Soooooo here's our story about Little Miss Madison's birth day:
On Tuesday, August 24, 2010, I began to notice my irregular Braxton-Hicks contractions become more regular and noticeably more painful. Around 8pm that evening I began timing my contractions to see if they were anywhere near regular enough to be real labor. They lasted for about a minute and were on average about 9-10 minutes apart for a good 4 hours. When I went to bed around midnight or so, I called Matt to let him know that my contractions were quite regular and quite painful. They'd gotten as close as 7 or 8 minutes apart at this point, so I saw it necessary to at least warn him. He asked me if I wanted him to come home and I said I wasn't sure. He said he'd go ahead and leave early so he could take me to the hospital if needed.
By the time Matt got home around 1am I was in the bathtub using the hot-ish water to soothe my contractions. Shortly after getting out of the bathtub I went to rest in the chaise lounge that's in our guest room, thinking it may give me a better angle so I can try and rest a little, and even better, maybe sleep a bit. This was a pipe dream. I could NOT get into a comfortable position. Matt decided to lay down for a little while with Abbigail who'd already fallen asleep in our bed. We both could foresee the long night/morning ahead of us.
I then moved from the chaise to the glider chair in our bedroom. This didn't help much and I found myself more comfortable standing and holding onto the side of the co-sleeper at my side of the bed. By this time, my contractions were now 5-6 minutes apart and insanely painful in my lower back. Sitting on the side of the bed it became most relieving (but still extremely painful) to use my fists for counter-pressure on my lower back through contractions. I decided to go ahead and call the midwife on-call to see if they wanted me to go ahead and head into the hospital. Nikki (Nicole Chesser, my assigned midwife) happened to be the midwife on-call. She asked if I was able to wait another hour to see how things go, and I said I'd give it another half hour or so. Their general rule they use for most of their patients is the "4-1-1" rule: wait until the contractions are 4 minutes apart, lasting for 1 minute, for at least an hour. When I hung up, no kidding, my next contraction was only 4 minutes 10 seconds after the last and every one after that was 2-4 minutes after the previous one. I called her back after about 4 more contractions and said we were heading in. She had no objection and said "Yes, please come in!"
Matt got our bags in the car and loaded Abby in her car seat. I worked my way down the stairs, grabbing a sweatshirt on the way (since it was quite chilly outside). The coolness of the air, to my relief, actually slowed the contractions down the next couple contractions. I sent a text to some family and friends on the way to the hospital and called our neighbor friend, Carmen to see if she could meet us at the hospital to stay with Abbigail. Carmen, being the trooper that she is, was able to work something out with her husband as to how to get the kids ready for school and such, and she took her little 5-month-old with her to the hospital to hang out with Abby for a while.
We got to the hospital around 5am, I got hooked up to check Madison's heart rate and my contractions, and I got hooked up to an IV for Penicillin since I tested positive for Group B Strep. (Giving me Penicillin helps to prevent transfer of Strep B to the baby). Nikki checked me and I was 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. Hooked up to the monitors, I had to stand by the side of the bed to breathe through contractions while Matt applied counter-pressure to my lower back. Nikki told me that Madison had weaseled her way around in my belly, putting her back against my back, and she was facing up (not ideal for labor). She suggested I try to get on all fours as much as possible to encourage Madison to flip back around so she'd face down. Her face-up position is what was giving me such bad back pains. At this point, Carmen arrived with her little baby, Tyler. Abbigail had woken up and was absorbing the action in the room from the sofa.
After about an hour or so of breathing through contractions Carmen took Abbigail out of the room so Nikki could check my progress. I was now 5cm dilated and 100% effaced. I asked if I could move to the tub in the bathroom until they got the birthing tub set up in the room. The warm water in the bathtub helped immensely with the contractions, and the slanted edge at my back was perfect for pressing my lower back against during contractions. After finishing my second bag of penicillin I was able to change into my swimsuit top to wear in the birthing tub.
