no official word on the move....anytime after Hailey's last day of school (June 8th) and before they kick us out of here in September. 

Half of the labor room....complete with jacuzzi tub and a purple rope to hold onto!  Still didn't get a chance with this birth either to use the tub!!!

Ultrasound pic at 35 weeks....this pregnancy flew by! 

Excited to see if the baby will be a Wawa baby....I thought these were adorable

These two angels are the real reason that we even considered #3

We are all overly excited for Leevi to be off of work for the first month with the baby!

The view from dinner on our last date before the baby

37 weeks

Hailey's bird's eye view during bedtime stories...39 weeks

The fabulous ladies from our PWOC threw a shower for Val and me...

Me at 38 weeks and Val is due early July...she doesn't know what she is having either!!!  I cut the boy cake and she cut the girl cake (she already has a son)

Guess the size of my belly game!  My neighbor, Diana, was spot on with the size!!!!



Such a special group of women minus a few missing!!!!!!  All of us have to move this summer (because of the post closing) and it's going to be so hard to not see them every week! 


I couldn't have been happier with my birth experience here in Germany although I am glad that this was my third child vs. my first.  It was exciting to get an ultrasound at every appointment and it was definitely the easiest this time around to not want to find out the gender....I think I would have been too tempted during the 1st or 2nd pregnancy if I had an ultrasound each month! 

Before and After...

Luke's Birth Recording

My fast thinking husband thought to record Luke's birth with the voice memo on my phone.  It was about 8 minutes long, but I editted it down and put it to photos.  Once we listened to it at home I was really surprised at how quiet I was!!!  Nothing like the chaos of Kailee's birth!!  I really was in a trance....eyes closed and all!!!!!  I did delete my crazy screams that lasted an agonizing 30 seconds about halfway through...I can't even listen to it with the sound up....that must have been when he first started coming out.  My favorite part is at the 1:10sec mark when the doctor says, "If you push it, we'll have the baby!"  Ha!  Luke is born around the 1:40 sec mark and then wisked away and then Leevi comes in around the 3:00min mark to tell me that he's a BOY!!!!!

Luke James MacDonald

Luke James  04.07.2012  3:32pm  8lbs 10oz  21inches

His big sisters are in heaven!!!!

I'm finally back into the blogging world!!!!!!!  The days are flying by and blurring together and we can't believe Luke is already 2 weeks old!!!  Although it seems like he's been a part of our family forever!  He is doing great (especially through the nights!!!  He'll eat and go right back to sleep!) and all of us are just so in love!!!  I'm painfully sorting through the million pictures I've taken in the past two weeks (between my phone and camera!) and will hopefully keep the blog updated over the next week or so.  We've already taken our first Family of Five plus doggie trip down to Austria this past weekend (Hailey was off on Friday), so eventually, I'll get a post up about that too!!!  And I had a post that I was working on before I went into labor about my final days of pregnancy and the whole German experience, so I'll do a little backtracking too!!!

Luke's Birth Story...

After being out of town for the past 6 weeks, Leevi finally made it home on Friday afternoon after skipping out on the final hours of the last day of his exercise...he was given direct orders from General Hertling (he is the commanding general of the US Army Europe!!!) to get home!  We went to the hospital at 5 am Saturday morning (I had officially been contracting since about 3am Thursday night, but no pain and no time regularity)...at that point the contractions were about 10 minutes apart and stronger but not too painful BUT I had Kailee's birth in the back of my mind and was curious about my dialation since I had been contracting for so long. I was only a diappointing 2 cm at 6am but they didn't send me home and they set us up in our post delivery room and we slept! At 12:30 we went back to the labor room and the contractions were stronger but still far apart and no progress in my dialation (BOO!) We started talking "natural induction" methods and decided on drinking a Contraction Cocktail (I'm bummed that I didn't get the English translation of what is was, but I will when I go back to my dr in 6 weeks) It had champagne, some type of oil (guessing castor?), and some type of nut and they served it in a shaker! :) The nurse said anywhere from 1-4 hours I'd either be progressing in the contractions or in the bathroom! :) We were told to come back in 2 hrs and I was going to get in the jacuzzi tub and they were going to add some oils. Leevi and I went and had lunch in the room and then sat out in the new van playing around with the features :) The contractions were getting more painful but not much closer. At 2:30 we decided that Leevi should run home to get the things we'd forgotten assuming that it'd be a long night and now was a better time than later....it'd be less than a 30 min round trip. As he was getting ready to leave, I had two pretty strong ones close together but told him it was probably because we had just walked up the stairs from the car and told him to still go and that if the baby decided to come in the half an hour that he was gone, then somebody is really playing a bad joke on us! :) I wandered back to the labor ward but both rooms had the doors closed so I didn't want to interupt and I wandered back to my room and rung the bell for a nurse to see what I should do. At this point the contractions were definitely painful but not ridiculous and were only lasting about 30 seconds. A nurse took me back to the labor room and hooked me up to the machine to check for contractions. She also checked for dialation and I was already 7 cm! I called Leevi (a little after 3) and told him to hurry up. The only thing he had grabbed from the house was his toothbrush and he jumped back in the car. At 3:18 I called him again and asked where he was (he was in the parking lot) and I told him to RUN! I was literally holding my legs together until he got in the room! I wouldn't have made it one more contraction. The nurses were scrambling to get the room set up and find the midwife! I lost it for a bit (not as bad as with Kai, but I still swear my body went into shock with her!) and I screamed and thrashed for a bit and then Leevi said I went into a trance. I remember being really limp and I had my eyes closed the entire time! :) Leevi was holding my head, two nurses were up on the table with me ramming on my stomach and the midwife and a nurse were down below. I pushed for 10 minutes and we had a baby! The pain was crazy but only for probably the last 15-20 minutes, so I suppose I can't complain! :)   I guess I can handle having babies without any drugs if they are as fast as Kai and Luke!!! 

