How was Everyone's Thanksgiving?

I spent mine in Boston, eating all the foods and enjoyed every minute of it!
Ended up Black Friday shopping, no not at 5AM more like 11 so it wasn't as bad but I was surprised there weren't better sales.

Fast forward to today. I have my NT scan. Last I saw baby (last week) I was measuring 4 days ahead. When I should've been 9 weeks 6 days I was measuring 10 weeks 3 days...so let's see if that's what the trend will be today.

This scan measures the fluid behind the next to make sure baby doesn't appear to have Down Syndrome or any other abnormalities. I'm excited to see baby and how much change there is in a week.

Due to my history I've been thinking A LOT about my cervix and clerclages. I finally have my MFM appointment December 19th so we will definitley be going over that. If we move on it and not go with the "wait and see approach" I want to bring up having a TAC (trans abdominal cerclage) done rather than a TVC (transvaginal cerclage).

From what I've read when you have a TAC you shouldn't have any limitations or be put on bed rest and in my situation would be the best for me. I should be a few days into my 12th week at that appointment so baby should still be small enough to have that done.

My ultimate goal is to avoid another preemie at all costs, I would love nothing more than a healthy term baby.

Over 12 and 24

Miss Madison is now well over 12 pounds and is now two feet long. I can't believe how big shes gotten. I was just watching a video I took of her when she was just two weeks old. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFH3XuBgZsY if you'd like to watch. What are all of your plans for Memorial Day? My parents, husband , Madison and I will be heading to Boston (no not a surgery) to go to the Sea Aquarium. I can't wait to see the little penguins and how she reacts to things.

The day is here.

Tonight was interesting to say the least. We stayed in the parents sleep "suites?" They weren't very sweet. The room was the size of a closet and a half with a twin bed to share and a nightstand. There was no personal bathroom just literally a room. But anyways Madison was cute :) so after no sleep and tossing and turning and getting up to go to the bathroom at 6:00A after maybe falling asleep around 2AM I get all call from her nurse around 7:35AM saying they will be taking her in for surgery for 8AM. So we rush down there everyone is doing their thing to her and we didn't even get to visit...which was the whole point of us going down there so quick...was very irritating. So they got her all set she went in and was out a little over and hour later. They said everything went well and she did good. So now we are waiting to see her.

Today it happened...

Today, 38 days old before getting moved into the portable incubator.

...i watched as Madison was unplugged, switched to the transportable incubator. I watched as they disconnected her from her vent and oxygen as the rushed to try and hook her back up, but the piping was too short so they had to bag her for a few seconds and I started tearing up. In no time they had her all hooked up again and things were cool. It was right then I decided I wanted to be there with her tonight if I could. It all comes down to the hospital having a room for us tonight with their "one bed" bull. Just a night wouldn't then we would go to the hotel the next two nights. So they took her away and by the time we left the NICU so was nowhere to be found. The nurse I LOVE said when ever she goes to Boston I will go with her (so very sweet of her). She is having surgery and will be out for a couple months so she didn't even need to come in and do this but she did. So we started driving out of the hospital and saw the ambulance she is in start to take off and I started crying a bit not so much as balling but when your eyes start to water and tears fall...that kind of thing. I hurt not being there : /

For those of you who always wondered "What does this Madison look like anyway? Here are a few photos from the beginning until now.

August 19th, 5 hours after birth midnight August 20th

9 days old

12 days old

2 weeks

3 weeks

4 weeks 5 days

 





Everything changes last minute.

Today is the second time we've had to change our hotel arrangements. First was because we didn't have the the $500+ to pay to stay in a hotel for a week in Boston, to be with Madison. That is every penny we have. So we lowered it to two nights which comes to about $270 and that is a half hour from Boston. The next change was today. We were told yesterday she might not go to Boston on Sunday because they changed the minds about it because of her belly and all that then they got a call from the hospital saying they have no beds. So instead of going up Monday a day after she is there we will go up Tuesday because she is now "supposed" to go Monday but again that can all change again. Another thing that aggravates me, your a "children's" hospital and have a place for parents to stay but can't guarantee the room and the room only has one bed for one of the parents to sleep on...seriously? AND there are near by hotels with a reduced rate for parents/families to stay at but the rooms still even then are $200/night...ridiculous. So now I can only stay a couple nights a half hour away from her because the hospital doesn't have the right set up or can for sure say we have a room. The social worker even called yesterday and was like yeah we had to give your room away, boy was I glad I decided we weren't going up the day she will be going up. This whole thing is really just a big mess. If it were up to me I'd say leave her here until her belly is under control and send her when she is a bit bigger, but really what do I know...

Off to Boston we go.

It is official Madison will be headed to Boston for her surgery and my husband and I will follow. Supposedly we can stay at the hospital which is good that way we can be with her. She looked to beautiful when we saw her yesterday. We saw so much of her eyes this time and for quite the while.I took one of the best pictures "with my phone" unfortunately...which I could have used my Canon without blinding her with the flash BUT those days will come. My husband changed her diaper this time...was funny to watch. He fed her a bit of colostrum and I fed her the other half...it was weird when I was feeding her, her eyes were open this time and she was looking at me...I never had that before. When the nurse was doing things and getting her situated she was crying :( but without sound because the tube is between her vocal cords...still sad to see. I saw her belly and to my husband and I it looks terrible...to the nurses its a tad bit better? I don't know I just hope the color gets back to normal and it comes down to a more normal size...she has no belly button because of how much it sticks out. But she is more stable now it seems to the meds for the infections seem to be working. There hasn't been a positive blood culture since the 12th. She can tolerate handling better. Her respitory settings are lower than before. Now they seem to be in the 20s and 30s. We are hoping after this surgery she will start to eat and handle it well.