When it was full, I was able to move to the birthing tub and work on finding a workable position. By this time another one of the midwives, Jessica, had come to relieve Nikki. Jessica and Matt helped me through contractions by applying pressure to my lower back. I constantly felt like I was just on the edge of losing control, but I held on and worked through the pain. As the contractions grew stronger I began to feel the urge to push. Jessica said to go ahead and push when I felt the need...that I would know. It was amazing to just listen to my body. She was right. I began pushing and shortly after that my water broke. It was a strange feeling. I remember when the doctor broke my water with Abby, but it was different this time. It was like a small explosion (quite graphic, I know, but that's what it felt like). Jessica then had me turn over to lean back so she could clear the cervix for Madison's head. After a number of hard pushes, she had me reach down to feel Madison's head. It was bizarre, but amazing! I flipped back over to my knees and continued pushing.
Quite quickly (or so it seemed to me), I could feel every movement, every bit of progression, and before I knew it, her head was out. A couple good, strong pushes later Madison's body slipped out. Jessica said, "pull your baby out". I reached down and pulled Madison out of the water. It all happened so fast, but I still remember it like it was in slow motion. When I pulled her out of the water, I held her up against my chest and looked into her beautiful eyes. She was so alert. She cried just a bit, but for that first hour or hour and a half she was wide awake and looking all over.
Overall, I enjoyed the water birth immensely. I am so happy I did it. It was everything I thought it would be. I just wish I didn't have such bad back labor. I did end up with one tear, requiring 3-4 stitches, but otherwise, all went well. I would suggest a water birth to anyone and everyone! It does take a lot to psyche a momma up to dealing with the pain, but that goes for any natural birth. As for the water part of it...it was amazing at helping with contractions. Hot baths have always helped me with cramping, so a water birth was a perfect option for me.
After all was said and done, Madison Lucille Grubbs was born on Wednesday, August 25, 2010 at 8:13 am, weighing 6 lbs 11.5 oz and measuring 19 inches long.
If you have any questions for me or are interested in water birth, feel free to email me at: maalemenow@hotmail.com .
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
The Waiting Game Begins Again...
So it's now Tuesday, August 10, 2010, and I am 39 weeks into this pregnancy. I've been having some intense contractions, but they are nowhere near actual labor contractions. I've been taking evening primrose oil for the last two weeks, and I'm hoping when we go to my midwife appointment tomorrow morning they will tell me that I'm effacing and dilating. We'll see.
Madison has been moving around, not huge jabs and such like she used to, but more shifty little scoots. Her bottom and back are still to the right side of my belly and we occasionally feel a foot in that area as well. Many times when her booty pooches up on my right side I feel a hand or something in my lower left belly, near my left hip. She can be so much fun. Matt enjoys playing with her in my belly, but he says he's ready to play with her outside my belly now. She still gets hiccups all the time, some so strong they jar my whole belly. She also has this strange thing she does where it looks like she's breathing IN my belly. I can hold my breathe, but see my belly move up and down like breathing. It's so bizarre.
Abby is so ready to be a big sister. She came upon me watching some water birth videos online and since then she loves watching babies be born in the water. She sometimes asks about Madison being born in the water. I tell her mommy's going to have Madison in the water at the hospital. About once a day for about the last week Abby's been asking if we're going to go to the hospital for baby Madison. I keep telling her that we want to, but it all depends on baby Madison. I tell her to tell Madison to come out of my belly and she's even gotten up to yelling at my belly, "Madison, you come out of mommy's belly....RIGHT NOW!" It's adorable, but...no matter who says it, this sweet baby of mine just won't listen.
While visiting with our neighbor friends Chris and Carmen last night, we were making some predictions. If ya'll would like to "weigh" in on this, just let us know and I'll add you to the list. Considering that Madison was estimated at 5 lbs 7 oz at my 36 week ultrasound, here's what we all came up with: (I am updating this list of guesses as people post their guess).
