PICTURE TIME!!!!

This is a picture overload for all those who have been waiting to see little Mackenzie.


Just after my bath!


I just made my way into the world, and daddy got to hold me!


Nana Joy was there for the whole thing too!


Mommy looks a little tired after so many hours of labor.

Mommy and Nana Joy are so excited I am here.

Here is Doctor Heather Harrison (left) and my nurse, Pam Fordham (right) who did such a good job taking care of me and mommy all night long!

The mean nurses tried to clean me and I was NOT happy!

Ok, I guess it wasn't too bad.

Ok, I was wrong. Who does this to a child!

I was just born and they laid me under this bright light...yeah, I just wanted to be held!

I guess they needed to scrub me down before they handed me over to everyone.

My weight in....I have no idea.

I was 7 pounds 4 ounces!

Mommy finally got me after I looked a little better!

Mommy and Daddy are proud of how cute I am!

Mackenzie Joy Rankin

I guess I forgot in all of my exhaustion to tell those who don't know...her name!!!

Our little girl is

Mackenzie Joy Rankin!!!!

Yes, it has been 3 days and I have gotten about 12 hours MAYBE total!!!

Mackenzie loves to be held and we have already spoiled her. We are now working on letting her lay down in her bed while she sleeps during the day.

We are also trying to keep her up a little more today because we had a time last night. As we got ready to go to bed, Mackenzie decided it was play time. We didn't get any sleep again last night and when we finally tried to put her down she wouldn't go. She would only sleep in our arms. So while in my hospital bed, I sorta sat up and used a couple pillows make sure she was ok and she slept in my arm.

Pictures are still on the way. The hospital internet is not working right!

Our Little Girl

So this is Meredith reporting live from the hospital. As most of you know/assume...our little girl is now here with us.

And this is her story!

On Sunday night at about 11 PM I started having contractions. Well I had had a few contactions here and there, but these were much worse than before.

We all went to bed excited and anticipating that we would be heading for the hospital in the middle of the night or at least early the next morning.

The contractions continued all night, but they only came about every hour, but boy were they HARD!!!! I didn't sleep much that night, but then again neither did my mom or Adam. But NOTHING. When we all woke up the next morning I was EXHAUSTED and still in a lot of pain, so I slept while Adam went to school and my mom did some chores around the house to get everything perfect.

The contractions continued to come very hard, but they were not regular so we didn't fret. I also had a doctors appointment at 4 PM so we hung around the house waiting to go to the doctor. After seeing her and with VERY regular contractions that were coming between 2 and 5 minutes apart, we were told to go home, eat some dinner, and then go to the hospital in an hour or so to see if I had progressed any. I was only dialated to a 2 at the doctors.

We went home, and I continued with the VERY painful contractions, and we got to the hospital about 6 PM.

We were brought in and after that hour of waiting, I was sad to find out that I had not progressed at ALL!!!! The sad thing is they told me they could not admit me unless I had progressed. So we were off to walk the halls of the hospital. We circled the halls of the labor and delivery wing for over an hour and then went back to the room to get checked for progression. We were praying I had progressed because I knew I could not make it another whole night with the same kind of labor pains I had had the night before.

The walking WORKED!!!! I had only progressed a 1/2 cm, but it was enough for them to admit me.

I quickly got an epideral, considering I was in so much pain that I really just couldn't stand it any more. For all those out there who go it alone, I am amazed by your strength!!!

After the epideral, which Adam stayed in to watch, he decided to go home to get some sleep, since we knew it would be a very long night!! (I wasn't progressing quickly at all).

I also got a pitocin drip because with the epideral, my contractions slowed WAYYYY down. After just about 1/2 an hour of the pitocin, our little girl started to scare us. Her heart rate was dropping very low after every contraction. They even told us that we might have to have a c-section in order to get her here safely.

Luckily, after a few hours, I had progressed to a 7 and her heart rate had stabilized. (They took me off the pitocin drip when her heart rate was fluctuating and then once she stabalized they put me back on a slow pitocin drip to see if she did the same thing. She did much better on a lower dosage.) The nurse told us that we still had a while until I would be moving on to push. W kept trying to figure out when to call Adam to get him back to the hospital. We decided to let him sleep. The doctor came in about 40 mins later to check me once more to discover that I had made it to a 10 and was ready to start pushing.

We called Adam immediately and he rushed to the hospital. Luckily, because of all the problems, they wanted to wait until the doctor got to the hospital to start any pushing just incase anything else came up. Adam got there in plenty of time and we were all ready to go when the doctor came in.

