Almost a month old!!

Wow, time flies when you are sleep deprived and utterly exhausted. I forgot how tiring having a newborn in the house can be. We had a rough start where Mady had her days and nights mixed up. After a few conversations from some fellow nurse friends, it was decided that the lactation consultant/pediatricians advice wasn't going to cut it in my house. We decided to let Mady set her own schedule. Now she sleeps a whole lot better. She almost always wakes up every 3 hours with a 5 hour stretch here and there. She is such an excellent nurser!! I am so thankful for that. She is a pro =o) Callie was such a hard and stubborn nurser. Mady has her 1 month check up on friday, and we will know how much she weighs plus she gets shots ='o( Callie is doing great as a big sister! I am so proud of her. She helps a lot. An update on me: I have been getting worse this last week. The GI doc said that if the pain wasn't back my 3 weeks post partum then it probably won't be back. The burning, pressure, and severe stomach pain are back with severe right shoulder pain. It isn't as bad as it was while I was pregnant. I still am eating, but I'm not throwing up. I have a little nausea, but it's manageable. I have an upper GI and HIDA scan scheduled for the 20th. If those are negative, then they will do a upper endoscopy. I am starting to think that I might have a bad gallbladder. We'll see. Work is already starting to hassle me when I want to come back. Aaacckkk! I'm scared to go back!

Update on Bili

Yesterday, Mady's bili was 11.1 and today it was under 10. We can now take her off the lights and see what she does. She will have her bili tested tomorrow to see if it rebounds at all. If not, then she is done for good with stupid lab draws. She goes back to the pediatrician on wednesday for a weight check. She is eating so good!!! Its like she is on my boob 24/7. I think she is trying to catch up with her weight. She sleeps and wakes up when she is ready to eat and then goes back to sleep. I hope she continues with this pattern =o)

5 Days Old

Madelyn went in for her checkup this morning. She gained 1.5 ounces and now weighs 5lbs and 4.5ozs. This is without any formula supplementation!! Her bili only went down to 13.6, so she is still under the lights. I am so proud of my little girl! Mady has been eating like every 2 hours today and not being sleepy at all. I guess maybe that she is going through a growth spurt?!? She is starting to hate being under the lights. I don't blame her, because I hate not being able to hold her :o( She doesn't have to go back to the doc for a weight check until wednesday, but she has to have her blood drawn for sunday and monday for now. We are going to take some pics tomorrow and hopefully post them. We already took her first bath pics.
Here is the link to her hospital pics: http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=dc82c39d-0536-4271-8190-9163e23b7fc5

Madely Rose is here!!!

