*First Halloween

Happy Halloween! My little pumpkin was a pumpkin for Halloween. She spent most of the day sleeping in her Halloween costume...but she looked awfully cute! Here are some pictures of my cute babe in her costume.

Today we had a bath in the bath tub. Madison LOVED it. I have only given her sponge baths until today, and she Hates baths. She would cry the whole time we were having a bath. However today I put her whole body in the water in the bath tub and she loved it. She kicked her legs and wiggled her little body. As she did this she looked around like she was really enjoying herself! She didn't even cry, until I took her out and then she realized she was naked again. She really doesn't like being naked!

Here are a few other really cute Halloween themed pictures of my cute babe. We got some really cute onesie and here she is to model them for you....

I can't believe how much she has changed! Four weeks ago today she was born. How my life has changed in the last four weeks. I am starting to get the hang of being a mom, but we are definately still on Madison's timetable and not mine, but we're getting there. I love being a mom! What a wonderful experience! How blessed I am for this experience and to get to be Madison's mom.

*All bundled up!!!!

Today we ventured out to take Sadie for a walk. It was quite cold so I got Madi all bundled up! She lookes so cute and snuggly that I just had to take a picture!

Sadie was really excited to go for a walk this morning. Sadie and I would go for a walk every morning. So it has been really hard for her to not get to go every morning. This morning when I said to her, "Sadie... should we go for a walk?" Her little ears perked right up. Then she stared jumping up and was so excited.

Sadie was really cute as we walked the neighborhood. She stayed right by the stroller and kept looking up at me, making sure Madi was okay. It was cute. Sadie has alway been a fan of little kids and she has been no different with Madi. I think it will be so fun to watch these two over the next few months and years. I know they are just going to be the best of friends.

We didn't do to much else today. Just enjoyed each other. I am loving being a mom! What an awesome experience. I have the cutest little girl. Saide is still having a hard time with sharing my attention, but Madi is a great addition to our family.

*Friends already

This picture is a little on the blurry side, but I had to post it! Sadie is so great with Madison! The first night that Madi and I were home, Madi started to cry and Sadie was up and into her room before I could even sit up in bed. She came back, got a toy, and on her way back to Madi's room (to share the toy and let Madi know it was okay) she looked at me like "are you coming?" I thought this picture was so sweet. Sadie was down on the floor looking up at us on the bed and she just wanted to be a part of things. Brice put her on the bed and she sat so tenderly on the bed. When we put Madison against her she didn't even move! I can't wait for Madi to grow up and play with Sadie. Sadie is just going to be such a good friend for her!

*Are you kidding me!

This afternoon we got a surprise visit when all of the Young Women dropped by to see us! It was fun to see all of the girls. Tonight my sister and her family came to see Madison. Alicia came to see us in the hospital, but this was the first time that the kids and Mario saw Madi. It was fun to have them come and see us! A new little cousin to play with. Mom and Gram came for dinner, so all in all it was a full day for us.

At 9 pm as I went to start Madison's IV, you can guess it.....it wouldn't go. The vein had collapsed AGAIN! So once again we packed up the car and headed to Primary's. We got there and had to go to the ER to have it placed. The technician was looking at Madi's hands and feet and was a little nervous to try. Madi has no veins left to get poked. After a long examination he decided to go for a vein in her hand. He got it! Yea! Poor kid. She has been poked more then any one week old should be! Three more doses to go! Can't wait to get this thing out of her and be done with the IV!

*Gaining Weight!

I think the only time in a girls life when she is happy about gaining weight, is from the time you are first born until about 12!!! :)

Madi is up 4 ounces today! That is great for 2 days. We are very happy. We will keep up with the plan at hand. It really makes for a lot of work! I feed, then I pump, then I hold and comfort Madi, and then I start all over again. It makes getting out of the house and going somewhere really hard! :) Hopefully my body will start producing better!

This is a picture of the feeding contraption I use to supplement Madi. It has a small little tube that I use to tape on my breast. We don't want Madison drinking from a bottle yet. This tubing also works nicely to connect to Madi's pacifier. This way Brice can feed her or I have even rigged it up on her car seat for a feeding on the go! The things you do for your kids.

*Primary's AGAIN!!!