We were worried about the well being of our little girl, so the doctor told us that we only had about 30 mins to push this little girl out. Well, it worked. After a half hour of pushing, and a little help from a vacuum, we got her out safely. The reason she was having all the problems was because she had her cord wrapped around her neck. Everything was ok when she came out. Adam was very supportive and actually did a well with everything he saw. (We were worried he might pass out on the floor at some point.)

She got here at 3:54 AM on September 30!
She was 7 pounds 4 ounces.
She was 20 inches long.
She made an 8/9 on her APGAR.

She is a beautiful little baby with gorgeous pink coloring. She looks exactly like me!!!! There will be pictures up later, but we just don't have them on this computer yet.

We are all doing well, and just keep checking back for more updates.

We will be going home tomorrow evening!!!!

Thank you for all of your prayers, love, and support!!!!

Meredith Is In The Hospital

I am just writing to let everyone know that Meredith is officially a new resident of Utah Valley Hospital.  She is doing great after the long wait for an epideral.  I am not sure about the spelling on that.  We hope to have a beautiful baby girl in the morning. That's right the long wait is finally almost over.  If you want to visit us please call my cell phone because there is a special code in order to come see us.  Thanks again for all of your support and concern.  I will continue to update this as things unfold.

What a FUN Sunday!

This morning, since we have NEVER been and my mom is here, we went up to Salt Lake to see Music and the Spoken Word. We never expected there to be such a great turn out. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was wonderful to hear.


At the beginning of the meeting, before the broadcast began, they were introducing important people who were present. They introduced a group from China, another from New Zealand, some family of an old choir member, and then......

GLENN BECK!!!


He and his family were in town and well, we HAD TO INTRODUCE OURSELVES!!!!!

Then we walked outside after the meeting and looked around for our WONDERFUL sister missionary...Sister NOCK!!!

It only took us a few minutes and we spotted Sela (her sister) and Grandma Tilini (the Grandma of the whole Tongan crowd!) I can't believe we were on Temple Square on the same day at the same time!


This is our Sister Nock doing a great job as a missionary!


And me, Sister Nock, Mom, Grandma Tilini, and Sela all posing for Adam!


This was a great shot Adam took of the Salt Lake Temple as we were leaving today.

We had a great couple of hours in Salt Lake seeing fun faces and meeting CELEBRITIES!!!!!

The Last Few Days

We are still just hanging out trying to find things to do until our little girl arrives, so here is an update on what is going on.

On Thursday, Adam had class and an interview in the morning so while he was doing that, Mom and I went onto BYU campus to look around. Our first stop was to the Gordon B. Hinckley Visitors Center. Even though it has been finished for a while, neither of us had been inside. When they were here for my brother's graduation we tried to go in, but for some reason it was closed.

It really is a beautiful building and was amazing all the woods and furniture and just planning that went into the building. We had a guided tour that didn't take very long, but it was fun to see it all.


We also drove around to see where the KMB had been. Adam told us they had torn it down, but I was amazed when I drove around the corner to see this...



This is kinda for my dad, because he told us this is where he went into the MTC. It is now just a very well manicured yard. For those who can't place this building...it is on the very south east side of campus. Next to the Widtsoe building (which is in the picture).

We also had fun in the bookstore for a few more minutes until Adam met up with us so we could all go home.

On Friday, we decided it would be fun to go up to Park City to visit the outlet mall. It was just a way to get up and moving, not necessarily to go shopping, even though we did some of that too.

The ride up to Park City through the canyon was actually really pretty. All the leaves are changing colors. This is what we saw. Sorry the picture isn't the best, but it was taken while we were driving.


After a long afternoon of shopping, Mom and I also went to see a movie last night. If you haven't seen "The Women", it is a fun movie to go see with friends. Don't drag your husbands/boyfriends to watch it. Maybe a few would enjoy it, but it is definitely a movie for the girls to watch on an evening out. I won't say anything about it, except that is was fun.

Today, we went to see Cassie and Jonny again in the hospital. Since their little Hailey was born 3 1/2 weeks early, she is having a hard time keeping her blood sugar regulated. She has been in the Special Care Nursery, but is doing a ton better. She just needs to keep eating and things are looking up. They think she might go home tonight!!! YAY!!!

Since Cassie has been released from the hospital, we went to eat lunch with Jonny, Cassie, and her mom at Olive Garden. After lunch, Cassie had to run back to the hospital to feed Hailey so we parted ways. We are now just waiting to hear any news from them.