Chris M.: 6 lbs 9 oz
Carmen D.: 6 lbs 3 oz
Tamera B.: 7 lbs 2 oz
Deb M.: 6 lbs 9 oz
Pat C.: 7 lbs 10 oz
Nancy O.: 7 lbs 8 oz
Mindy T.: 8 lbs 3 oz
Linda G.: 7 lbs 9 oz
Beth B.: 6 lbs 15 oz
Matt: 6 lbs 13 oz
Me: I think somewhere between 6 1/2 - 7 lbs, but if I had to make a more accurate guess, it'd be...I guess...maybe 6 lbs 14 oz
These numbers may need adjusted if Madison takes her sweet time coming out. Only God knows when she'll make her appearance. Hopefully sooner rather than later! We're kinda hoping it doesn't happen this Friday the 13th, but...if it does, so be it. My brother is a 13th baby (not born ON a Friday, but it falls on it every so many years). All I want is to have my healthy baby girl...via a smooth labor and healthy delivery. That's all I ask.
Madison has been moving around, not huge jabs and such like she used to, but more shifty little scoots. Her bottom and back are still to the right side of my belly and we occasionally feel a foot in that area as well. Many times when her booty pooches up on my right side I feel a hand or something in my lower left belly, near my left hip. She can be so much fun. Matt enjoys playing with her in my belly, but he says he's ready to play with her outside my belly now. She still gets hiccups all the time, some so strong they jar my whole belly. She also has this strange thing she does where it looks like she's breathing IN my belly. I can hold my breathe, but see my belly move up and down like breathing. It's so bizarre.
Abby is so ready to be a big sister. She came upon me watching some water birth videos online and since then she loves watching babies be born in the water. She sometimes asks about Madison being born in the water. I tell her mommy's going to have Madison in the water at the hospital. About once a day for about the last week Abby's been asking if we're going to go to the hospital for baby Madison. I keep telling her that we want to, but it all depends on baby Madison. I tell her to tell Madison to come out of my belly and she's even gotten up to yelling at my belly, "Madison, you come out of mommy's belly....RIGHT NOW!" It's adorable, but...no matter who says it, this sweet baby of mine just won't listen.
While visiting with our neighbor friends Chris and Carmen last night, we were making some predictions. If ya'll would like to "weigh" in on this, just let us know and I'll add you to the list. Considering that Madison was estimated at 5 lbs 7 oz at my 36 week ultrasound, here's what we all came up with: (I am updating this list of guesses as people post their guess).
Chris M.: 6 lbs 9 oz
Carmen D.: 6 lbs 3 oz
Tamera B.: 7 lbs 2 oz
Deb M.: 6 lbs 9 oz
Pat C.: 7 lbs 10 oz
Nancy O.: 7 lbs 8 oz
Mindy T.: 8 lbs 3 oz
Linda G.: 7 lbs 9 oz
Beth B.: 6 lbs 15 oz
Matt: 6 lbs 13 oz
Me: I think somewhere between 6 1/2 - 7 lbs, but if I had to make a more accurate guess, it'd be...I guess...maybe 6 lbs 14 oz
These numbers may need adjusted if Madison takes her sweet time coming out. Only God knows when she'll make her appearance. Hopefully sooner rather than later! We're kinda hoping it doesn't happen this Friday the 13th, but...if it does, so be it. My brother is a 13th baby (not born ON a Friday, but it falls on it every so many years). All I want is to have my healthy baby girl...via a smooth labor and healthy delivery. That's all I ask.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
36 Week Ultrasound--20 July 2010
Yesterday we got our last ultrasound (at 36 weeks) on baby Madison. All went well and Madison is measuring in around 35 weeks, but perfectly healthy and in the 28th percentile. At our 32 week ultrasound, Madison was at the 19th percentile, so she's grown quite a bit and looks great! Her ultrasound measurements estimate her to weigh around 5 lbs 7 ounces so far--just perfect!
One awesome treat yesterday was our surprise when the ultrasound tech pulled out a different wand and began doing a 3-D ultrasound on our little girl. We didn't even know the hospital had the capabilities to do this! We got some awesome shots of Madison's face, despite her constantly putting her hand and foot in front of her face. She's already face down, and had a foot up by her face at our last ultrasound. That must be a comfortable position for her.
Matt, Abby and I cannot wait to meet Madison face-to-face. We were so excited to get such awesome pictures of our beautiful baby! Now we'll just wait and see when God has chosen to bring her to us. Enjoy the pics!
