The Holidays Begin

Anyone who knows me at all knows that I LOVE the Holidays. My house looks as if Christmas exploded, I decorate before Thanksgiving, I will buy a Nutcracker in the middle of June if I dont have it, and my favorite tradition all year long is going shopping the day after Christmas-- to do what??? thats right...buy more Christmas stuff. Today we went to my brother and sister in law's house for Jeff's family Thanksgiving. Its kind of the tradition that we spend Thanksgiving with Jeff's family and Christmas with mine. It was a lot of fun, and great food. As you can see below...a special visitor stopped by...

Lately

Here are some pictures from lately...

This one is from Dance Revolution- a Christian Dance Convention my studio goes to each year. The "Footlights Colors" are Royal Blue and Lime Green so this is Madelynn's Footlights gear.

Madelynn LOVES the bathtub...she especially likes that her tub goes up next to a mirror so she sits and stares at herself the whole time. Today I caught her smiling at herself. I am SO glad I had the camera in the bathroom today.

So many smiles...

We have been getting so many smiles lately! It is so much fun!!! Below is a video of one of her smiley moods. Too stinkin cute. I cant wait for giggles!!!!

My First attempt at a video...

Check out this cutie...(and my giant pile of ribbon in the background)

Here is my attempt to upload video on here...this is me trying to get M to smile. Please ignore the obnoxious things I do...

So Happy!

Its amazing in a baby's life how big of a difference one week can make in their personality. Maybe it is because she feels so much better now...but she is now always full of smiles. It makes my day so much better each morning when she wakes up and gives me these smiles.

This one is not a smile...even though I tried very hard to catch it. I just think it is so cute how intently she stares at herself in the mirror in her play yard.

Trick or Treat

We had fun trick or treating with Shara and the kids. Madelynn was the cutest lady bug!! Her first trick or treating experience was mostly a glorified nap...but she enjoyed it!!!

Cute Face

Such a cutie!!! I love these smiles I have been getting, and this morning she was in an extra smiley mood. Probably because her tummy is actually feeling great!! I stood acting like a goon for probably 30 minutes trying to catch these...too precious.

Cute yawn.

Hospital Stay

Well, turns out it was not Acid Reflux. After a couple of days of the prevacid working...it stopped, and she began to get worse. On Wednesday I called the doctor, and the nurse told me to give it a few more days and call back on Monday if it still wasn't working. On Thursday, it had gotten to the point where I felt that I needed to use my mom judgement and I called the doctor and let them know that I would need an appt. for the next morning. After Dr. Bain saw her and heard what I had to say, she recommended that we go have some blood work done and that we go to Plano Pediatric Imaging to have an ultrasound. Jeff must have had dad's instinct because he showed up at the doctors office that morning for Madelynn's appt. He told me he just had a feeling that he needed to be there. We left the doctor and went and got her bloodwork done, then went to the imaging place. There, they performed the ultrasound and determined that Madelynn has pyloric stenosis. I had read about this, so I was aware that surgery was needed. They called Dr. Bain, and she had Madelynn admitted into Plano Presbyterian Hospital immediately. They did more tests and hooked her up to an IV. She was very dehydrated (she was back to her birth weight) and had a moderate alkolosis which is very common with babies with pyloric. They had to wait to perform the surgery until Sunday, because it is dangerous to put a baby under anesthesia when they are dehydrated and the levels of CO2, Potassium, and electrolytes are so out of balance. The surgery went great. She only has two teeny holes on her abdomen and a small incision inside of her belly button. The surgery itself lasted around 30 minutes, but she was back there for what seemed like hours (only one hour). We came home today (Tuesday) after 24 hours of her throwing up off and on. She hasn't vomitted since last night at 7:00 so they discharged us this morning when we woke up. She is becoming happier and happier with each feedng as we are able to up the amount she receives. She is no longer hungry! We are so happy that she is on the road to feeling good and being happy. Thank goodness we caught this when we did an finally have an answer! When we left this morning she weighed 9lbs 15 oz. YAY!!! They took such good care of her while she was there. I just love nurses.

The whole pediatric ward was painted like a fairy tale city. It was adoreable. When Madelynn was being difficult I would take her out into the hallway and walk around and look at the painted walls! She loved it too. She would stop crying and look all around.

In her hospital gown

Her first feeding after surgery. Everyone was so anxious that they gathered around and watched like at the zoo. It was cute.

Before the doctor on Friday. She is SO cute, but looking a little skinny.

I thought her pose while she was sleeping was SO cute.

Here are some pictures from lately. I haven't been able to post much for several reasons. The main one being that the blog wouldn't let me post pictures. The other being that I have been so busy between work, life, and a difficult issue with Madelynn. At about 3 weeks she started throwing up almost all of her milk almost every meal, and she started losing weight. Turns out she has severe Acid Reflux. We tried thickening her milk with cereal to help her hold it down but that didnt work along with the millions of other tips and tricks we tried. Finally the doctor prescriped Prevacid for her and so far it has been working pretty well. Rather that throwing up every feeding, she now throws up maybe once or twice per day and typically not as much as before. We are slowly trying to up the amount she is able to hold down so that she will be eating the amount she is supposed to for her age and start gaining her weight back. We are very thankfull that this seems to be working as Jeff and I (as well as both of our families) were pretty stressed and worried about this. Hopefully she will continue to improve each day, and our happy chubby baby will be back!

Newborn Photo Shoot

I cannot say enough about how wonderful this photographer is! She did such an awesome job with our maternity photos, and now look at the preview of Madelynn's pictures! I LOVE it! I am so excited to get the rest of them!

http://splendorphoto.blogspot.com/#outer-wrapper

Pictures and First Bath

Poor Madelynn gets her picture taken constantly...but she always looks so cute! First trip out (to the doctor)

First bath...this part was okay. Later..not so much.