I was going to try to update during the hospital so that I could remember all of this. As stuff started to happen, I had a hard time trying to make myself get on the computer to blog about it. I started thinking that maybe I didn't want to remember this. Now, I am just going to blog about the major parts. I was in the hospital for a total of 13 days. They decided to go ahead and deliver Mady because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with me while I was pregnant. I had an amnio on Monday morning to check to see if her lungs were mature enough for delivery after 2 shots of betamethazone. I was also on Lovenox injections while having the PICC in. They wanted a level over 55, and hers were 71. On monday afternoon at 4:20pm, I was induced using cervadil. I was told after 12 hours, they would start the pitocin. I started out as 0.5cm dilated. As soon as she put the cervadil in, I started having horrible cramping sensations. I got 2 doses of stadol. I was 4cm by 2am and was able to get my epidural. The doc had to attempt it 4 times before she got it in the right area, but it really didn't hurt at all. After all the pain, I had been put through so far that was nothing compared to it. I was 6cm a 7:30 am. We called family and friends and told them to start getting ready to come in that we would have a baby by noon. I got 3 extra doses through my epidural during labor with the continuous drip. At 8 am, I started feeling this horrendous pressure in my bottom that kept getting worse with the contractions. At 8: 30, I called the nurse to check me and I was 9cm. My mom then left to go to the gifts shop. About 10 minutes later, I was coming off the bed because I needed to push. My nurse had just checked me. She checked me again, and I was 10cm and ready to go. I never had to get the pitocin. Phil called my mom to run back to L&D while the nurse called for the doctor. I had a hard time remembering to breathe when I was in so much pain. My mom arrived with my sister just in time. I pushed for 3 sets of pushes, and Madelyn was born at 9:27 am. She weighed in at 5lbs and 13 ozs and was 19 inches long. She apgared at 9,9. She didn't have any problem with labor, delivery, or recovery. I cried so hard after she was born. The nurse and doctor kept asking me what was wrong, but I just kept saying it was such a hard road. After 16 months of TTC, fertility meds, and a horrible pregnancy, it was all so worth it to bring my little peanut into this world. She was born at 36 weeks and 4 days.She is now 4 days old. We are having jaundice problems. Her bili level today was 14, so they started her on an overhead phototherapy light today. She lost 10 ozs since birth and now weighs 5lbs and 2ozs, so we have to supplement with formula after breastfeeding. We have daily doctor's appointments for her bili level and weight checks. She is a great breastfeeding baby! I am so happy for that. She has been spitting up, so they might start her on reflux meds if she continues for a few days.I left the hospital with a bunch of Rx meds from the GI doc. We are going to give it a few weeks to see if the symptoms show back up. I threw up this morning and have been having the burning sensations in my stomach/chest with the pressure. I am going to give it till Monday and if it hasn't gone away by then I will call and set up times for the test that they want to run. After running all over town today for Mady, my feet are hugely swollen, and I started bleeding bright red blood again. I am now trying to stay off my feet.Callie has been such a good big sister!!! I am so happy. She loves to get mommy things and hold Mady's paci in when she cries. She also loves to sing songs to her!I will update better now that most of this is behind me. Just loving being a new mommy again!!!

Madelyn Rose in the nursery getting all warmed up.

Big sister Callie so happy!!

Holding Mady for the first time.

1 week down in the hospital.....

*****Old post that I am now posting****

Today, it has been one week since I have been in the hospital. I don't know how much more of this that I can take. It is really taking a toll on my family especially my little Callie. She misses her mom so much, and it is so hard to make her understand what is going on and why mommy has to stay in the hospital. She loves to come see me and loves to go to the nursery to see all the new babies!! I think she is going to make a great big sister. I still have the PICC line (central line) in with the TPN. I am trying to start eating little bits of food here and there to see what happens, but so far no luck. It just makes me stomach start to cramp, severe heart burn, and chest pressure. I have also been feeling so hot! I have the thermostat on the lowest setting that it can go on plus they brought a fan in here.

