1 Month & Health Update

First- Maddyn's a month old!!! YAY!!! It's hard to believe!

We had our 1 month appt last Friday. It went well. She is growing tall (90th percentile!) and gaining weight. Here are her stats from beginning to 1 month:

Time.......... Height.............. Weight
Birth .......... 20.5 in............. 8 lb 13 oz
2 days........ --------........... 7 lb 11 oz
4 days........ --------............8 lb 0 oz
6 days........ 20.75 in........... 8 lb 5 oz
2 weeks...... --------...........9 lb 4 oz
3 weeks...... --------...........10lb 0 oz
1 month...... 23 in...............10lb 8 oz

Her umbilical hernia is healing and is almost gone. The doctor thought about 1 more week and it would be healed. She used the chemical sticks on it again to solder the raw part. It's now been almost a week- and it's not healed yet, but should be in a day or two. It's much better.

At this appointment we were hoping to get an update on the Apnea monitor results. The data had been taken and downloaded that Thursday, and sent to our pediatrician (Dr R) and neonatologist. Unfortunately, it was not enough time to go through all of the data. So we were not given any answers. Dr R said that she talked to the neonatologist Dr. O -who was covering for Dr M (the neonatologist who specializes in Apnea and infants, whose wife had recently died unexpectedly) -and said that Dr O would try to have some answers for us by Tuesday at the latest. I expressed our concerns about the monitor constantly going off, and how it was really mentally exhausting and unsettling. She told us to try to hang on for a few more days. She also told us that we can take the monitor off Maddyn for a few hours in the daytime. Since we are watching her, if she would have any apnea episodes, we'd see them. But, she always wanted the monitor on in the evenings and nights. That has helped a ton just getting that relief for a few hours.

So Tuesday came and we heard from the doctor late in the day. Dr R said that Dr O looked over the Apnea results and thought they were borderline. So he wanted to wait for Dr M to get back into the office and give the final diagnosis- since Dr M is the specialist. So Dr R told us that we needed to keep the Apnea Monitor on Maddyn for 2/3 of the day. In addition to keeping Maddyn on the monitor, Dr R and Dr O wanted Maddyn to also have two smaller procedures done: an Upper GI performed and based on those results a follow-up 24 hour PH Probe. I have had both of these done and they are not pleasant..and the thought of having to watch Maddyn go through them saddens me. Poor thing. But I know that having all of these tests done will help her get better, so that is what I'm focusing on. Dr R told us that they thought Dr M would be in the office by the end of the week and we'd have the Apnea results by Friday. She said they'd call and meet with us as soon as they had them.

On Friday we heard from Dr R's nurse. She said that Dr M had concerns with the results and wanted more information. So they took another download of the monitor data and since there was so much it was going to be mailed to Dr M's office. That meant we wouldn't have any answers until Wed or even Thursday of next week. In the meantime, all of the nurses and docs have continued to tell us that we are fine giving Maddyn a few hours off the monitor each morning/afternoon. The monitor continues to alarm and go off but Dave and I are getting much more used to it. We have had two instances in which we nearly had to administer CPR- but both times we were able to get her breathing again. It's scary and we are doing our best to remain calm.

The nurse also took the time to explain how all of this was related. I was having a hard time understanding how the wheezing, snorting (she has some major cloggage going on in her nostrils), choking, vomiting, gas, etc was all related and why these particular procedures needed to be done. They looked like two different issues: breathing and then digestion. But the nurse explained that they first needed to find out if it was strictly acid reflux or both the acid reflux and Apnea. She went into detail about how they were all related, so Dave and I both feel much better about why all of these tests and procedures are being done. Worst case could mean surgery for our little one and the better case would mean adjusting her medicines or keeping her on the Apnea monitor.

So Tuesday morning we go in for her first procedure, and we should have those results by Wed and the Apnea results from Dr M by Wed or early Thurs as well. We'll have another appt with the doctors on Thurs or Friday to discuss and then find out when we have to go to the hospital for the 24 hour PH Probe. Maddyn's Baptism is next Saturday so hopefully we will have enough answers by then so that she's feeling better and more comfortable.

On a positive note, she's really starting to develop more!! She has a large interest in mobiles, toys, and the play mat now. Her attention and focus is increasing greatly. Her strength is still amazing. She has full control of her head and neck and loves Tummy Time. In fact, she's already scooting. It's so cute!

I've added more pictures to the Shutterfly Album, so be sure to take a look! Lots of cute ones! And here is her birth announcement for those that didn't see it!

I will try to post again on Wednesday or Thursday with any update I have. Thank you all for your emails and messages of support. We are so grateful- it's definitely been tough- and having such great family and friends makes it easier. So thank you!

Maddyn's health...