One awesome treat yesterday was our surprise when the ultrasound tech pulled out a different wand and began doing a 3-D ultrasound on our little girl. We didn't even know the hospital had the capabilities to do this! We got some awesome shots of Madison's face, despite her constantly putting her hand and foot in front of her face. She's already face down, and had a foot up by her face at our last ultrasound. That must be a comfortable position for her.
Matt, Abby and I cannot wait to meet Madison face-to-face. We were so excited to get such awesome pictures of our beautiful baby! Now we'll just wait and see when God has chosen to bring her to us. Enjoy the pics!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Pregnancy Update (for the curious at heart)
Today I am officially 33 weeks pregnant and every day I'm getting more and more ready to meet little Madison. This pregnancy has been so extremely different than my pregnancy with Abbigail, I thought I should record the differences on our family blog.
When I was pregnant with Abbigail, I pretty much had a picture perfect pregnancy. My fun pregnancy symptoms included: two small bouts of nausea at the very beginning, but no morning sickness; I had a few food aversions, but nothing life-altering; occasionally some minor constipation, hemorrhoids, swollen/sore breasts, and edema. This was pretty much the extent of my ailments during my first pregnancy.
This time around...things are SO different. Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, I began feeling exhausted all the time. I barely had any energy to do anything. Just drudging up our stairs wore me out. With the exhaustion I also got nauseated at every turn. I had close to no appetite, and lost a couple pounds right away. Thankfully, I never threw up. This is one symptom I have always been so thankful for NOT getting. My nausea did get quite horrible, though. It was to the point that just thinking of a certain food made me feel sick. Sometimes movement did the trick, too.
By my second trimester, I began having some light issues with hemorrhoids again and constipation. I did, however, get my appetite back around 5 months. As would make sense, the constipation got worse after my appetite came back. I did begin to get more energy, but my back began giving me issues right around the beginning of my second trimester. Not so much my back, but my pelvis. I've had this pinching pain just to the left of my spine just north of my tail bone for quite some time now, causing me loads of frustration. I tried a belt for my hip/lower back area, but that didn't seem to make any difference, in fact, my back hurt more after wearing it for long. I tried adjusting it, but Madison is so darn low, too, that it is just so uncomfortable. The last thing I need is to make myself more uncomfortable right now. Also in my second trimester I got the pleasure of experiencing heart burn for the first time in my life. Acid reflux actually had me paralyzed in pain for a day and a half over Easter weekend. After a late night trip to the emergency room and a nice GI cocktail, I go to feeling a little bit better and learned how seriously painful acid reflux can be. Since the I've been sleeping with a wedge under my head at night--not an easy task when not allowed to sleep on my back. Headaches also became a problem during my second trimester. One of my midwives actually said to drink some caffeine, so I did and, amazingly, it helped. I've since included little bits of caffeine in my diet when I felt necessary to ward off headaches...or as preventative maintenance against headaches, whereas with my first pregnancy I pretty much never drank caffeine because it would GIVE me a headache instead.
For the first two weeks of June we went on vacation back to Missouri and during this time I grew in size, weight, and discomfort. I'm not sure if it's because I was quite active while there, or because our sleeping arrangements were not the same as they were here in Colorado, but I got to add a number of symptoms to my list. Along with the pelvic pain I was blessed with a pain in my back, right ribs, just below my shoulder blade. I've wondered if this is from my sleeping at an angle for so long. I also began having issues with leg cramps at night. Multiple times a night, either or both of my calves would try to cramp up. After a week or so of this, the rest of my leg would want to cramp up as well because I was overusing it to flex my toes up every time my calf began to cramp (a trick that saved me from many full-on leg cramps). I also had MANY hip issues while in Missouri. I chalk this up to the bed we were staying on. At home in Colorado we have a pillow-top mattress. In Missouri we did not...traditional spring mattress with a not-so-soft top. My hips were sore every night and morning. After finally getting to sleep, my hip would begin to hurt, so I'd switch sides, in the process getting a Braxton-Hicks contraction, I'd breathe through that, then somehow get back to sleep, only to be awakened again by either a leg cramp, or my other hip hurting. Every time I'd try to get up out of bed I'd get a contraction and have to breathe through it while trudging down the stairs to the bathroom and back. It was a trip to say the least. Nearing the end of our stay in Missouri, I also began to notice edema--swelling in my feet.