We are trying to keep busy to keep our minds off this little stubborn girl of ours that doesn't seem to want to leave her mommy's belly. We have talked to her and begged her to come out, I have walked a million times in the last week, I have been on my feet shopping, walking, looking, etc. and nothing seems to help. We are just still playing the waiting game and I have a feeling we might be waiting until Tuesday when I know I will be induced. Pray that it will be EARLIER!!!!!

A great evening!

So, we still don't have a child, but last night was amazing!

My friend Cassie (who was due on October 18, I think) went to the hospital last night. She was in labor and well...she had her baby!!!!!

Jonny, her husband, was very interesting to watch, but they both did great. He gets VERY queasy around needles, blood, etc., so he was very pale a lot of the evening.

Since Cassie was so early, her mom couldn't make it up here until this morning. So my mom and I went to the hospital to be with them. We were in the room for the whole delivery and it was amazing to watch! I am very excited/anxious/i don't know! I feel a lot more prepared now.

I didn't get any pictures yet, but I am planning on going back up there to see them again today!

CONGRATS CASSIE and JONNY!!!! Your little girl is adorable!

Just a quick note

I just wanted everyone to know we are still here and still hanging out.

There is still no baby, so come back and check later this week.

I guess we will just not expect anything until Tuesday...that is officially when I will be induced if we don't have a baby by then!

40 weeks and still pregnant!

We are still here and still pregnant.

Adam and I took this picture right before church thinking this was probably our last Sunday as nonparents. Now, we have no idea what is going to happen.

This is me tonight. I am 40 weeks pregnant and am still pregnant!

I went to the doctor today and we don't really have any new news. I am feeling contractions and things are sorta happening, but we are still just playing the waiting game. I have another appointment made for next Monday, but everyone, including the doctor, are praying we don't go back to the office then. Hopefully we will see each other in the hospital VERY SOON!!! If I do not go into labor by next Tuesday which is officially a week after my due date, I will be induced on that day. We are just counting the days/hours until our little girl makes her way into the world!

I am miserable though...

Now that I have made it this far, everything is uncomfortable. Sleeping hurts, my hips feel like they are dislocated from my body, my back aches, I can't move, and I even wake up very nauseous every morning.

Mom and I have been walking a lot the last couple of days and even walked 2 different times today. I am doing what I can to get things on the way, but it doesn't seem to be working yet. We will just have to keep trying.

That is all that is going on now. I will let you all know as soon as anything happens!

A day with mommy

My mom has been here now for 2 days and we are enjoying having her here with us. We are all just waiting (very impatiently if I may add) for this little girl to come and join us! It is kinda strange for her to be here and us not have a schedule of 1 million things we have to do.

Yesterday Mom and I went to the mall to enjoy ourselves. We went and got PEDICURES!!! She said that is was one thing I would probably not do for a long time, so she wanted me to have one. We had a great time sitting and talking while being pampered.


This is us happy after our pampering!



Look at our cute little toes!

Once we were done with the pampering, we met up with Adam and went shopping. There is a great second hand kids store called Kid to Kid out here and we went to two different ones. A brand new one just opened in American Fork and well, we found a lot that we knew we didn't need. All three of us were very good and didn't buy any clothes. We just found some toys that would be great since we don't have many of those.

After the baby shopping we went to Costco! We are trying to get everything ready for staying at home for a little while with our little baby. None of us are going to want to run out to the store a million times a week to get food to eat.

Mom and I have a few more errands we need to run today. We are ALMOST READY!!!!! We are just praying that this little girl is not stubborn and will come early/on time considering I am due in 3 days!

The good thing is that I am finally feeling small contractions, they are just not regular or close together. We are hoping they become more regular VERY SOON!

We will let all of you know when we have a 3rd family member. Adam has promised me he will blog when he can! Keep your internet ready!!!!

Non-Stress Test

Just a quick update...

I did the non-stress test today and well...nothing to worry about. Our little girl is staying in my tummy for a little longer. The only thing I am worried about now is her actually being in my tummy a little too long. We just want her to come to be part of our family now!!!!

Also, my MOM IS HERE!!!! We are just hoping she isn't here WAY too early. It will be so much fun to hang out, but as long as we don't have a baby I am going to have to work and leave my mommy at home. I just hope we get this little girl to come SOON!!!!! That is the next thing for all of you to pray for!

Doctor's Appointment

So, I went to the doctor today for a normal appointment and something new happened. She has ordered a non-stress test for tomorrow. Our little girl decided she wants to lower her heart rate. She has always been right in the norms with her heart rate, but this week it has dropped. No there is nothing to worry about, but my doctor just wants to be sure everything is ok. If her heart rate is low again tomorrow then we might have a little girl this weekend.

I guess we will just wait and see tomorrow!