Maddyn's health has continued to get worse. In short, the medicine for the Acid Reflux/GERD was only helping part of the problem. Her projectile vomiting and gas seemed to get much better. Unfortunately, the wheezing and choking continued to get worse over the weekend -to the point of us not being sure if she was breathing while she was choking.

The choking spells last about 30-40 seconds, and she turns a dark red/purpley color. So the doctor decided to change her GERD medicine again and see if a different medicine might be more effective in tackling the choking issuel. However, b/c her choking episodes are so long- she also wanted to get Maddyn put on an Apnea Monitor. This monitor would check to see if Maddyn was breathing during the episodes. As we have found out- it's also going to determine if Maddyn has Central Apnea. For those who are not aware, Apnea is when you stop breathing. Sleep Apnea is the most common form- in which one stops breathing during their sleep. Central Apnea can occur during sleep or while awake. The monitor detects if she stops breathing, and sets off a very loud alarm to startle her (and us). It should push her to breathe. If she does not, we administer CPR.

This monitor is a nuisance and a blessing. It's a blessing that it tells us if she stops breathing, so we can act. But, it alarms for every little thing, and it scares the living crap out of you. Dave and I are getting absolutely no sleep- as it goes off every time we doze off. We have to rush to Maddyn and make sure she's breathing, fix the leads (that is how the monitor is attached to her) or reset the machine. The machine tests both her breathing and her heart-rate.

We thought the monitor would only need to be on for 24 hours. However, since she has been on the monitor, Maddyn has had some episodes where she has stopped breathing, so it could be possible that she might have Apnea. We just don't know. The monitor has been on since Tuesday. They came tonight to download the first set of data from the machine. It will be sent to the neonatologist and we will learn more in the next few days. We also have our 1 month appt with our pediatrician tomorrow (Friday) so we should learn more then.

The good news is that the new medicine appears to be working MUCH better. Her choking episodes (the whole reason for the Apnea monitor in the first place) have been fewer and that's great. With the monitor, we have also learned that when she is choking, her breathing continues. So that too, was some good news. So now, we just wait and see what the doctors say.

It's been one of the scariest and longest weeks of our life. Very little sleep and just lots of worry. I ask that you keep Maddyn in your prayers if you don't mind. We could use the extra thoughts.

To end on a pleasant note, here are a few "teaser" photos from our Newborn pictures we had taken. We should have all of them next week. I'll post a link to those when they are in! I'll also be uploading another set of photos to the Shutterfly album this weekend.

Maddyn Update: It's been busy!

Well, things are going a little better! Maddyn is growing quite a bit. She's getting chubby and we love it. Chubby babies are so cute!! Her eyes are already brown, and she's getting stronger and stronger. She already has full neck support and lifts her head well!

The breastfeeding has been the biggest challenge. We are still exclusively breastfeeding (My goal is 8 weeks, before we introduce formula- so we are trying our best!). There is nothing exciting about waking a sleeping baby- which you have to do when you BF, and that is hard. Especially every 3 hours. But we are now on a feed on demand schedule, so it's getting a little easier. It has been a hard battle- but one that I know is so worth it! Remind me to tell her that in about 10 years ;)

Unfortunately though, we did have a scare this last week. Maddyn has been very sick. She's been wheezing and choking a ton. She's been having horrible gas pains, and then this week, she has projectile vomiting. She started turning a blue-ish color from choking and the severe volatile puking, so we had to go to the doctor. They have now diagnosed her with GERD / Acid Reflux. They have her on medication for it- and she'll be on it a minimum of 6 months to see if it can help. We are so happy the doctors were able to do something, and she already seems to be doing better. It was so very scary, but it sounds like this is quite common in infants- so we're glad it is under control! Hopefully now we can all get a little more sleep- lol :)


We just got the birth announcements in the mail, so I'm working on getting those put together. I'll be sending soon!


Lastly, I've posted a few more pictures on our Shutterfly Collection. So there are now a total of 3 albums up there! Please click on this link: Wags Family Shutterfly Albums to see all the photos!!
Let me know if you have any problems.

Thanks to all of you who have sent gifts, cards, flowers, plants, and dinners!! Its been so very welcome- especially in light of the chaos. We appreciate it and are so grateful!!

Photos from the Hospital, Xmas and 1st week home

I've finally gotten some of the photos uploaded!
I've created a collection in Shutterfly and plan to just link the collections here as I upload more photos.


Click on this link and it will take you to photos of our Hospital Stay at CDH, Christmas 2007, Rylee and Madden, family photos, and pictures from Maddyn's first week home!

Also- here is the link to the hospital Web Nursery. They took 4 photos of Maddyn. The password is our last name!

Maddyn Vera Is Here!!!

After a long labor, Maddyn Vera arrived at 6:46pm on Tuesday, December 18th! She was 20.5 inches and 8lb 13 oz.