Before we left for Missouri, I had my 1 hour glucose test and a call from the midwives on our way to Missouri said that my levels came back high and they needed me to take the 3 hour test when I returned. Just last week I tried to take the 3 hour test--I ate what they told me for three days prior, I fasted the night before, and after drinking a whole darn bottle of the orange glucola that morning, I was only able to keep it down for about 20-30 minutes before puking it all up. Needless to say, I had to reschedule. Next week is the redo and I'm going to try the lemon-lime glucola.
Since our return to Colorado, my hips aren't hurting like they did at night, but I do still have pelvic pain and back pain. The edema has gotten worse, but not quite to the extent that I remember it being in my last month with Abbigail. I'm sure it'll get there though. This time around it seems to be more prevalent in my legs as well, unlike with my prior pregnancy. The Braxton-Hicks contractions are still extremely uncomfortable and come quite often, but nothing regular yet. Madison is kicking and moving all the time. In fact, early this morning, while I was still somewhat asleep in bed, she startled the heck out of me by doing some sort of strange acrobatic feat in my belly. It actually almost hurt! I jumped! I'm still having issues with heartburn, constipation, hemorrhoids, leg cramps, overall aches and pains, and even swollen breasts. Of late, memory issues have clouded my thoughts, and I've begun to get tired again. If only I could sleep better I think the tiredness wouldn't be so bad, but...I'm sure I'll get back to better sleep sometime in the next 6-12 month. Ha! Hopefully!
As for what's been going on with Madison:
We had an ultrasound at 13 weeks and she was measuring around 12 weeks. Our 20 week ultrasound said she was measuring around 19 weeks. The doc had us return for another ultrasound at 24 weeks and she still measured small. On our way to Missouri, we got a call saying that the doc wanted another ultrasound around 32 weeks to check up on Madison's growth. A week after our return from Missouri, at 32 weeks we had our fourth ultrasound. This one showed her head circumference had improved and was measuring around 32 weeks, where it should be, but her arms and legs were measuring behind now. Her 24 week ultrasound put her in the 15th percentile, but her 32 week ultrasound put her in the 19th percentile. Doc said that if she were to drop to the 10th percentile or below, they'd be concerned about some sort of syndrome or something. BUT...she seems to be growing healthily now and she's moving like crazy all the time. I am NOT concerned. God is creating for us the baby He wants us to parent. Big or small, she's our child and we love her. The doc also said he'd like one last ultrasound at 36 weeks to make sure that she's still on her same growth curve. He said the reason they were concerned at all is because my blood screening came back with one elevated hormone (or whatever) that suggested possible growth restriction in the late third trimester. I wish I'd been told this before, because I'd wondered why they were so insistent on another ultrasound. No one told me about my blood screens. All I'd heard was that they were fine. So we look forward to seeing baby Madison en utero in a few weeks. Hopefully, she'll be at a good healthy weight for a 36 weeker and no one will be raising flags at us.
And so I finish here. I'm sure I'm forgetting something in here, and if I am, so be it. That's how it goes. It is so extremely true that every pregnancy is or can be different! NEVER expect them to be the same. I'm just hoping my little Madison is as good of baby as Abby was. She may be in her horrible threes now and testing us in every way possible, but...overall, Abbigail is a WONDERFUL child! I am so happy to be blessed with another child...our little Madison Lucille Grubbs...she's already so EXTREMELY loved! I am so excited to meet her! Although, I do have to say that I am more nervous this time around in anticipating Madison's arrival than I was waiting for Abby. I think that's because I'm going to have to somehow find the energy to parent a newborn AND a three year old at the same time! God brought us to this point...He won't just abandon us. He'll help us all the way! Thank You Lord!
When I was pregnant with Abbigail, I pretty much had a picture perfect pregnancy. My fun pregnancy symptoms included: two small bouts of nausea at the very beginning, but no morning sickness; I had a few food aversions, but nothing life-altering; occasionally some minor constipation, hemorrhoids, swollen/sore breasts, and edema. This was pretty much the extent of my ailments during my first pregnancy.
