Madison's Blessing

       

We blessed Madison at the Ame's house in Idaho Falls.  I was going to put her in my baby blessing dress, but it wasn't very flattering as she looked like a pioneer baby.  Also, her neck was a bit big for the dress while the bloomers were huge on her.  Good thing I brought a spare dress.  Instead she wore a dress someone made for me when I was a baby.  We were lucky that one fit, or else she would have been blessed in her diaper and headband.  The plan was to bless Madison today and have Richard and Camille's baby girl, Hazel, blessed tomorrow in Pocatello.  This way my parents would only have to make one trip for two blessings.  Unfortunately Hazel's blessing had to be postponed for a while.  Tyler pronounced the blessing on Madison.  My dad taped it, so we have a recording on our computer.  I have a copy of my setting apart as a missionary thanks to my dad also taping that.  I'm sure Madison will love to read her blessing in the future.  After the blessing we ate a delicious dinner, which Lynn made--lasagna (from scratch), salad, garlic bread, and this apple dessert.  Then everyone chatted for a while.  Apparently Jackson stole the hearts of all my sisters and my family spent the whole drive to Pocatello talking about Jackson's bucket list. 

Uncle Jacob loves his pictures with the nieces and nephews.  Guy just got a soft heart, I guess.

Our Second Christmas

Tyler is always excited to start pulling out the Christmas decorations.  Last year we began in early November.  This year we started decorating on Tyler's birthday as it was what he wanted.

Tyler fixed the bottom of the snow globe so that it rotates once again.

I bought this nativity the day I was induced.  I have been eyeing it for years and decided to purchase it before I knew how much having a baby would cost.  I was afraid I would rationalize that I couldn't afford it after Madison was born.  I also locked myself out of the car twice at Costco with my purchase.

We had to do a little rearranging before we could put the tree up.  Space is limited at our place and I wasn't even sure we would be able to put the tree up.  It ended up inches away from my face when I slept.

One of our Christmas traditions is an ornament each year from my mom.  It was nice to have ornaments to put on our tree after being married.  This year my mom bought Madison a Lenox giraffe for her first Christmas.

Christmas Season

Our first date after having Madison (two months later).  It was the Christmas party for my work and they took us to the theater to see A Christmas Carol, which was amazing.

She is starting to put some weight on.

The Night of the Tree Attack

We heard a knock at our door late one night and when we opened it we found ourselves face to face with our upstairs neighbors.  They told us that in the snowstorm, one of the trees in our driveway broke and hit our car.

It cracked our windshield.

 This one above shows how part of the branch actually pierced our reinforced windshield.  It left glass shards on the inside of the car.

Madison's Many Talents

Look at the the things Madison can do:

Bath = sleep

Doctor visit = sleep

Nap = sleep

More sleep

Tummy time = sleep

Daddy time = sleep

Bed time = party time. Yep, there I was showered, teeth brushed, and ready for bed when suddenly Madison decided she wanted to get up. I quickly jumped into bed and pretended to be asleep in hopes that Tyler would take her, but Tyler also decided to go to bed since he had to get up at 5 to go to work. Only after feeding her at 10, 11, and midnight did she settle down for a short nap before getting up again to eat. No wonder why the nurses didn't have problems feeding her at night!

Birth, the NICU, and Hospital Bills, Oh My!

The first picture of Madison.

This is the one and only picture of me (with Madison in the background) at the hospital.

Her first time leaving the hospital.

The drive home was beautiful.

Tyler's brother Daniel told us that we needed to break our kids before they broke us--make sure they know who is boss.  We decided to start early and not let Madison choose when she wanted to enter this world.  Actually, the reality is that I didn't have a choice either.  Due to my preclampsia and lab results I had to go into the hospital right away to be induced (I was warned that this might happen.).  I was not very happy about having to be induced and remember talking to my sister in law about how much more expensive it was for us now that I had to be induced.  Camille said that she would pay anything to have a healthy baby, which made me think I should be grateful that our circumstances weren't worse off.  There isn't anything noteworthy to mention about the labor except that I was glad Tyler didn't need nurse assistance himself as he has a weak stomach for this sort of stuff.  Madison was born at almost 6 pm on October 24th.  She weighed 7 lbs 6 oz and was three weeks early.  If we had waited another 3 weeks I'm not sure we would have been able to get her out of me.  The nurses crowded around her and then they showed her to me for about 10 seconds before they left with Tyler.  I didn't even get the chance to hold her.  My mom also had to leave to be with Kendra when she opened up her mission call.  One minute I was the center of attention and the next I was completely alone.  Tyler found me a couple of hours later and we went to the nursery to take a look.  She was having breathing problems, so we couldn't hold her.  We had to leave soon again while they gave her a CPAP and surfactant.  Her lungs were underdeveloped (34-35 weeks) and she was lacking a rooting reflex  which meant she also had a feeding tube.  Madison was also on antibiotics for 7 days as a precaution to fluid in her lungs.  We spent the next two weeks getting to know the nurses really well and trying to get Madison to eat.  She seemed more interested in sleeping than eating.  She was able to come home on oxygen after two weeks in the NICU.  Her hospital cost of $44,143.78 did not include the daily pediatrician visits, chest x-rays, or x-ray readings.  In addition to Madison's bills we had my portion of medical bills for being pregnant/delivery, which included a high deductible.  My bank account dropped significantly, but I'm just grateful we had insurance and could pay all of of bills without going into debt.  While Madison is worth any cost, I'm hoping she will be our one and only expensive child.     

The Last Moments of a Family of Two

My good friend Lisa (and old roommate from Rexburg) got married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Upon seeing this picture I realized that my face has become quite round/fat since being pregnant.  I never noticed it until then.

The corn maze at Thanksgiving Point.  The year has been so dry that the corn wasn't very tall.  Walking around at this point may not have been the best idea as it felt like I had a concrete block bouncing on my bladder with every step and you can't just leave the corn maze instantaneously.  

Furniture for Madison

My mom brought up a piece of my furniture that has been hanging out in their garage for years.  A long time ago I decided to spray paint it brown.  Once again it was time for a makeover.  

You might think I was due any day in this photo, but I still had three more months to go.  Notice that Tyler's shirt is getting a bit tight for me.  

The end product.