Admitted to the hospital

I have been admitted to the hospital since Friday. I just now got my laptop so I can blog/journal my experience, so that I can remember this when I want to get pregnant again, lol!! Anyways, I haven't been able to keep any solid foods down since about 13 days ago. I was able to keep fluids down until this past tuesday. I had lost 4 lbs again in a week, and was just plain miserable. On Wednesday, I saw my doctor, and she put me on Reglan and told me to stop taking the zofran and phenergan. She wanted me to come back in two days on Friday. I did what I was told, but was still throwing up everything. She sent me from the doctors office straight to the hospital. They ran some labs and at first Mady's fetal heart strip wasn't looking good. After about 2 bags of fluids, Mady perked up some. My potassium was really low at 3, my glucose was low, and my WBC was elevated at 20,000. They went ahead and admitted me. I saw my doctor on Saturday morning, and since I was still not eating that we would give me a couple of days to see if I get any better and if not we would talk about an amniocentesis and possibly delivering Mady early. At the thought of having an amnio done, I tried to eat some solids on saturday. For lunch, I had some potato soup and half a sandwich. I immediately felt sick and nauseous, but did not throw up. I thought since I was getting my fluids through an IV that I was taking a turn for the better. For dinner, I had a pickle spear, chicken noodle soup, a piece of cucumber, and a bite of a tuna wrap. I started to get nauseous with the flushing, tachycardia, sweating, but still did not throw up. I went to bed and woke up at 4am throwing up what was left in my stomach and then some. It was so forceful again that I peed my pants again. I just wanted to die! Today, we talked to a high risk OB to see if he had any ideas of what could be going on. He is going to test for a whole bunch of rare stuff since I seem to have stumped everyone (paging Dr. House). He is going to test my blood tomorrow for some bacteria that starts with an H...pylori, my cortisol levels to see if my adrenal glands are functioning, thyroid levels, urine culture, and something else that I can't remember. They are also going to do a full OB ultrasound, BPP, and my doc is going to talk to me in the morning about the amnio and delivering early. Today, i haven't had a solid food, but I have had clear broth and some tea. I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday. Its weird that solid foods make me sick, but the fluids don't. Mady has had numerous NST's and she passes them all. Being in the hospital sucks!!! I can't imagine being stuck in here for months. I miss Callie, and she misses me! She saw me today. Today is also our 6th wedding anniversary. I will update tomorrow afternoon once we know more. I really think Mady has a better chance on the outside so that she can get her nutrition from milk since I can't give her any nutrition from me. There is a cute little 32 weeker (4.5lb) baby in the special care nursery here. I think this is God's way of telling me that Mady will be fine. I already know that she weighed 4lbs 12 ounces 3 weeks ago. We will find out her estimated weight tomorrow by the u/s. Still keep praying for us!

Sibling Class/Doc Update

Well, the sibling class didn't really go as expected. Callie has a FEAR of doctors/hospitals. I told her that we were going to class and that she equated that with going to school. As soon as the woman started the class, she said welcome to the hospital...this is where the doctors and nurses will take care of your mom and new sibling when they are born. That was all it took for Callie. She started crying and wanted to leave right away. There were about 8 other kids there that were being angels. The nurse wanted all the kids to sit in the floor at the front of the class so that they could "talk". Callie refused to do it unless i sat on the floor with her. Guess where my 8 1/2 month pregnant belly ended up?!? You guessed it. The floor. When Callie gets nervous, she has to go pee/poop. This is all she kept saying. I just took her to the potty before the class started. She was having some major gas attacks too. My poor nervous Callie. She wanted to sit in my lap and Mady kept kicking her. Finally, after another trip to the bathroom, Callie was handed a life size baby doll to hold. The nurse was trying to show her the proper way to hold a newborn. She refused to do it. She kept saying the baby was to big and her arms were too small. All the other kids were being perfect. Aaaccckkk!! We then took a tour of L&D rooms, post partum rooms, and they brought out a baby that was only 6 hours old for the kids to see. She started to do better as were walking around. I asked her if she was going to come see mommy while I was in the hospital, and she said that she would think about it!! I hope she does better to adjusting once Mady gets here.
I had my check up today. It didn't go over as usual. I lost 4 lbs in the last week...now I am down to -15lbs this pregnancy. BP was 122/74. Baby was measuring fine and HR was fine. She checked my cervix to make sure that it was close since I was having all the pressure and contractions. The cervix was closed, but she said that she could feel the baby's head right on the cervix. This is probably where the pressure and contractions are coming from. I on the other hand told her about all my nausea, vomiting, heartburn, not being able to keep down anything expect if i sip liquids, and diarrhea. I told her that I was taking the zofran and the phenergan and it wasn't helping any. She suggested gall bladder disease. She did the test where she presses on my gallbladder and I lift my leg and boy I about came up off the table in pain!! I didn't think anything at all about my gall bladder. She wants me to stop taking the zofran and phenergan and started me on reglan. I am to go back on friday to see if there is any change. If now, she wants to admit me to the hospital to run some test on my gall bladder and put me on some type of IV fluids. Can you have your gall bladder out while pregnant?!? This weekend is my 6th wedding anniversary so I am hoping that the meds work so that Phil and I can go out to dinner on sunday. I really hope I am not in the hospital this weekend. We will see how I feel friday.