This morning when I went to start Madison's antibiotics, it wouldn't go. This meant only one thing...her vein had collasped. I called our home health nurse just to make sure. She confirmed my worst thought. We would have to go to Primary's to get the IV restarted. First we had to go see Dr. Cox (the peditrician).
We got to Dr. Cox office and weighed Madi again. She has lost 13 oz since being born. Every baby loses weight after being born, but this was concerning to Dr. Cox. She had me feed Madi while there and then we weighed her again. I am not producing enough breastmilk. It's enough to keep Madi hydrated, but not enough to sustain life. Dr. Cox told us to go and buy a pump. I have to pump inbetween feeding to make my body produce more milk. Another bump in my road of motherhood! Dr. Cox wrote us out a plan of action, including supplementing with formula to help Madi gain weight and get some food! We are to come back on Saturday to make sure her weight is headed up.
We then loaded into the car again and headed to Primary's. It's pretty sad when you are on a first name basis with almost everyone on the IV team at Primary's when your daughter is only 6 days old! Amazingly they found a vein, and got in on the first stick! This time they were able to find a vein in her hand. That will make doing the IV easier! Here is a picture of her after we got the IV place and got home. Isn't it just sad? As we were in the waiting room there was a little boy, 2 years old on oxygen. When I asked his dad about him he told me that he had been born with only 1/2 a heart. He was going to have his third open heart surgery! It put in perspective just how insignificant our little problem is, but it still is hard to watch your brand new baby suffering!

*Me and my girls

Today was a great day. Madison and I got to stay home and just enjoy each other!!! It was wonderful! My mom came over and spent the day with us. She was wonderful, she emptied and reloaded my dishwasher. Did the laundry, vacuumed the house. While she was vacuuming I was sitting on the couch holding Madison. Sadie HATES the vacuum, so she came over to be protected by mom. It was such a Kodak moment! I told my mom;"this is the life, to just get to sit on the couch with my girls and have someone else clean my house!" I could live this life forever!

*Another Long Day

Okay... so getting out of the house with a new baby takes ALOT of time!!! This morning was my first attempt. It took a long time (like 3 hours!) We had to be at the pediatrician's office at 10:45am. She looked Madi over and said all looked great. She weighed 8lb 6 oz today.

From there we went back to Primary's. We got there, got registered and sent into the room where the PICC line would be done. We then got to wait 45 mins before they were available to come perform the procedure.

They got Madi all prepped and then we doped her up on "Sweat Ease". It is a sugar and water solution that works like an anesthetic on infants. I was able to help (I administered the sweat ease) and watch. When placing this type of IV they use ultrasound to find a vein and guide the catheter into the vein. This is done in the bicep of the arm. Well Madi has a lot of arteries and very few veins in her arm.

After an hour and a half of them trying to get into a vein, I told them they were done. The only other way of having the procedure done was to put her under general anesthesia. They then inject a die into the vein in the hand and watch as it goes into the veins. I wasn't keen to the idea on general anesthesia on my 5 day old daughter, plus she would then have to spend the night, and I wasn't about to leave her there either!

Anyway.... we will just have to manage with peripheral IV's. Hopefully all will go well and we will only have to come back one other time to have the IV changed. This was about the whole of the day. Long, upsetting and not very fun!

*Going Home

Today Madison and I were released from the hospital. It was such a great day! I had a cute little outfit to take her home in. Brice picked us up and we went home and had a great afternoon as a new little family....

oh wait... I was dreaming....now for what really happened....

Friday night (10/3/08) Madison and I both had a fever over 101. Because she was in my uterouse for 26 hours after my water had broken, we both got an infection. They did some blood tests on both of us and decided we both needed IV antiobiotics. I only had to have the antiobiotics for 48 hours. Madison's blood work came back with an high infection marker. They decided Madison needed to be on the antiobiotics for 10 days total. Two days in the hospital and 8 days at home. They told me they would need to change Madison's IV just before we went home, and then one other time during the 8 days.

I was getting ready to go home, showering, packing, etc., when the nurse from the Nursery came in to tell me that she wasn't able to get an IV started on Madi because her veins kept collasping. She told me we would have to go to Primary Childrens Hospital to get the IV done there because she didn't want to stick Madi any more. I could appreciate that, but wasn't excited to have to go Primary's. I called Brice to tell him of the news.

The nursery nurse came back to tell me that since we were going to Primary's they were going to do a PICC line instead of just an IV. That way we wouldn't have to worry about having the IV redone later in the week, and we also wouldn't have to worry about her viens collasping.

We finally left Salt Lake Regional and headed to Primary's. We went to the lab to have the PICC line placed. When we got in the room with the IV team they told us that they were unable to place the PICC line today and we would have to come back tomorrow. They looked in both her hands and feet for a vein. They finally found one in her foot and we were on our way.
Brice dropped us off at home and then had to go to LDS hospital to give his mom a blessing. About 8pm the home health nurse came over to show us how to administer Madi's IV medication. She was very nice. What a horrible day! On the plus side... she did look cute in her "go home" outfit! I love this face!