This time around...things are SO different. Shortly after I found out I was pregnant, I began feeling exhausted all the time. I barely had any energy to do anything. Just drudging up our stairs wore me out. With the exhaustion I also got nauseated at every turn. I had close to no appetite, and lost a couple pounds right away. Thankfully, I never threw up. This is one symptom I have always been so thankful for NOT getting. My nausea did get quite horrible, though. It was to the point that just thinking of a certain food made me feel sick. Sometimes movement did the trick, too.
By my second trimester, I began having some light issues with hemorrhoids again and constipation. I did, however, get my appetite back around 5 months. As would make sense, the constipation got worse after my appetite came back. I did begin to get more energy, but my back began giving me issues right around the beginning of my second trimester. Not so much my back, but my pelvis. I've had this pinching pain just to the left of my spine just north of my tail bone for quite some time now, causing me loads of frustration. I tried a belt for my hip/lower back area, but that didn't seem to make any difference, in fact, my back hurt more after wearing it for long. I tried adjusting it, but Madison is so darn low, too, that it is just so uncomfortable. The last thing I need is to make myself more uncomfortable right now. Also in my second trimester I got the pleasure of experiencing heart burn for the first time in my life. Acid reflux actually had me paralyzed in pain for a day and a half over Easter weekend. After a late night trip to the emergency room and a nice GI cocktail, I go to feeling a little bit better and learned how seriously painful acid reflux can be. Since the I've been sleeping with a wedge under my head at night--not an easy task when not allowed to sleep on my back. Headaches also became a problem during my second trimester. One of my midwives actually said to drink some caffeine, so I did and, amazingly, it helped. I've since included little bits of caffeine in my diet when I felt necessary to ward off headaches...or as preventative maintenance against headaches, whereas with my first pregnancy I pretty much never drank caffeine because it would GIVE me a headache instead.
For the first two weeks of June we went on vacation back to Missouri and during this time I grew in size, weight, and discomfort. I'm not sure if it's because I was quite active while there, or because our sleeping arrangements were not the same as they were here in Colorado, but I got to add a number of symptoms to my list. Along with the pelvic pain I was blessed with a pain in my back, right ribs, just below my shoulder blade. I've wondered if this is from my sleeping at an angle for so long. I also began having issues with leg cramps at night. Multiple times a night, either or both of my calves would try to cramp up. After a week or so of this, the rest of my leg would want to cramp up as well because I was overusing it to flex my toes up every time my calf began to cramp (a trick that saved me from many full-on leg cramps). I also had MANY hip issues while in Missouri. I chalk this up to the bed we were staying on. At home in Colorado we have a pillow-top mattress. In Missouri we did not...traditional spring mattress with a not-so-soft top. My hips were sore every night and morning. After finally getting to sleep, my hip would begin to hurt, so I'd switch sides, in the process getting a Braxton-Hicks contraction, I'd breathe through that, then somehow get back to sleep, only to be awakened again by either a leg cramp, or my other hip hurting. Every time I'd try to get up out of bed I'd get a contraction and have to breathe through it while trudging down the stairs to the bathroom and back. It was a trip to say the least. Nearing the end of our stay in Missouri, I also began to notice edema--swelling in my feet.
Before we left for Missouri, I had my 1 hour glucose test and a call from the midwives on our way to Missouri said that my levels came back high and they needed me to take the 3 hour test when I returned. Just last week I tried to take the 3 hour test--I ate what they told me for three days prior, I fasted the night before, and after drinking a whole darn bottle of the orange glucola that morning, I was only able to keep it down for about 20-30 minutes before puking it all up. Needless to say, I had to reschedule. Next week is the redo and I'm going to try the lemon-lime glucola.