(ETA: Photos added 12/25!)

The details:

Dave and I went in at noon on Monday and the doctor told us they were inducing. All of the different factors were just not worth the risk anymore, and they felt that they could manage my platelets now if c-section was needed. So they started with Cervidil (which softens the cervix). It didn't dilate me any more, but did soften the cervix. After that was in 12 hours, they moved me to a high dose of Pitocin to bring on stronger contractions. Ouch! I went from a fingertip dilated to 2-3cm pretty quickly. I also effaced up to 75% quickly. My contractions were hard at 2-3 minutes each for about 2.5 hours. By 3 hours, I had to ask for the Epidural- it was just too much. Once the epidural was administered we hoped that the relaxation would cause me to further dilate. The biggest problem they were seeing at first was that my station was only -3--this means the baby wasn't dropping. My pelvis was appearing to be too small. The range is -3 to +3 (at +3 the baby is out).

So after the epidural was in a few hours, and further checks occurred, at 6:00pm Tues the doctor came in and said that the baby was not progressing as well as they had hoped. They baby looked great but my own blood levels weren't so good and they wanted to get me in for a c-section immediately.

So within minutes, we were in the operating room. I was very terrified. When Maddyn's water was broken they found meconium so the NICU doctors had to be there for the delivery (this is standard procedure any time this occurs). Then b/c of my blood levels they had to have the high risk doctors in there, along with my own doctors and specialist for a transfusion for me if I didn't clot. It was a zoo, which pretty much made my anxiety sky-high. I remember a blood pressure reading during the operation of 168/134. Dave was allowed to sit by my head the whole time and try to keep me calm. But it was pretty scary hearing all of the doctors talking about the issues the whole time.

The best feeling in the world was finally hearing Maddyn cry. I remember looking at Dave, and he and I just held a look with each other filled with love for that little cry. It makes me smile just thinking about it. We didn't get to see her right away b/c the NICU docs had to take her. But since they had to do extra work on me, we got to see her while the surgery was still going on.

At the end of the surgery, Dave and a nurse left with Maddyn while I was being closed up.
Dave helped the nurse measure Maddyn and said that when he did, he "eyeballed" it and gave her the 20.5" reading. That he just used his fingers to figure it out, lol. Well, when the pediatrician saw her the next day- he told us that she's such a long baby. When he saw the 20.5" by her info, he said there is no way that's right- lol. Dave told him his story and he told us to get her remeasured at her first pediatrician appt next week and to tell the pedi... otherwise, she might grow 3 inches in one week- lol!!!

So- after the delivery we went up to the mother baby unit. I have only fantastic things to say about all of the CDH (Central DuPage Hospital) nurses. They were fantastic. It sounds cliche- but for as much times as I spent in L&D before the baby came, and during and in Mother/Baby after- they became like family. So supportive, informative and friendly.

The first week was a tough one. My body wasn't dealing with the surgery well, and it was a tough recovery. I was failing the blood/bp/breathing tests needed to get out of the hospital, so they put me on meds that made me very ill. They wiped me out and made everything so much tougher. We also ended up having breast feeding problems, b/c my milk was not coming in right away- and Maddyn was suffering b/c of it. And with all of the above, it was so stressful it meant absolutely no sleep.

As I mentioned above Maddyn lost too much birth weight in the first 2 days b/c my milk didn't come in yet, so they forced us to supplement with formula (though I continued to breastfeed to get the milk to come quicker) to bring up her birth weight and blood sugar. My milk finally came in on Day 4, and I immediately engorged. This brought us to the other extreme b/c Maddyn couldn't feed then either. Luckily the lactation staff at CDH rocks, and they worked with me (medicated and all) to get things headed in the right direction. However, it's been 4 days and I'm still 100% engorged. They thought this engorgement was pretty severe and would last about a week- OUCH! So currently we are now in a "every single 2 hour" feeding schedule, in order to help the engorgement and keep Maddyn's weight/blood sugar on target.

Today we had our first pediatrician appt, and her birth weight is doing 100% better and things are looking so much more positive. It was a great visit! Oh, and she was remeasured. Turns out Dave did a good job. She was only 20.75" today! LOL. It's just funny since all along they told us we'd have a tall baby from the u/s measurements. I was 21.5" and Dave was 22" when we were born- so 20.5" didn't seem too long. But, she does have very long legs- so I can see where that would have screwed up the measurements!

I have to go back to CDH on Wed for a lactation consultation - where we hope we can get rid of the 2-hour-must-feed schedule and allow it to be more flexible (2-4 hours). Wish us luck- b/c I think once we get the engorgement taken care of and a good schedule in place (with a little more sleep) we'll be on the right track!