Luke's cord was wrapped around his neck so they rushed him out of the room because they couldn't get him breathing. Leevi followed and waited the eternity it seemed to hear that cry (I'm glad I wasn't there to see how long it took). Finally Leevi saw that we had a son and cried and hugged the nurses and came in to tell me! We cried and cried and then Leevi went back to be with Luke. We had just talked on Wednesday about changing the boy name and had it narrowed down to Luke, Caleb, and Gabriel...it had been Gabe for the majority of the pregnancy. I let Leevi choose once he saw him. Good thing he was a boy because we really didn't have a girls name set in stone!   We did want Whitney for a girl until Whitney Houston's untimely death!  Leevi really liked Gabriella but I wasn't sold on it because it seemed like a mouthful compared to Hailey and Kailee.  And we were pretty much clueless on middle names.  We are still trying to get used to having BLUE in the house!!!  :)  Leevi and I have said at least 100 times that we can't believe we have a son!

The bird's nest right outside my hospital room window...she didn't leave her nest once!

I love that it was served in a shaker!  (My last belly pic!!!  Seriously still can't believe there was a boy in there!!!)

Luke's first minutes...the bottom right picture makes us laugh.  This is what the nurses dressed him in after his measurements....with his red swollen face, he doesn't seem too pleased with his very first outfit!  :) 

I've caught him a few times with his hands folded like this...

On Monday during his first pediatric exam, we had a little scare with his Blood Oxygen levels.  The doctor thought Luke's levels were too low and called in a team from the Heidelberg Pediatric hospital.  It was heart wrenching watching him scream inside an incubator while receiving oxygen while four doctors huddled over him speaking only in German and the paramedics waited outside the door!  The hospital he was born in doesn't have an ICU so the debate was whether or not to transfer him to the Peds hospital in Heidelberg---immediately...by ambulance...without me!  I quickly called Leevi at home who called Brandy to rush over and stay with the girls and he flew up to the hospital.  By the time he had arrived, Luke's levels were borderline and they decided it was best for him to stay with me vs. be alone.  They also took blood (3 times!!!) to check for an infection.  We went back to the room to rest and wait for the blood results and he was monitored every 2 hrs and then every 4 hrs through the night.  The blood results came back negative and his levels continued to remain high enough. 

The hospital food was like dining out at a restaurant every day!!  I would have stayed longer for that reason alone!!

My post delivery room...we bought out the 2nd bed so I could have the room to myself (from Saturday to Tuesday it was less than $200 and SOOOOOOOO worth it).  I couldn't imagine having to share it and the shower and toilet.  And then Leevi was able to sleep in a bed and get meals too.  Typically, the German women stay up to 7 days for a regular birth and 7-14 days for a C-section!!!  Crazy!!!   I was going nuts from boredom and was so ready to get home and be a family together!!!  I was actually able to get more rest at home because I could leave Luke with Leevi (and his big sister helpers!) and sleep upstairs. 

A bathing center was down the hall....the babies don't get that first official bath from the nurses like they do in the States, but Luke actually was brought to me pretty clean because they had to rub him so much to get him to breathe after the cord was around his neck!  I did give him a little wipe down once while we were there....it had basins to fill with water and heat lamps to lay the babies under. 

The bathing center....

Kailee drove me nuts in the hospital room so we kept their visits relatively short!!!! 

Finally ready to go home!!!!!!!!!

Our Welcome Home signs!!!!

I should have gone back out and retaken the picture of the window...the 2nd day we were home, Hailey held Luke for HOURS and Leevi was able to get all of the yardwork done for the first time this Spring and I tackled the laundry and sorting through the BOY/GIRL clothes (it was really weird putting the girl things away)

Luke's first days at home

This is the reason that most of the pictures on FB are of just Hailey and Luke....if we don't have plans that day (and since Leevi is home to take/get Hailey from school), Kai is usually just in her underwear and doesn't have her hair done!  :) 

The camera has stayed permanently out and I snapped this series of pictures of what a professional Big Sister Hailey is...Kai was playing Princesses on the floor and needed help getting one of them dressed....Hailey gladly obliged!

