Introducing Eli Boyd McClenaghan

On November 29 2009, at 10:46pm Eli Boyd McClenaghan officially joined our little family and we have loved every moment since. He is such a blessing in our lives and I've already forgotten what our life was like before him. The amount of love that we have for our little boy is unbelievable. This post is more for my sake than anyone else's, I don't want to forget any of the details of how Eli came into the world.

We were planning on getting induced and knew that we would get the call to come into the hospital, sometime on Saturday or Sunday. We spent all day Saturday nesting; we cleaned the house, ran a few errands and were trying to keep ourselves busy while we impatiently waited. When Saturday night rolled around and we hadn't been called yet we were a little disappointed but figured we would get the call on Sunday, well weren't we excited when at 7:30pm the call came, they wanted to know if we could be there within the hour. Needless to say we were overwhelmed with emotion. We were so excited to finally meet our little boy, but at the same time became incredibly aware of the new found responsibility that was entering our lives. My pregnancy hormones didn't particularly help in that department. We quickly grabbed our things and heading out the door, the hospital told me to make sure I ate before I came in, because once the induction process started I wouldn't be able to. We made a Subway stop and I had my sandwich downed by the time we got to the hospital, which is only a mile away. We registered at the hospital and made our way up to Labour and Delivery. It was incredibly surreal to know that in only a few hours we would be parents.

The final belly shot!

They started me on prostaglandin gels at 10pm and so began the waiting game of having a baby. The nurse insisted that I spend a significant portion of the night walking the halls, which; combined with being checked in on almost constantly; made sleep virtually nonexistent in our room. Come morning my nurse was pretty confident that I hadn't progressed at all and that they'd likely be sending me home. What a let down. She said I was only dilated to 1cm, which was less than I was at my last appointment so I didn't really believe her. When my new nurse came in, she was determined to help me stay at the hospital and have my baby. I loved her! She checked to see how dilated I was, but she couldn't reach my cervix because it was pointed backwards, remember how I said she was determined? Well she sent for reinforcements. Long (and painful) story short they were able to get to my cervix, pull it foreword, and YAY! I was 3cm, I got to stay.

Pretty soon after I was put on pitocin, and got my epidural. Unfortunately my only experience with births, was what I'd seen on tv, so I thought that it was all going to happen quite quickly... not the case. It was a good thing I had my epidural, it allowed me to catch up on some of sleep I missed the night before. Speaking of epidurals, they might be one the greatest medical miracles to date if you ask me they should be handed out with your hospital bracelet and gown. It made the experience really comfortable for me, and to be honest I think with it I would much rather be in labour than be pregnant.

Our doctor is in our ward, and he stopped by on his way to church to break my water; slowly but surely we were making progress. He swung by again after church, and said things were going really well and figured he' be back in not too long to deliver our baby. It was starting to get really exiting in our room!

We thought we were finally about to me meet our little guy, when the nurse told us I was almost fully dilated, there was just a little part of cervix that was caught on the baby's head, but she figured that on my next contraction she would be able to push it back and we'd be all set to push. When that next contraction came and she pushed my cervix back, Eli's heart rate slowed down a little bit, which made them a bit worried, so they took me off pitocin. So there I lay, fully dilated, but without pitocin, not having good enough contractions to do anything about it.

It seemed like forever waiting for my contractions to pick back up once the pitocin was started up again. We were starting to doubt whether or not we'd ever meet this little guy. Once the time came to push, however, time flew by. Before I knew it they were calling the doctor back in to deliver the baby. While this was happening another one of my doctor's patients had come in too; what are the chances that she and I were ready to have our babies at exactly the same moment? Well she came in too far along to get an epidural so I guess it's fair she got to go first (I wasn't quite so understanding at the time). The doctor let Todd "catch" the baby which was really exciting. Eli came out perfect. It was such an amazing feeling to know that he was ours, and have the love that we had for him for nine months become instantly magnified beyond anything we could have imagined. He came into the world weighed 7lbs 13oz, measured 20in and had the hands of a basketball player! We couldn't be happier to parents!

Eli seeing the world for the first time.

Well I have to say that it's pretty neat that they have wireless at the hospital. Hopefully, if all goes well we'll be meeting our newest little addition sometime later today!! We'll keep you posted...

