My baby turned 2 today! I still can’t believe it. By the time Brevan was 2, he had a 6 month old sister and a couple months later I was pregnant with Madi. With Sydney, Madi was born 3 months after she turned one! It feels weird to have had this time! But, I love getting to know her, and sometimes wish I would have had this much time with the other 2. I love them so much and there is so much to learn about them!
I realized as I went back through these posts, that I had never told Madi’s story before! So, since I want it recorded, I will tell it now! If you don’t want to read a long story… just scroll to the pictures at the bottom!! :)
Madi was my hardest pregnancy, and my hardest birth… but, so far she has been my easiest child! Knock on wood! I really hope she stays that way.
I found out I was pregnant with Madisyn at the end of August 2007. I made an appointment to be checked. When they did the ultrasound though… they couldn’t hear her heartbeat. We thought that I was 10 weeks along, but when they couldn’t find the heartbeat they thought I might not be so far along. So, they told me to come back in a week and they would check it again. When I came back in a week later though, they still couldn’t find the heartbeat. I remember thinking for sure that she was dead. That my baby had died. They scheduled us for an ultrasound, and I remember crying as they made the appointment because they couldn’t get us in for a couple days and I was scared out of my mind.
As I lay in bed the night before the ultrasound, Brett asked me what I thought. And, my first thought was that she was dead.
Let me go back to the day I found out I was pregnant. I took the test and started to cry like I never have before! Not because I didn’t want another baby… but because I was scared I wouldn’t be a good mom to another baby at that point in my life. I had a little boy that had just turned 2 and a daughter that wasn’t even one yet. I here I was expecting my third… I was literally scared to death. So when we couldn’t hear the heartbeat, I thought I had somehow killed her with my thinking. That my bad thoughts and being scared were bad and that my baby dying was a punishment somehow! Now, I know Heavenly Father doesn’t work that way, but this scare turned out to be a good thing.
We went in to the ultrasound, and when we heard and saw her heartbeat, I cried for the pure joy of it! I couldn’t believe she was okay, because I had already decided that she wasn’t! She was fine though. I just wasn’t as far along as we had thought. We were about a week behind. She was thankfully okay!!
But, her problems didn’t end there. During the ultrasound, they found that the placenta was placed low in the uterus and could be covering the birth canal, especially as it grew. They also found some blood clots. Because of this I had to have another ultrasound a few weeks later to make sure they were gone. The placenta they would just watch throughout the pregnancy to make sure it didn’t tear away early. If it did cover the opening, I would have to be very careful, and I would have to have a c-section. So, we made another appointment for another ultrasound at about 15 weeks.
While we were there, I noticed that the technician was kind of quiet and kept going back to something a few times. So I asked her what was wrong. She told me that she thought she saw something called an amniotic band, but the radiologist would have to look at it and then Dixie, my doctor, would call us and let us know. I asked her what an amniotic band was, and she explained that it was tissue that stretched across the uterus and could get caught around an ear, hand, foot, or… you get the idea. As we waited for the doctor to call, we were once again worried out of our mind. The appointment couldn’t come soon enough!
The technician was right, there was a small amniotic band across the bottom of the uterus. They sometime go away on their own though, and Dixie wanted us to wait until our 20 week ultrasound to see if it was still there. If it was, then it needed to be looked at more closely by a specialist up north. If left untended, the band could get caught on an arm, leg, ear, nose, etc. The good new was that the blood clots were gone, and that the placenta wasn’t covering anything yet!
So once again, we waited and then went into our 20 week appointment. This whole pregnancy so far had been nervewracking, so it was just normal being very nervous for this appointment! We were excited to find out it was another girl, but disappointed to find that there was still an amniotic band and we needed to see the specialist up north! But, everything else looked great. She was healthy as could be, the placenta was placed high enough to not be a worry anymore. So, we just had to find out about the band.
We once again found ourselves making another appointment for a ultrasound… just this time with a specialist.
