Today was a special day for the munckin. She was baptised at 9:30am at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. Erin and I couldn’t more happier for this wonderful event in her and our lives. My brother Nathan is her godfather, and Erin’s sister Emily is her godmother.
It is inevitable that now matter how old McKinna gets she will still be my munchkin. It is inevitable that no matter how good of a mood she is in as soon as Erin leaves the house she cries. It is inevitable that no matter how tired I am in the morning when I hear her cry at 6:30am I rush to her crib to consul her. And finally it is inevitable that as soon as we get her undress to take a bath she will pee all over Erin. It finally happened tonight.
It is inevitable that I feel relieved that it happened to Erin and not me. 
A co-worker of mine who is going to be giving birth soon asked Erin and I if things ever get routine with McKinna. The answer to that is definitely no. McKinna does something new to surprise Erin and I everyday. Whether it is a new noise, smiling more often, sleeping longer, eating less…while not that so much, holding her head up, etc. I have kayaked down rivers, hiked through mountains, ran a half marathon, and raced cars, but nothing has more exciting than seeing her grow and change.
Though I have been back at work Erin has been keeping me abreast (yes that is a pun) on new developments in my absence. Most notably we have been having “playtime” with her. It consists of putting her on back and moving her arms and legs so that she gets some exercise. To supplement that Erin has been giving her “tummy time” and she loves it. Apparently she will turn her head from side to side and make funny faces.
The next thing you know she’ll by trying to take my keys and drive TIna.
They grow up fast
I can’t tell you how many books that Erin and I read to get us ready for the baby. I tried to get as much advise as I could from other parents, both you and old. There is, however, no substitute for actually going through the experience for oneself. Now that we have had some experience under our belt, well a month’s worth at least, I have some advise for any expecting parents out there, and it has nothing to do with raising your child…well not directly.
My advice is when the baby is asleep, spend time with your spouse. It is so easy to forget that the two of you are a couple and still need each other. It will make you better parents.
Back in the early 90’s Will Smith rapped about how parents didn’t understand the trials and tribulations of what kids are going through. Though the song was a huge hit I now see how flawed that song’s premise is. What caused this epiphany is the fact that Erin and I are now parents. I can’t tell you how many times both of us heard, when we where younger, “When you have kids of your own you’ll understand”. Well mom and dad, we do understand. The overwhelming desire to make sure that your child is completely taken care of and has the best of everything even if that means having to give up the “wants” of our lives…like sleep.
Questions/statements we expect to hear:
The adventure is well under way.
Before McKinna was born many of our friends and family would give us advise, tips, and in some cases fore warn us of what was to come. Most of which where very valuable. There are, however, somethings which we found out on our own that we think are pretty interesting.
I can’t believe that McKinna is 2 weeks old today. Erin and I took her to the doctor for her two week checkup. She weighs 7lbs now and is 21.25 inches which means she is growing perfectly. We did experience something unique today. Up until now she hasn’t had any problems riding her carseat. This morning however, she threw a FIT when we got her in there. So much so that we had to postpone going to the grocery store. When it came time hit the road to go to the MD appointment she freaked out again, however once we were in the car and driving she was quiet as a church mouse.
Thank God.
Other milestones up to the point are:
McKinna is was officially one week old and boy has it been a busy one. Not only did she meet her Mommy and Daddy, but came home to a new house, her own room, met her big sister Miss Cooper, lost the umbilical cord, had her first MD appointment, caught and got over conjunctivitis, and been on several car rides. Wheww…no wonder she naps so much.
To celebrate, McKinna had her first “offical” bath last night. What a milestone!!!!! She acutally took it pretty well. Erin and I were afraid that she would freak out being wet, but I think that the water was warm enough that she wasn’t too uncomfortable. In addition, I think it stimulated her enough to wake up for awhile and just stare at Mommy and Daddy which was AWESOME.
Tuesday, September 9th 2008 will forever be the day the greatest adventure for Erin and I started. It began at 10:15am, for what was 38 week appointment. Dr. Tinker, OB/GYN extraordinaire, came and told us that Erin wasn’t progressing as far as we wanted her so we might have to wait until Erin was possibly 41 weeks pregnant before McKinna came into the world. We were quite disappointed, but for good reason. We wanted to have McKinna home with us SOOO bad. However, we knew that God would bring her to us when she was ready and not a moment sooner.
Afterward we had lunch at Memphis Pizza Cafe’, our post appointment ritual, and discussed the rest of the week’s activities. It was a LOOOONG ride back to work for both Erin and I.
To put it in perspective, we can barely wait to give each other presents on Christmas, by the 21st of December so you can imagine our short comings on having to wait for McKinna. However, we both finished the work day and headed home. It was business as usual back at casa de Wiles. Erin went to bed a little earlier that night in hopes of making up for the lack of sleep from the night before, but I stayed downstairs to talk with my brother and finish up some stuff for McKinna’s site. Around 9pm I decided to go to bed and talk with Erin for a bit. I could look at her and see the exhaustion of everything in her eyes.
I closed my eyes and said the nightly Hail Mary and prayed for the safety and well being of Erin and McKinna and put the coming of the little angel in God’s hands. Whatever He believed was the right would happen. Not 5 seconds after I said, “Amen”, Erin leaped from the bed and ran the bathroom.
I heard her gasp and say, “Dee, you will never believe this. I think my water just broke”. After confirming that her water did indeed break, it wasn’t that difficult to confirm, we packed up what little ammenities that we would need at the hospital, hopped in the car and we we off.
Emily, Erin’s parents and my mom met us there. The initial prognosis from the nurse was that it was going to be LONG night. It didn’t matter to Erin and I because we knew that our precious gift was on her way. Barring any complications McKinna would be born on September 10th 2008. After some initial examinations they moved Erin to the “birthing room” (237) where we stayed until McKinna arrived.
DAD TIP:
BRING A DOWN SLEEPING BAG, THE COUCHES ARE HORRIBLE.
There was a lot of waiting, beeping of machines, blood pressure taken, and iced chewed. Finally around 1:30pm September 10th, it was Erin and I alone in the room and she was 5 centimeters dilated. She and I fell asleep right after that. I was woken up at 3pm with Erin telling me that she was 10 centimeters dilated and that we were about to have a baby.
Nine minutes later McKinna Claire Wiles was born. 6lbs 9oz and 20.5 in long. Holding her for the first time brought a wave of love over me that I have never felt before. Our blessed angel was here.
Erin and I still can’t believe that McKinna came on the day when medically the chances where so low that we would have greater luck winning the lottery. I have to remind myself of rule #1 of the UB Rules…things end up how they start out. We got pregnant with McKinna a lot earlier than expected so why would she not come early as well?
We are at day 2 of being at home and so far so good. We are still adjusting to the constant blur between day and night, night and day, but it is slowly getting better. Finding the routine that works for mommy, daddy, and baby are KEY. Erin and I are close to finding ours, however I have a feeling that once we get used to it, McKinna will throw a kink in it.
I have added a few more videos to the site and have about 10 more to go. It is a slow process so please bear with me. If you have any pictures please email them to me so that I can post them.
We would like to thank EVERYONE for their thoughts, prayers, blessings, general goodwill, food, wine, M & M’s, and laughter. It has been a tremendous help to Erin and I.