Since our return to Colorado, my hips aren't hurting like they did at night, but I do still have pelvic pain and back pain. The edema has gotten worse, but not quite to the extent that I remember it being in my last month with Abbigail. I'm sure it'll get there though. This time around it seems to be more prevalent in my legs as well, unlike with my prior pregnancy. The Braxton-Hicks contractions are still extremely uncomfortable and come quite often, but nothing regular yet. Madison is kicking and moving all the time. In fact, early this morning, while I was still somewhat asleep in bed, she startled the heck out of me by doing some sort of strange acrobatic feat in my belly. It actually almost hurt! I jumped! I'm still having issues with heartburn, constipation, hemorrhoids, leg cramps, overall aches and pains, and even swollen breasts. Of late, memory issues have clouded my thoughts, and I've begun to get tired again. If only I could sleep better I think the tiredness wouldn't be so bad, but...I'm sure I'll get back to better sleep sometime in the next 6-12 month. Ha! Hopefully!
As for what's been going on with Madison:
We had an ultrasound at 13 weeks and she was measuring around 12 weeks. Our 20 week ultrasound said she was measuring around 19 weeks. The doc had us return for another ultrasound at 24 weeks and she still measured small. On our way to Missouri, we got a call saying that the doc wanted another ultrasound around 32 weeks to check up on Madison's growth. A week after our return from Missouri, at 32 weeks we had our fourth ultrasound. This one showed her head circumference had improved and was measuring around 32 weeks, where it should be, but her arms and legs were measuring behind now. Her 24 week ultrasound put her in the 15th percentile, but her 32 week ultrasound put her in the 19th percentile. Doc said that if she were to drop to the 10th percentile or below, they'd be concerned about some sort of syndrome or something. BUT...she seems to be growing healthily now and she's moving like crazy all the time. I am NOT concerned. God is creating for us the baby He wants us to parent. Big or small, she's our child and we love her. The doc also said he'd like one last ultrasound at 36 weeks to make sure that she's still on her same growth curve. He said the reason they were concerned at all is because my blood screening came back with one elevated hormone (or whatever) that suggested possible growth restriction in the late third trimester. I wish I'd been told this before, because I'd wondered why they were so insistent on another ultrasound. No one told me about my blood screens. All I'd heard was that they were fine. So we look forward to seeing baby Madison en utero in a few weeks. Hopefully, she'll be at a good healthy weight for a 36 weeker and no one will be raising flags at us.
And so I finish here. I'm sure I'm forgetting something in here, and if I am, so be it. That's how it goes. It is so extremely true that every pregnancy is or can be different! NEVER expect them to be the same. I'm just hoping my little Madison is as good of baby as Abby was. She may be in her horrible threes now and testing us in every way possible, but...overall, Abbigail is a WONDERFUL child! I am so happy to be blessed with another child...our little Madison Lucille Grubbs...she's already so EXTREMELY loved! I am so excited to meet her! Although, I do have to say that I am more nervous this time around in anticipating Madison's arrival than I was waiting for Abby. I think that's because I'm going to have to somehow find the energy to parent a newborn AND a three year old at the same time! God brought us to this point...He won't just abandon us. He'll help us all the way! Thank You Lord!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Madison Lucille at 32 weeks
Here are a couple of pictures of our little Madison at 32 weeks. A profile of her face and a face shot. While admiring her profile during the ultrasound, we traced her "hand" (the pancake-looking thing just above her forehead) back to its source and found out it was actually her FOOT! She had her foot stretched all the way up in front of her face! We also noticed when viewing her facial movements from the front that she seems to have some full lips! We'll have to wait and see if this is true, but wow! What a beauty! Enjoy!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
A Homemade Princess Dress for Abby
Last night I got in the mood to do something with some fabric squares that I got at Hobby Lobby earlier this week for Abby, so I got the fabric together and whipped up a simple pattern for a play dress (or as Abby would call it, a princess dress). Abby actually picked out the fabric. It's got different princess patterns on the different fabrics. Some with crowns, some with glass slippers, and some with princesses, carriages, and castles, as well as a couple solid fabrics. I finished the dress this morning and Abby tried it on. It looks wonderful and fits great on her. She really is such a little princess. It was awesome after I put the dress on her and let her sport it around a bit, she ran over to me giggling, then hugged me, saying "Abby happy". Soooo darn cute.
Fabric: $9.99 Thread: $3.99 Buttons: $0.90..............Abby saying she's happy.....PRICELESS.
Let's go fly a kite...
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