lindeymagee photography

today's pailyn fix

 

from the nicu, wednesday. still posting from the hospital on the laptop, so it's sooc, but sweetness all the same.

still here :'(

after a morning of pure gittyness about getting to go home with baby girl, her bilirubin level came back too high & it was determined that she'd need to spend the rest of the evening & night under the blue light.

it's for the best; jaundice can be very dangerous & damaging & she had already made some progress when i went down to nurse her for the first time after they took her from me.

it will be another long night, but this place has, yet again, gone above & beyond...they are letting me stay in my room (after actually discharging me this afternoon) so that i can go down to nurse pailyn across the night.

nana is staying to help :o) ...it takes us both to get her up and awake and mad enough to nurse well ;o) we've got it figured out. you have to tick her off or she'll suck one good time & off to la la land she goes. she is doing so well nursing though; she wasn't a 'natural' like bennett was, but she's getting it. we've had a successful day in that department.

chuck is home with heather & ben; and pailyn & i miss them. early this afternoon while mom & i were in the room enjoying some pailyn time, her nana looked down & saw this:

 

look at those hands...i see prayer hands & it melts me. please say a prayer, we are grateful that things have gone as they have & haven't been any worse, but we so want to take her home tomorrow & i want her back with me in the morning, as soon as possible; hopefully the light across the night will get the bilirubin level down where it should be.

some pictures to prove my aforementioned title ;o)

  i'm posting from pailyn's nana's laptop without resizing, so they're less than stellar, but her cuteness factor more than makes up for it.

 

that's her in the nicu. she was a trooper! and below is her name sign that nurse rebecca made...we love her.

 

my spunky, strong willed fighter held her own & fought her way right through her troubles! we were just bragging on the fact that her wee self worked, and i do mean worked hard to breathe and she kept her sats up the whole time...on her own! that's a pretty big feat for my little girl...she's strong, that pailyn.

she and her nana, who kinda loves her a lot.

this was taken in our room last night...where she got to stay :o) we did lots of snuggling & she let us stare at her all we wanted. and it was a lot.

i'm the proud momma of the prettiest little girl...ever ;o)

pailyn elise magee arrived at 11:03pm last night weighing 6lbs. and measuring 20 1/4 inches long. beautiful. perfect little round face. head full of black hair. amazing lips. double chin. beautiful.

yesterday:

we did the amnio yesterday morning & got the results that her lungs were mature; i was admitted & when they checked me i was a whopping 1 cm. at 1:30ish...less than 10 hours later and just 3 pushes...sweetness was born.

umc is fabulous & it turns out it is truly a blessing that we are here. pailyn's heart, just as we expected has some pac's...she's been examand by the best doctors & her heart isn't a concern...we look for it to work it's way out across some time.

her breathing; however, became a concern while in the room with us after being born. she was 'grunting' with every breath...a little breathing song that raised concern. she was taken to the 'transition' nursery-where they monitor all newborns for a few hours after birth...we were able to visit her & saw her little self laboring/singing for every breath.

they determined to keep her there over night & ordered an xray for her lungs. can i just say going back to the room without my pailyn for the night was one of the hardest things i've ever had to do.

this morning:

pailyn's neonatologist came to see me at 5 something this morning to let us know he & pailyn's nurse had decided it would be wise to go ahead & admit her to the nicu ...that was hard to hear (especially when you've slept about 2 hours in the past 24+)

her x ray showed cloudyness in her lungs & they debate whether there is some fluid causing her trouble or if she could be facing some sort of infection. the smart thing is to start an iv & get her some fluids...i can't nurse her while she's breathing like she is :'( and they start a round of antibodies while they run some tests

i'll skip all the individual day's details...to bring the good news that at 5 this evening after improving across the day & getting some much needed rest, miss pailyn finally perked up & latched on and nursed away :o) woot! woot! all without the grunting :o)

her second xray shows improvement & her white cell count came back a bit elevated (good we went ahead with the iv) but her gas test & vitals all are great at this point.

i adore her nurses! pailyn is on a 3 hour feeding schedule. missy was there before shift change this morning & back tonight (she'll call me in the room if my girly gets hungry before i show up for her scheduled time...so i can feed on demand...as it should be!) rebecca took great care of her today...made her a cute name sign for her station and should be back in the morning.

we are blown away by the umc staff. we are gracious of all the loving concern & prayers. and mostly we are strengthened in our faith by god's grace and hand in our baby girl's life. the surprise she was months ago to the miracle she is today...bennett, heather, chuck, me & pailyn's nana are just so in love with my 6 pounds of sweetness.