*Visitors

We are doing great!! We have had great visits from lots of friends and family. How could you not want to come see this cute baby face???!!! Just thought I'd add some pictures... Oh she is so cute! I could hold her all day long. They keep coming in at night asking if I am ready to send her to the nursery. I know I should be sleeping all I can (wont be time for that in days to come) but I just can't get enough of her!Proud Daddy and his girlCan you see why I want to hold her all night long?

*She's Here!!!

I awoke yesterday morning (about 12am) to the urge of needing to use the bathroom. When I got up for the 3rd time (this is really unusual for me) I decided it wasn't just my bladder! My water had broken!

I called my Dr.'s office when they opened at 9am and asked what I should do. They told me to go to the hospital. I called Brice to tell him I was headed to the hospital, got all of my stuff together and drove to the hospital. I got there at 10am. They had me change into a hospital gown, checked my fluid to make sure it was amniotic fluid and then called the doctor to tell her things were a go.

Around noon they hooked up the pitocin to help increase the contractions I was having. I wasn't feeling the contractions to badly, but laying in that uncomfortable hospital bed was killing my back! They got me a birthing ball (a exercise ball) to sit on and that was a huge relief! Good for the back as well as helping the baby drop.

By 7:30pm the contractions were getting really strong. I was trying to hold off on the epidural for as long as I could, knowing that it slows labor. Finally I decided it was time to get one. They had told me that once I got my epidural they were going to put a couple of internal monitors on the baby because her heart rate was all over the place. They wanted to get a more accurate reading. When they started to get me prepped for the epidural, I started to get nervous and emotional. I have never had any type of surgery, in fact this was my very first hospital stay. Knowing the possible risks and side effects of the epidural, it made me a little nervous, plus they had just told me that they were worried about the baby, and I had just a few hormones going on!!! It wasn't a pretty moment for me!

The anaesthesiologist was great. He got it in quickly and relatively painless. They then put in the internal monitors and told me that I could possibly have to have a c-sections. I was still only dilated to a 2, and the baby wasn't handling the contractions very well. I was really upset at this point. Emotions were on over load. It wasn't so much that I was against having a c-section, don't get me wrong....I didn't want one, but I was more upset that they baby wasn't doing well then about the possiblity of a c-section. The resident left to go call my doctor. I had Brice give me a blessing to help calm me! It really helped! How grateful I am to be married to a worthy Priesthood holder!

The resident came back to say that Dr. Cannon just wanted to let labor progress. So I just tried to rest as much as possible. About midnight the nurse and resident came in to give me some medication to stop the contractions. Madison really wasn't doing well with the contractions, so they wanted to give her a couple hours without contractions just to recover. They would restart the pitocin at 2am. About 1:40am they came in because my body had started the contractions again on it's own. The baby's heart rate was all over the place, it was concerning them so they put the external monitors back on as well, to see if that made any difference.

At 2am they restarted the pitocin. At 2:15 the resident came in to tell me that the baby really wasn't doing well. With each contraction it was taking her longer and longer to recover. The resident had talked with Dr. Cannon and decided that the c-section would be best. I was totally calm and felt this was the best decision.

They started to get me prepped. Dr. Cannon arrived and shortly after they rolled me into the OR. Mom was at the hospital to be there for Madison's birth. She wasn't allowed to go into the OR, but luckily Brice was there to be with me. I have to admit, I was scared! This was my first hospital visit, and now I was having MAJOR surgery! I didn't really want to be aware of what was going on! Even with my obsession with Medical stuff... I just didn't want to know when they cut me open!

Luckily for me I was so exhausted with the day's events that I did sleep, through the whole thing! I was aware of being in the OR, and what not, but I couldn't keep my eyes open! When they took her out of me and she started to cry I immediately was awake! I got all emotional, and started to cry. Brice told me I was a mom! He went to go look at her and came back to tell me she had a full head a dark brown hair!

Brice went and got mom and they both went to the nursery while they stitched me up! They call into the nursery to get her stats! She was 8 lbs 13 oz, 19.5 in long! I said to Dr. Cannon "I'm glad we didn't wait another week to start this party!!" They took me back into my room and I waited for them to bring me my baby! Soon Brice and Mom arrived with my little Madison!!! What a beauty!! I am so in love!!! Here are some pictures.