We made it to the appointment and were once again scared and nervous. I was shaking the whole time not knowing what to expect. A technician came and did the ultrasound, except the whole time she hardly said a word. If I asked anything, she just said the doctor would answer it. I knew what she was doing, but it was hard to not know anything.
The doctor finally came in, she started to look through things, and then she said the most unexpected thing. The band was gone! *Shock* I couldn’t believe it. There was nothing there… just a completely healthy baby and a completely normal uterus! We were so relieved. I’m sure I cried a little… I don’t really remember much other than just being so glad that everything was fine! And, that is how the rest of the pregnancy went… completely normal and fine! :)
So, at my 38 week appointment, I asked the doctor to strip my membranes. She did… it didn’t work (I was hoping it would like it did with Sydney, 2 weeks early). 39 weeks came… I asked her again, she did… and nothing by the time we left the appointment. I didn’t think it was going to work. But, middle of the afternoon, I started to have some contractions. The were about 10 minutes apart and stayed that way all afternoon. At about 10 o’clock that night though, they stopped. I was so disappointed. I had thought she was going to come! So, I called off my babysitters and told them it wouldn’t be happening that night. Well, she proved me wrong. At about 1 o’clock in the morning, I woke up with contractions again. They were only about 8 minutes apart though, so I didn’t worry about it. I just tried to sleep some more. At about 3 o’clock I woke up and they were about 5-6 minutes apart. I figured I better get up and get some things ready to go. But, as soon as I did that, the contractions started coming a lot faster! Like 3 minutes apart. I called my mom and told her to hurry. Then as soon as she got here we headed to the hospital.
I called them on the way there and told them I was about 2 minutes apart and could they call Dixie. I got there, and I had 3 or 4 contractions just walking down the hall from the emergency room to the labor and delivery rooms. I started throwing up as soon as we got into the room and they told me they had to check me first before they would call Dixie. And, then I would have to wait for her. They checked me, and I was an 8 1/2 if I remember right. I was too far along for pain medicine… and they couldn’t guarantee the anesthesiologist would be there in time to give me an epidural, I opted to do it natural. I had wanted to, but didn’t know if I could make it. This time, I really didn’t have much of a choice. When they finally called Dixie, they told her to hurry. I was pretty much ready to deliver, I was just waiting on the doctor.
So, they put me in the bath to try and slow things down a little until she got there. She walked in, came and checked me, and we had just a little further to go. So after a couple more contractions… I needed to push. This was around 4 o’clock. I was ready to push, and I did push. Turns out she was posterior (face up, instead of down). It makes for some awful labor. She was pushing on my back and it hurt like nothing I have ever felt before. She was having a hard time coming out, and was pretty much stuck. Her heartbeat was dropping, and I was getting worried. I remember yelling at Dixie to, “just get her out!” I’m sure I told her to use the vacuum or the forceps, just get her out of me! And, finally, at 5:08 (yes, just like that George Strait song), she was born. She was struggling a little with her breathing, so they had to bring in the respiratory therapist… but she was here, and she was fine.
She was beautiful, and I was a wreck. I was so worried about her, and I hurt like I never had before. They think she cracked my tailbone as she was coming through the birth canal. I completely agree since I hurt for about 2 1/2 months after!
I was so glad she was here though. She was, and is, so special to us. We wanted her, and she was our little miracle. And, she has been since!
She is always making us laugh! She is the happiest little girl. She loves to sing, dance, play outside, ride her “yee-haw,” play with her toys, books, and brother and sister. She loves ice cream and could seriously eat a whole carton! She makes me smile everyday… I don’t know what our lives would be like without her. So, on this special day, I like to make sure that I really thank my Heavenly Father for her. For knowing what I needed when I really was just scared to death. And, for teaching me that He knows all, and that I just need to have faith that He does understand. I am truly grateful for that.
Madi and her “yee-haw,” as she calls it now!
I’ll post about her party later… but isn’t she a cutie!! We all love her so much!
