Margaret Joy McCollem

Margaret Joy came into this world a week and a day late on September 5, 2017 at 5:08pm! She was 9lbs 8oz and 21 inches long. She came out with a full head of hair that keeps on growing! She is beautiful and just perfect!

Birthing Story
The early morning of  September 5 started having contractions. By 730 I told Darren to drop the kids off at school and come home and I may be ready to go to the hospital. While he was doing that I started timing contractions and they were five minutes apart.  He grabbed my bag a we headed to the hospital.  The nurses recognize me from the day before when I had a nonstress test because Margaret was a week late. I think they thought I was there trying to be induced.  I could not get an epidural until my platelets were checked and they would not draw my blood until they saw I was dialated. My contractions got very strong and the nurse did a check and I was at 6cm. I continued to wait to get the lab to count my platelets. It felt like forever To wait while they checked my platelet count and when the count came back they were at 101 just enough to get an epidural. They then walked me over to an L and D room and got me an epidural pretty quickly. After that I was very comfortable. Another doctor was on call so I thought my doctor would not be there to deliver her. Just as I was talking about my Dr to the nurse Dr. Kudlinski walked in the room. She was preparing for a surgery. She didn’t check to see how far along I was and decided she was going to do her surgery and come back for me to push. A few hours later she was back in the room and we were ready to deliver Margaret.  I pushed about three times for each contraction and on the forth contraction she was out.  Darren predicted an hour earlier that she would be born at 5:10 PM she beat him by two minutes. Margaret was put on my chest for some skin to skin and she started to do some grunting. The nurses took her and weighed her and made her cry to make sure her lungs were clear it out.  She was much bigger then I expected. We both fell in love instantly!

We had a lot of visitors after that.  Many of Darren‘s coworkers came to see her since they were already at the hospial. My grandparents came and then my parents and Ruth. My favorite visitors were of course the boys. I have the cutest video of them entering the room with big smiles on their  faces so excited to meet there baby sister. There was so much joy in that room it made my heart full.  I was very tired by this point so many visitors and nurses in the room and checks that I decided I was ready to go home. The nurses worked hard and get me out on September 6th at 9:00 PM. It was very nice to be back in my own bed and Margaret was an excellent sleeper from the start. It worked out well because Ruth was there so the boys could stay in the house and she got them ready for school.
 We really enjoyed having grandma Ruth here. The boys got to have fun with her and enjoyed her company. Week two I pulled my trapezius muscle and had a blood clot behind my knee so I end up going to the  emergency department to check it out and luckily it was a superficial clot. Right after Darren had one week Margaret home he started his new job. So having Ruth was extra helpful and it is always sad to say goodbye after having her for three and half weeks.

Margaret has been very chill and happy baby girl. She was smiling by week two and even giggled in her sleep. The boys love holding her and talking with her. Brice can hold her and she falls asleep on him. Nathan loves holding her and talking to her the most but he can’t control himself with the touching her face and her feet and her hands so she doesn’t get much sleep with him and starts fussing, too much love.  The boys are very helpful and will get me things if I need it and help me bathe her. I keep asking if you want to change your diaper so far I’ve had no takers.

 Margaret is the perfect addition to our family and we couldn’t be more happy!