Whew! What A Month!!

Matt and I are proud to announce that we have had our beautiful little girl! Madilynn Michelle Midkiff was born on 07/09/09 at 7:01am. She weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces at birth and was 18 1/2 inches long.

I went to the perinatologist on the 8th for an ultrasound to check on Madilynn's growth and my amniotic fluid. We discovered that my fluid had dropped from 7.5 cms to 6cms in less than a week. Madilynn was also still only measuring at 34.4 weeks, so the doctor said "Time to go have a baby!"

I was in complete shock when she uttered those words. Not only was I not expecting to go to the hospital after my ultrasound, but I was completely unprepared and STARVING! The doctor said I was not allowed to eat before going to the hospital because they wanted to begin the induction immediately. I called Matt and let him know and off I went!

I got started on pitocin at about 3:00pm. I was already 1cm dilated and about 20% effaced. After 4 hours of pitocin I had progressed to 2-3cm and 70% effaced. The doctor broke my water and stripped my membranes at about 7 hours into the labor (10pm). I labored naturally with the pitocin until about 2am when the contractions were coming back to back and I could no longer handle them. I asked for demerol and it helped momentarily. Madilynn started having a hard time handling the contractions (as was I!) and her heartrate kept dropping to 40bpm with each contraction...the doctor came in and said that the way things were going now we were headed for a C-Section. I desperately did not want to have a c-section but decided that if it became necessary I would rather have an epidural than a spinal tap so I asked for the epi. The anesthesiologist was in a c-section already and couldn't come right away. The doctor decided to try an amniotic flush to see if that helped with the issues that Madilynn was having with the contractions and it most certainly did. After about 10 minutes of the flush Madi's heart rate stopped dropping so drastically with each contraction. What a relief!

After I got the epidural (at about 3-4am) I passed out. I woke up around 6:30 and told the nurse that I felt like the epi was wearing off because my back hurt & she said "Oh well let me check you." This was immediately followed by "Oh my!! That's it, time for baby!" Matt (who slept through the entire labor) had to get woken up for go-time. We kicked everyone out of the room and did ONE practice push. Doctor Pehr was called and once he got in we pushed through 3 contractions (about 5 minutes) and Madilynn was born!

It was a beautiful and amazing experience and we couldn't have been more thrilled.

Madilynn weighed 4lb 14oz when we were released from the hospital. Breastfeeding was horrible at first, but things are easy as pie now! At Madi's 4 day old pedi appointment she weighed 5lb 3oz. At her two week appointment she weighed 5lb 13 1/2 oz and she was 19 1/8 inches long.

She is a great baby. She slept 5 hours when we first brought her home but we had to change up her sleep schedule in order to get her to gain weight. She sleeps about 2-3 hours at a time now because of it.

Needless to say, we are completely exhausted most days but being a parent is amazing and I wouldn't change it for the world. Matt loves his daughter more than anything in the world & it has definitely changed our relationship with each other for the better. We are truly enjoying our new family!

July 4th Update

Well, the last week didn't go nearly as well as we had planned it to.

Madilynn's results came back from her ultrasound on Monday and they weren't nearly as good as we had hoped they would be. The doctor is concerned about Madi's size and her fluid levels are low too. He didn't seem to be too worried about it on Monday afternoon but said we would schedule an ultrasound for the 10th or so.

On Wednesday night I started having real difficulty breathing. After about two hours I felt like I could get literally NO oxygen and Matt had to rush me to the ER. Upon arrival my pulse was 154 and my BP was 117/78 (100/60 is my norm). The triage staff immediately admitted me to the hospital to run a series of tests. I had oxygen and an EKG, etc...it was terrifying. They could do a chest x-ray because of Madi so they had to do alternative testing...it all came back inconclusive. The hospital did another ultrasound on Madilynn early Thursday morning and also did one on my legs to check for blood clots (they were initally concerned with pulmonary embolism). The ultrasound on my legs came back clean, so they decided to send me home. About two hours before they were getting ready to discharge me my fever shot up to 102. After giving me Tylenol they decided to keep me another night. My fever got as high as 103 and would not go down no matter how much medicine they gave me. I was terrified, and Madilynn wasn't handling it well. Her heart rate was skyrocketing to 200bpm (it's normally 150). Things weren't going too well for either of us.

Eventually my fever went down to about 99.6 and they sent me home with a z-pack and no diagnosis.

Madilynn's secondary ultrasound came back with not such good news either. Her growth seems to have completely stopped. At her last ultrasound she measured 34 weeks 5 days, and this ultrasound shows that she is still measuring 34 weeks 5 days. Her weight actually dropped from 5lbs 8oz to 5lbs 4oz. My AFI is still 7.6.

Monday we will be discussing an induction or c-section with the doctor due to this new news...please keep Madilynn in your prayers.

36 Week Appointment

This morning we had our '36 week' doctor's appointment. He didn't really do anything besides listen to Madi's heartbeat and ask us if we had any questions...but we don't. Haha.

On Friday (the 26th) we had our final ultrasound at the Center for Medical Genetics downtown. I love that place! The ultrasound tech showed us all of Madilynn's little body parts and where they are positioned. They estimated her weight at 5lbs 8oz as of right now. If I end up (by some miracle) carrying her all the way until July 25th, she would weigh almost 8lbs! So send lots of labor dust my way so that we can get her to make an appearance sooner rather than later.

The ultrasound confirmed that Madilynn is totally and completely head down. She has dropped as far as she can drop until it is time to make an entrance -- so it's all just a big waiting game right now.