The countdown is on

We're getting so close, I can hardly believe it. It's a really unique experience being days away from having your first baby. We're so excited to meet this little guy, and have him join our family, but at the same time it is a little overwhelming to think about how we will be responsible for everything he's going to need, not to mention the fact that for us to be able to meet him he will somehow have to exit his current living conditions... I think this baby has really started to pack on the pounds in the last couple weeks, because I've sure exploded! Here's what 37 1/2 weeks looks like on me. Not particularly flattering, but everyone tells me it'll be worth it. I thought I was doing pretty good in the swelling department, that was until I saw a picture of myself from about a year ago, apparently when you see your swell a little every day, you don't realize how much you've actually grown. (ignore the awful picture quality!)


A couple weeks ago a friend of mine threw me an amazing baby shower. It was such a fun afternoon, and it made me feel incredibly blessed for all of the great people that we've become friends with since moving to Arizona. It was also really nice that my grandma was able to come. Of course my pregnancy brain got the better of me and I forgot to bring my camera. I stole a couple of pictures off my friend's blog. Everything was so cute.


I've been trying to keep myself busy so that I don't go too stir crazy waiting for this baby to come. I started helping out coaching a junior high girls basketball team. I've been having a lot of fun with the girls, but I think I forgot what it was like to be a 12 year old girl. I also took another cake decorating class, I have had a lot of fun doing it, but unfortunately I only need so many cakes in my life.



We also go to go to our first Arizona Cardinals game. Todd sister and her son came into town and they really wanted to see a NFL game(the NFL is slightly more large scale than the CFL back home!). We didn't have tickets, but ended up scoring these sweet seats from a scalper for a steal of a deal. It was a lot of fun, but I think I was little bit too pregnant to be sitting a section that insisted on standing up and sitting down constantly throughout the whole game!

It's been nice having Todd home a little more for Thanksgiving break, we go back to the doctor on Wednesday and hopefully things are progressing well. If all goes well we should be meeting our little guy in not very long!

I thought the baby waiting game was supposed to make time go by slower, but that sure hasn't been the case for us. It feels like our last few days of childless-ness are flying by faster than we can keep track of them.

Friends of ours threw a Halloween Murder Mystery Party it was so much fun. I wish I had more pictures to show how great it was, Nate and Jess did an amazing job with all the decorations and food. Nothing was left out. It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be to think up a halloween costume eight months pregnant. I ended up going as a speed bump, not that exciting, but I got to wear comfy pants, which at this point is the most important thing.

A couple weekends ago Todd was able to make a quick last minute trip down to Mexico with a couple of guys from his class. Their weekend was action packed, and a nice break before they had to start studying for finals.

My cake decorating class is still going on and I am really enjoying it, I've even signed up for the next one. We learned how to make roses this week. I don't think I give the folks at the grocery store bakery enough credit, these things are tough!

And last, but not least the belly shot. I'm 34 weeks in this picture, we're starting to get close. We're planning on getting induced the last weekend in November, it's crazy to think about how soon he's coming and that he won't be inside me any longer. I think I've foregotten what it feels like not to be pregnant!

Basketball, Cakes & Cribs!

First of all Happy Belated Canadian Thanksgiving!

Ever since we moved to Phoenix I've wanted to go a Phoenix Mercury game, but because of their season (and Todd's schedule) we've had a tough time getting to one. Well we finally made it, and we certainly picked the right game to go to. We got to see them win the WNBA championship in the final game of the series. What a neat experience. The girls were unbelievably talented, but it definitely made me miss my playing days.

Ace of Cakes is right up there with one of my most favorite shows and I'm always telling Todd about how much I'd love to be able to decorate cakes. I think he got sick of hearing it and seeing no action on my part, so he signed me up for a cake decorating class. I've been to two classes so far and it is so much fun. Here is the first cake I made in class. TLC hasn't called to give me my own show just yet but I'm keeping my cell phone close just in case!

We finally decided on a crib this weekend, I had been looking on craigslist and at garage sales for weeks, but to no avail. I was completely frustrated by the entire process. Until ... I was looking on a couple of coupon-ing website that I go to, and found two BabiesRus coupons that would both apply to the crib that I really wanted, but couldn't bring myself to spending that much on. Well long story I saved 100$ on the crib which brought it down to about the same as I was planning on spending on one from Craigslist. I love it when stuff just works out!

I've been bitten...(No not a Twilight reference!)