She liked being all warm and wrapped up afterwards though.

Her adoreable robe...its going to fit for a while...

Love.

Beautiful Girl

Welcoming...

Madelynn Diane Boyd

September 10th, 2009

7:25 PM

8lbs 15oz

20.5 inches long

Going Home

About an hour old

Getting her first bath


Dad getting foot printed on his shirt

Wow...Big Girl!!! Look at those cheeks!

Everything went great, Madelynn and I are both doing good. We got to the hospital at around 9:00 in the morning on Thursday to be induced. We were supposed to be there at 6:30 am but they called us because they were so busy...they didn't have a room available. They had me hooked up and ready to go about 9:30 or 10:00 and I got my epidural at around 2:00. Jeff was in there the whole day, and my mom and Amanda were in there for a while. Later on in the early evening other visitors started coming so they could be there when she was born. The delivery went well, and I was so impressed with Jeff. He was such a help, and a lot less squeamish then I thought. He even cut the umbillical cord! When she was was born, both of Madelynn's sets of grandparents were there, her great grandma Joan, Aunt Kayla, Uncle Tim and Aunt Karah, Uncle Josh and Katie, Cousin Kaitlin, and Amanda were all waiting to meet her in the waiting room. Grandma Centilli was the first to get to hold her...she deserved it after all of that sewing she has been doing! Ha!

The first night we were in the labor and delivery room because they did not have a room available for us...so Jeff had to sleep in a small chair for a while, but they were finally able to get us into a room at about 1:30am. Jeff then got to sleep on the pull out couch, and they proceeded to come in and wake me up to check on me every hour after that, as well as have me try to feed Madelynn (which I was of course okay with, but I could have done without the hourly temperature checks, forceful restroom breaks, blood drawing, and blood pressure.) Last night they let me sleep except for bringing me Madelynn, and Jeff decided he wanted to just sleep on the couch...not the pull out bed. He seemed to sleep better.

We got to come home today at around 2:45...Jeff and I were not in too much of a hurry- as we wanted lunch. We had been hearing how good the food was at this hospital and man were they right! Definitely not your typical hospital food. Last night they gave us a "Celebration Dinner". We had steak and lobster with asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes, salad, and chocolate cake with a rasberry sauce. Yes I said steak and lobster...Wow it was fantastic.

Everyone at the hospital was SOOOO nice. All of my nurses were so sweet and helpful no matter where we were at. They were constantly checking on us, offering help, bringing me things without me asking, etc. They were amazing. A couple of my labor and delivery nurses even stayed past the time they were supposed to work, because they wanted to see Madelynn be born. So sweet.

So far at home- Sadie is very interested in her. She is very concerned everytime she cries. The cutest thing is that while I am in here typing Madelynn is in her bed in the living room. If she cries at all- Sadie gets up and starts to go in the living room. She turns and looks at me like "c'mon! We need to go see whats wrong!" When I get up she runs in the living room and sits next to the bassinet. When I was feeding her earlier, Sadie was very concerned if she would cry and wants to watch everything I do to her...change her diaper, swaddle her etc. She is really good about sleeping. She LOVES to be swaddled. If you wrap her up like a burrito and put in the pacifier, she is asleep in seconds.

Madelynn is such a sweetie. We are so excited and cannot believe how in love we are with her. She is such a blessing.

Below is mostly so I don't forget---

Thursday night- Amy and Nikki came to see her in addition to all of the family that was already there when she was born.

Friday during the day- My mom came back along with Amanda. Jessie and Nicole came, and later Miriam and her girls came. Shara and Madelynn's new cousins all came to visit too that afternoon. Ross, Kaleb, and Alanna all held her. Ross was super sweet with her, and she loved being held by him...he is great with babies.

Friday night my Mom came back with Dad and Kayla. Gaila and Jim also came back to see her again.

All ready to Go!

Here are a couple extra pictures. First is the finished glider mom did. So CUTE!!! Then Madelynn's great stuff from the Footlights Baby Shower. Then our stuff all ready to go for tomorrow by the door! We are so excited!!!

Update

I went to the doctor yesterday morning and finally got some information on whats going on. I am actually progressing so the baby could come any day...or in two weeks. IF she has not come yet by next Thursday (September 10th), they will induce her that day. So it looks like we will be meeting our little girl in about a week, or sooner if she decides to make a grand surprise appearance. Very exciting! Knowing all of this has definitely given me the extra push I need to try and get things done. Wonderful mom is coming to help me today with some things around the house that I just cant seem to get to. But there are a billion more things I keep thinking of! We are SO excited to meet Madelynn!

Maternity Pictures

I am sure I will put more of these up when I have the disk of all of them, but for now here is the link to the photographers blog. Even though it was really hot, Jeff and I had a lot of fun doing these with the photographer. She was great! I especially LOVE the one of both Jeff and I that is black and white.

http://splendorphoto.blogspot.com/#outer-wrapper

Newest Hobby

I am in love with this new hobby! SO cute! Lets just hope Madelynn has hair...if not...thats okay because Shara gave me a handy dandy headband to clip all of these to! And for those of you who don't know me that well...yes...there is a particular outfit that each of these belongs to specifically.

Rubber Duckies

It was pointed out to me that I didn't have any pictures of the baby's bathroom. All of her stuff is rubber ducks...I love rubber ducks. She has lots of cute duck towels and wash cloths. Grandma even gave her a cute duck robe. I had the bathroom stuff for a LONG time (I think before I was even married...)so I was so excited to decorate. Mom brought it to me one afternoon, and I had it done before Jeff got home that night-painted stripes and all. I did this before I knew what gender the baby was, so it is fairly gender neutral.