So late Saturday night we finally got to come home. It feels great to be home. Though, with everything going on- and feeding every single 2 hours, both Dave and I are on about a total of 15 hours of sleep for this whole last week. So we are trying to catch up here, and plan to get in touch with everyone very soon!!!!

Many of you have asked about her name. Well, for those that know Dave and I at all, they know we are the biggest football freaks ever ;) And we wanted a fun name that is very "us". Maddyn seemed to fit the bill since it relates so well to football. We chose to "girl" it up with a "y" instead of an "e". And this way we can nickname her Maddy too :) Vera as many of you know was my Grandmother's name and means "truth/virtue". My Grandma Vera was one of the greatest ladies ever- strong willed, passionate, and just an amazing woman. We felt this was a perfect fit for our little snowflake.

Maddyn and Rylee are doing great together. Maddy is having a blast just taking in her new surroundings. We have taken some fun photos- that if I don't get to upload now, I will by this weekend. I'm so impressed with how well Ry is doing!!! We were concerned it would not go this well.

I'll post a few photos now, but have SO many to upload and sort through. I promise I'll get more up here soon. Hopefully after the chaos of Christmas passes, we'll have a little more time on our hands and I can get them up by this weekend!

Thank you again for all of the messages, flowers, gifts, phone calls, cards, etc. It's been so wonderful and I hope to personally talk to you all soon.... Hopefully in about a week we'll be more caught up on sleep and have time to catch up!!

Merry Christmas!!
Love, Heather, Dave and Maddyn!

40 week update

Had our appointment on Saturday and passed all my tests again. The baby looks great too! We had another great discussion with a different doc- it's amazing how different they all are.

He said he was 50/50 on induction. He said he'd be fine inducing and not inducing. While I was there, I was contracting about every 9-11 minutes and they were registering about 45 seconds on the monitors (I was only feeling about 15 seconds of it though. He said that and the fact that they are irregular means it's not true labor yet). He said he could induce and speed it up- or we can labor it out on our own. Yes, it would be riskier to induce still b/c of my cervix, but I am in a better spot now than I was on Tuesday.

After a few hours of monitoring, he felt strongly that this was early labor for me, b/c my contractions were intensifying while I was there. But they remained irregular and no plug or water breaking yet. I still haven't dropped. My cervix still isn't 'favorable' and he said that contracting on my own will push dilation. That would reduce my risk when we do induce.

So we chose to go home. I'm walking to bring on contractions and he is giving us till Monday. He doesn't want me going any later than that and felt 2 days was enough time to try to labor it out. If we don't labor on our own b/t now and Monday, they will likely start induction on Monday.

So fingers crossed these contractions get longer, stronger and closer. It's already Sunday and unfortunately I'm not feeling anything-except lots of pain everywhere else! So hopefully something will happen before tomorrow!

We'll keep you all posted!

Still Pregnant!

Sorry it has taken me so long to update here.

We went in on Tuesday for our appointment, and for the first time in 4 weeks I passed all my blood tests and u/s tests. That was such a relief! My BPs are still on the higher end- but they really think it's anxiety since I'm passing the other tests. But of course, they still continue to monitor. As we have heard before- the baby looks perfect--its just me again they are concerned about!

So we met with the high risk OB and the OB on call from my group again. After all the test results were in, we told them we wanted to be induced- as Dr H had mentioned. They did a cervix check and said I'm just not favorable. I'm still too thick and high and haven't dilated. They could apply cervidil, but it would be increasing my risk of Emergency C-section, because of my platelets, etc. and could cause complications for future children if we wanted. The doc really took the time to explain to us the risks in detail, and we knew those were not chances we were willing to take.

Turns out that the platelet problem I have is actually a 'condition' called Thrombocytopenia (There is a specific type, but Dave and I couldn't figure out its name- it sounded like another language). This condition puts me at risk with surgery. Which looking back on past surgeries makes a bunch of sense. But that's another story.

The summary was that both docs felt it better to let me try to labor on my own, and TRY to dilate more or get my cervix better prepared on my own before going to induction. So right now, we wait.

Since I passed my blood tests so well Tuesday, they let me cancel my Thurs b/w and u/s test and we just come in Saturday now. So nothing more until Saturday it looks like at this point. I'm going to pray the baby does something on her own. They told us to pack a bag for Saturday again. If my cervix is more favorable then, they can try to induce. If not, we'll discuss next steps then.

I think the baby just wants to stick around till Christmas :) LOL
Some of you have asked how we are letting people know when she's here. I know mom and Dave are planning on calling/texting family & friends right away. So we'll do our best to get the word out quickly! We'll also try to put a quick update here too- with her name and stats!!

And as promised, here are some belly photos at 39 weeks I took last weekend. And just for fun, I did a comparison of the 39 week belly shots to the 5 weeks ones- WOW!