Everyone keeps saying it's going to be soon though, even the ultrasound tech. She said "Well I don't see you making it much further...less than two weeks?" So that means that by July 10th I could be holding my beautiful little girl!

I will post new pictures on Friday...I need to put updated pictures of Matt & Summer too!

Wow, It Has Been A While!

I guess I really should have kept this blog up to date...Haha. Needless to say, Matt and I have been incredibly busy preparing for Madilynn.

We got married on March 21st and everything is going wonderfully for the two (almost three!) of us. I don't have any pictures of the wedding to upload, but you can view the entire gallery by going to http://www.photo-artistry.smugmug.com/

Here is a 24 week belly picture!

Here is a 35 week belly picture!

We are closing in on our 36th week of pregnancy and the doctor seems to think it is only a matter of time before Madilynn makes her big debut. She is head down and engaged against my cervix...but no dilation or effacement as of the 22nd. The doctor seems to think that as soon as my cervix softens she's just going to come shooting right out. Haha.

We had a beautiful and wonderful baby shower on June 14th. It was such a great suprise and we got a lot of really awesome things for our new family. Matt and I had such a great time with all of our family & friends. We got to play a lot of the cheesy baby shower games, and loved every minute of it!

And of course, Baby Madilynn at 28 weeks 3d/4d ultrasound!

March 2nd Dr's Appointment

Everything looks great with little Madi. The doctor said that I'm growing just fine, my stomach looks good & that my weight gain (all 2 lbs of it) is ok.

I updated our registry at Target today to get ready for Madilynn. Matt & I are going to start buying a few things off of it so that we can get ready. I don't know if or when we will have a baby shower, but I don't want to be caught off guard and need 10,000 things when it's time to rush to the ER.

In case you were looking for it -- registry # 014399700416329.

It's under my maiden name & Matt's last name. Madilynn Michelle!

We registered at Southwest today. Feels great knowing I'm 1/2 done & my baby girl is healthy. This time next month she will officially be considered "viable outside the uterus." Just in case anything happens, that will make me feel secure.

19 Week Update

Here is my big ol belly at 19 weeks. It seems to be less round now, just looks like I've been eating too much. I'm up 1 lb from last week, but still down one from my pre-pregnancy weight.



Madilynn has been moving a lot lately, which is a great feeling. Matt also felt her move for the first time on Thursday night. It was just one tiny little thump, but it was enough to brighten both of our faces. We're so happy to have this little blessing!

Monday we have another doctor's appointment with Dr. Pehr. We also have our big 20 week ultrasound on Friday. We took the whole day off to rejoice & also to go get our marriage license. Haha. The wedding is just around the corner, and we couldn't be happier.

We're moving this weekend to our new apartment, wish us luck!

Love you all!
Matt & Cheryl

Quick 18 Week Update

Here is my 18 week belly picture.

As you can tell, I've definitely popped. My belly is twice the size it has ever been, and I couldn't love it any more! Madilynn is moving around like crazy inside and I can feel her all the time. I swear she even kicked hard enough Matt would've felt it. She's quite active at night, but during the day I think the lull of me working and moving around keeps her sleeping peacefully.

The wedding is in less than a month & we are completely done planning. I am so excited to walk down the aisle, and I know Matt shares my excitement. We can't wait to have our wedding so that we can be officially Mr & Mrs.

We are moving this weekend as well. We are transferring within the same apartment complex to a bigger 2 bedroom, 2.5 bath apartment. The apartment has 1600 sq ft & 3 balcony's! We are incredibly excited to get all moved in.

Other than that, not much else is going on. Matt has a virus or cold right now & he's just trying to nurse himself back to health. Summer is doing wonderfully & I am (as always!) happily pregnant.

I also finally gained 1 pound. YAY!

Summer, Our Mastador

Here is a picture of our beautiful mastador, Summer. For those who don't know, a mastador is a mixture of a mastive & a labrador. She is supposed to be about 85lbs...but she doesn't know that. She thinks she is just a little bitty lap dog. So far we have had no problems training her. She is a great listener & even more loving than you could imagine.

The best part about her is that she was born on Dec 7, 2008. She is just one day shy of sharing Matt's birthday!

16 Week Pregnancy Post

IT'S A GIRL!!

We got our gender confirmation ultrasound done and she is most definitely a girl (as you can tell from the ultrasound above). We are incredibly excited & all our original hopes for a boy are out the window. We will try again in 2010 for a baby boy, but for right now, it couldn't be any better. We have finally picked a name for her too -- Madilynn Michelle Midkiff. We might change up the spelling later to Madylynn Michelle Midkiff, but we will see. I hope everyone loves it!



Here is another picture of our beautiful Madi at 16 weeks. We can't believe how fast she is growing. I hope everything is going well inside! This pregnancy thing is amazing. Being a mother is amazing.




Here is a picture of my 16 week baby belly. As you can tell it's slowly expanding! I still haven't gained a pound though. I'm actually at -2 from my pre-pregnancy weight...haha. Matt & I aren't too concerned with it yet since the doctor didn't seem too worried. We registered for all of our baby classes & bought first things for baby too!

12 Week Pregnancy Post

Here is our beautiful baby at 12 weeks. We went to the Center for Medical Genetics in Downtown Houston & let me tell you, this place is A-MAHHHH-ZING! The staff at the CMD are wonderful. They are respectful & courteous and they genuinely seem to care about their patients. It's beautiful. I couldn't have asked for a better place to go get our Nural Transluchency testing done. We felt so lucky! Plus, they offered free Jack or Jill (gender determination) with our testing!



Just another shot of our beautiful baby!



Here is my 12 week belly picture. I'm still mostly just bloated, but it seems like my stomach might be starting to round out!