i can't post a picture because chuck's laptop can't read my card. and i have to close because it's time to go down & scrub up to spend some time with my baby girl! did i mention she's beautiful?

xoxo keep praying, friends.

what's that you say? (mississippi baby photographer)

 

tomorrow's the big day!?!

teehee...i couldn't resist ;o) this is when baby a first met me...one of the first pics i snapped. i admit i can act a bit goofy for the little ones, and after seeing this candid reaction i don't mind it one bit!

so...tomorrow morning we're headed in to start the road to meeting the littlest magee.

they'll amnio first thing to make sure her lungs are mature...i hit 37 weeks today, so that's full term & they expect them to be. from there they'll induce with the expectation that once she's out & all the inside workings do their reversal & cetain valves of the heart close off as a result of being born-that her little heart will correct itself.

that's our hope & prayer & we appreciate your prayers tomorrow too...so much. (you can also specifically pray that i don't have to have a c-section while your at it.)

we'll have the laptop & wifi, so i'll try to post just as soon as i'm able :o)

my newest little girly girl (mississippi baby photographer)

i snuck in one last session before baby magee makes her debut, and i'm glad i was able to! her mommy & aunt are very 'all about the internet & blogs & such' so they get a sneak peak ;o)

miss 'a' has me quite excited about having my own little person to snuggle & snap! she's also my first 'grow with me' baby for 2009 ...how fun it will be to watch her through the year!

 

 

isn't she sweet!?! one more...a little different processing for me; but she called for it ;o)

 

alright, angela...i'll be sending you a password to her gallery in the next day or so. (amazing how speedily i can work under a little time constraint preasure; i've surprised myself!) it was so great to meet everyone today! i look very forward to watching miss 'a' across the next year :o)

an update & some snow day pics (mississippi children's photographer)

little miss magee is trying hard to get that ticker ticking like it should :o)

i'm now feeling a bit knowledgable about the fetal heart & how it looks on a sonogram screen. all i know is that her ticking is not nearly as chaotic as it was christmas eve. i saw a whole screen tuesday of normal beats before it started skipping & speeding up.

God will take care of her little self, of that i feel sure! i have to brag on her a bit too before i move on...she's cute...we're not sure if it's shadows or la-la-la-lashes on the chicklet, but let's just say if they're not enhanced by the shadows and such we'll be meeting with maybelline right away.

it's exciting to see how excited our house is becoming by the day waiting for her arrival.

ben seems to be over the fact that she stalled christmas with both sets of grandparents (he was a little miffed at her putting me in the hospital christmas eve.)

heather, who expressed a desire for a sibling not 2 months before we found out i was pregnant (we looked at each other after her out-of-the-blue request and laughed. i think i recall saying, 'too bad, so sad...that ain't happening.') has a wrapped happy for her baby sister's arrival that she's antsie about gifting...she won't tell us what it is though.

and i can't talk about chuck's sweetness regarding baby girl without getting overly sappy & you all don't come here for that anyway. she's loved, that magee number 3...no doubt!

onto some pictures. i forgot that i promised more of these...now seems like a good time.

 

 

 

 

man! that was a fun day :o)

(mississippi childhood photographer)

(ms children's portraiture)

a baby update

first...thanks so much for the comments & email & phone calls...you all are so fabulous! the prayers are working...so keep them up!!

here's the skinny on tuesday's follow up appointment at umc:

a cardiac specialist dr. himself did an ultrasound & watched/listened to baby girl's heart. i personally think i saw an improvement in the arrhythmia on the screen (compared to last tuesday) it was all over the place then, vs. every once in a while i'd see a whole screen shot of regular beats :o)

she's diagnosed with pac's (premature atrial contractions)...it's fairly common-both doctors have commented that her's is more pronounced than they usually see, but that it usually works itself out on it's own.

my doctor even showed us-looking at her heart- & explained why he thinks it's occuring in baby girl magee's case & why it will likely adjust once she's delivered if not before. 

chuck & i left umc feeling completely at ease and optimistic regarding the whole thing :o)

i will be going to jackson once a week to be monitored and will likely deliver there, still not sure about that. on a possitive note...it is nice getting to actually see little chubby cheeks squirming around in there once a week (not to mention raising canes is on the menu for lunch on appointment day!!)

so seriously...thanks so much for the prayers! god is good...keep chatting with him on her behalf, please ;o) we love you all!

gotta post a newborn image, pictureless posts are lame, huh.