I have been bitten by the Coupon-ing/crafting bug. The lack of job or any actual responsibilities has caused the "nesting" phase of my pregnancy to come a lot sooner than I had anticipated, and as of recently I've turned to coupon-ing and crafting to fill the time. You're probably thinking coupon-ing really? I know I was a skeptic too, but I have a friend who is basically a coupon genius, and she has converted me, I'm not even close to having her fine tuned skills, but it's pretty addicting. Here is my loot from my first coupon-ing experience with her. GUESS WHAT I PAID???

Retail Price 95$

After coupons I paid 32$

I saved 63$ I could hardly believe my eyes!!!

Sleeping has become the most recent obstacle in my pregnancy. The 100+ temperatures (38+ for all you back up north) haven't helped the cause much, but this little guy is determined to keep me up at night! The other night, I could tell it was going to be a rough night and Todd had a big test the next day, so I figured I'd start a little project and hopefully get tired enough that I could fall asleep without keeping him up. Well I didn't wake him up, his alarm did at 5am when he found me sitting at the sewing machine, finishing my project. It took me a little longer than I had planned because I wasn't really following a pattern, but apparently wanting to get something finished is like caffeine to me. Needless to say I slept most of the next day.

Here is what I accomplished that night;

a wipe case, a wipeable change pad and bag to keep it all in.

It has been so nice having Todd home so much more this year. They are doing a lot more hands on learning in the clinic as opposed to book work, so he doesn't have to study nearly as much, it's been great. It gives him so much more time to rub my swollen feet!!!

And here is a photo update of the ever growing belly!!

30 weeks

We're on the home-stretch!

Baby Update!!

So here I am 27 weeks, I feel like I'm getting bigger every day!

And here is our little guy, we were able to get a 3D ultrasound, but the little stinker wouldn't get his hands out of his face!

He's quite the cutie I have to admit!

Don't worry we haven't fallen off the face off the planet

I know it seems like it, but we haven't fallen off the face of the planet, I swear, time has just been flying by this summer! I guess I better start off with the most exciting news. The rumors are true; we’re having a BABY!! The newest McClenaghan will arrive the beginning of December and we can’t to meet the little guy! Yes you heard right, it’s a boy, we found out the other week and we certainly have a proud dad over here! Pregnancy has certainly been a unique experience, I’ve made it through the being sick phase, the “is she pregnant or is she just getting fat” phase, and now I’m on to heart burn, but don’t get me wrong it’s a great feeling to know that my little boy is growing inside of me. The ultrasound showed that he was pretty long, but let’s be honest that wasn’t much of a surprise.

Our little guy at 18 weeks.

One of Todd's proudest moments

And here is the much anticipated belly shot.  It's crazy how much I've popped out in the last couple weeks.

21 weeks

We started off our summer selling security systems up in Grande Prairie, Canada. Todd did really well selling, I didn’t fare quite as well, I blame it on being exhausted and pregnant all

 the time while we were there, but it makes me even more proud of how hard Todd worked. Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of Grande Prairie, it is one the northern most cities in Alberta, just to get an idea of where we were this was the exit sign on the one highway that ran through the city.

It’s been fun to back in Canada for summer 

because we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with family. 

I made my little sisters play models so that I could play with my new camera.

Because of my dads job we were able to go to  a Stampede BBQ with Steven Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada.

Todd’s sister got married last week, and all of his siblings were able to fly out with all their kids. There were thirty of us all living in one house; it was quite the party. The wedding was wonderful, and we were able to get some really great shots of the new couple.

We spent a few days camping with Todd family near Lake Huron, and had so much fun. We swam and hiked, and I think I ate my weight in roasted marshmallows.

We spent a day a place called the Grotto. I have never seen such clear water in all my life, it was beautiful. There was endless cliff jumping and exploring to be done. If you tell anyone who has ever been there before that you went, they want to know if you swam under the Grotto. It’s an underwater tunnel that runs from inside the cave out into the lake. You have to hold your breath for nearly a minute, while you’re swimming through the deep, freezing cold water. Todd has known about it since he was young but had never tried it (the stories of people dying are slightly intimidating!), so he and his brothers took the plunge. Thankfully they all made it out alive, but not necessarily scratch free. Todd clipped his head on a rock on his way out, it was a little messy but now he’ll have the scar to back up the story.

I can’t believe the summer is so close to being over, before we know it we’ll be back in sunny Phoenix, and back to the grind for Todd. We feel so lucky that we have been able to have such a great summer so far, and we still have some pretty exciting things still to come.