And lastly, an adorable video of Kai singing to Luke some made up song....

I don't even ask anymore....

I snapped these within a day or two of each other on my iPhone....Kai was apparently playing something.  Her imagination is so fun!!!!  And without a doubt the toys that don't "do anything" are the ones that get played with the most.  I think she is a lot more vocal with her dialogue while she plays than Hailey was (or maybe it's just that she's sooooo much louder than Hailey!)  :)  I LOVE to hear her play with her dolls....Pollys, Barbies, Strawberries, Squinkies, or baby dolls...they definitely come to life.  It was a great decision to pull her out of school last month...our days aren't choppy anymore and she is AMAZING at keeping herself occupied for a lot of the day when she needs to.  

Ariel sleeping on the left with a paper blanket and what I'm assuming is an eye mask.....and baby Cinderella taped to my shelf with a paper ladder....I did ask about this one....Cinderella was climbing up to Rapunzel's tower.

These were party decorations....Strawberries and Little Sister Barbies strung by their necks with ponytail holders!  :) 

Place Your Bets....

Playdate Photoshoot

The same day the Reeds were over and we painted my belly, we took a few pictures before hand.  We might try again with Leevi when he gets back Easter weekend (if it's not too late!)  :) 

The Dark Side

We have turned to the dark side and purchased something I said we'd never own....A MINIVAN!  We were constantly having a car discussion even before we were pregnant with this baby...we wanted a larger vehicle for traveling around Europe...there are sooooo many exciting places that we can drive to but the Mercedes is a tight squeeze with two kids, a dog and luggage.  We debated about buying a used Tahoe or Surburban but even old ones are close to $10,000 and do we really want to be investing money into that old of a vehicle and take it on long distance trips??  I was opposed to a new car because of a 2nd car payment AND mostly the fact that I didn't want THREE kids messing up a new car!  I had found 3 carseats that could fit across the back of the Mercedes and we were ready to make it work!!!!!  Or we also thought we wanted the new Explorer or Durango or something along that size because driving/parking is a nightmare over here with tight, tight spots!  Had we been in the States this conversation would have never taken place...it'd be a no-brainer that we'd go for something big, BUT.... Leevi went to the military car lot to look at an Explorer for us and kept getting drawn back to a Chrysler Minivan...he would not stop talking about it when he got home and wanted me to check it out the next day.  

Once you look at the Explorer and Town & Country side by side there really is NO comparison in terms of space especially since we'll have 3 carseats/boosters for at least the next 2-3 years!!  And the T and C was about 5 grand cheaper!  We took about a week or two to decide...not necessarily if we wanted the minivan but if we wanted a new car in general.  You obviously know our decision! 

The girls are SUPER excited and I'm waiting and waiting for the novelty of all of the buttons they can push to wear off!  :)  This was the sign Hailey made after school on the day we went to pick it up!

It really is the fanciest car we've ever owned....power everything, heated everything, stow-n-go seating, cargo storage in floor, and the media center alone is ridiculous with a 40 GB hard drive!!!!   As of now, Hailey has claimed the back row to herself and has her sunglasses and ipod in the cubbies and we've stowed one of the middle row captain's chairs to add extra room for backpacks, diaper bags etc.  I plan on moving Kai to the back with Hailey once the baby arrives.  And we've already installed custom fit floormats from www.weathertech.com that cover every inch of the floor with lipped edges to catch liquid spills (that is IF I ever allow them to eat in the van)  :)  I also bought a dust buster!  :)  It really is a living room on wheels!!!  We love it and the "ridiculously practical factor" definitely won out over the "cool points factor". 

One quick funny story....I was testing out the remote start one morning and Kailee was already outside waiting on the other side of the van to get in (she couldn't see me).  When I started it with the remote she started screaming because she thought I was getting ready to drive away without her!  :) 

Egg Belly

Hailey has seen quite a few friends of mine with painted bellies incorporated into their Halloween costumes but since I didn't have much of a belly at Halloween I told her maybe we could do an Easter egg when Spring comes.  And of course, she remembered!  I was worried that we might not make it to Easter weekend when Leevi will finally be home, so the Reeds were coming over for a playdate and I asked  Rebecca to bring her camera.  The four girls had a blast and would have painted and painted and painted all afternoon if we let them.  It didn't turn out exactly "Easter Egg" like, but they had a blast.  Hailey wanted to draw an egg design and then paint it in, so I'll see if we have time in the next two weeks to let her have a go at it alone.  Thankfully the weather was nice because that paint was cold!

This set cracks me up where you just see a big belly peeking in the picture!

Round two...We opted for a "Spring Scene" but even that eventually became just a blob of colors!  :)  Can you see the face they made in the bottom right picture?

And the artists signatures...