Memorial Day weekend

We really didn't have much planned for Memorial Day weekend, especially since Brian had to work both Saturday and Monday, leaving us only Sunday to do something fun. It turned out to be a beautiful day, so we headed off to Grammie & Grandad's to use their neighborhood pool. Apparently the rest of the neighborhood also had this same idea, but we really wanted to get Colin in the water. As you can imagine, having Colin love the water is very important to Brian and I. It has been quite some time since he has swam (not counting the bathtub!) and Brian was really wanting to get in the water with him.

He was pretty hesitant at first, but we figured that was due to the massive amounts of kids in the baby pool. So, Brian took Colin to the big pool and they had a blast. I wasn't quite ready to show off my 2-week-post-baby-body to the world, but at least I had a swim suit on, right?! I was the designated picture-taker, and I had a great time!

Maggie also was at the pool, however, she was a little less enthusiastic about it all. She was just chillin' in the shade with Grammie & Grandad.

Working on his flutter kick.

I don't think he stopped laughing the whole time!

He would jump to Brian, however, we are still working on the skill of "jumping", even on land. I'm pretty sure Colin has a vertical of around 2 cm. He kindof just leaned forward to Brian, but at least he did it on his own and didn't require any coaxing of at all.

Getting tossed around by Uncle Chris and Daddy

Then there was the diving board...Colin was really wanting to go off of it once he saw Uncle Chris head down that way. So, he did! Once again, he had to have some help with his "jump", but he did it on his own pretty much. Such a brave kid! Don't worry, Daddy was waiting in the water below :)

Bombs away!

Success!

Now it's Daddy's turn to go off with Colin. He kept wanting to go off after this. And, he even walked down there by himself, however Mommy made him turn around for fear of him cracking his head open on the end of the diving board. We have had enough hospital admissions for a while...


HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!!

Our first official week home...

We are still trying to get things figured out with our newest addition. Brian was home with us on Monday & Tuesday and went back to work, sleep deprived, on Wednesday.
We had our first appointment with Maggie's doctor (the same one that we take Colin to, and we just adore her) on Tuesday. She was really pleased that Maggie had already returned to her birth weight, especially considering all that we had been through the week prior. She was concerned about Maggie's reflux issues and her feeding problems with throwing up quite a bit. We had been having a terrible time getting Maggie to take her reflux medicine, and most of the time she would throw up if we tried (which is totally opposite of the intention of the medicine). She altered the dosage some and gave us some tips on getting the medicine down. Maggie still doesn't like it, but at least it has a chance to help her feel better now.
My mom (Meemaw) came & helped me out with Maggie the rest of the week. It was so nice having an extra set of hands/eyes/ears on things. Plus, I even got a few errands ran and got a nap or two in. I am really going to miss her next week when I am flying solo.

Here are a few things we did this week:

Colin helped Dad fix a few nails in the deck. Good thing he watches Bob the Builder every once in a while...he had good technique!

Doing lots of "manly work" with Daddy

Maggie had her photo shoot for her birth announcements. She was very cooperative, although not so happy that we kept her awake longer than she wanted.

In Daddy's hands

Sleeping in Meemaw's arms, so peaceful!

Cousin Olivia had her 2nd birthday party and it was a Yo Gabba Gabba theme. Aunt Katie did an awesome job of putting together a great birthday party.

The birthday girl, Olivia (or just "ee-ah" as Colin says)

Finally home

We got discharged from Children's Mercy on Saturday, May 21 at around noon. The discharge instructions included a prescription for Zantac (for her reflux, which they concluded was the major cause of her apnea breathing episodes in the hospital), and a diagnosis of a combination of a viral infection, dehydration, and reflux. Not a good combo for a kid that's only 3 days old.

Here are a couple of pictures from the last day in the hospital. Colin finally found the toy room at the end of the hall. He is, like previously posted, a huge fan of CARS right now, and he just kept getting in and out of this car in the hospital room. It provided lots of entertainment for a kid that wasn't allowed out of the room.

Brian and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture. It looks like Maggie is praying, probably letting God know that she is so thankful he was watching over her and her family, and was hopeful to get home soon.

Daddy and Colin drinking an orange smoothie (which the majority of ended up on Colin's stomach and made a huge, sticky mess)

Playing out in the sprinkler while Mommy was mowing. I just have to get out and move sometimes, apparently I don't do well following doctors orders!

Run, Run, Run!

Maggie chillin' watching Colin play outside. It was too hot for her to be outside.

Colin is slowly getting back to his normal self. He really went through a tough time for a couple of days where he wouldn't let Brian or I get out of his sight without getting upset. This is not like Colin at all. We figure it has to do with us staying in a hospital for a week without him. But, he is doing great now. Just took a couple of days to get things back to our usual routine. Like I said, he is still going to daycare and we have so much fun with him when he gets home.
We aren't sure what Colin is trying to say, but it sounds like "doo doo" and of course, we all laugh when he says it. Here's some pictures of his "doo doo" laugh!

Cheese (and milk) smile!

A tired kid, waiting for dinner.

Maggie's Hospital Stay #2

Just in case anyone is counting...out of the last week (7 nights), Brian and I have stayed in the hospital for 6 of those nights.
On Wednesday afternoon, things started to go differently with Maggie. She wasn't really acting herself (which is sometimes hard to figure out when she is only 3 days old). She appeared to be lethargic and was definitely not interested in eating. This wasn't at all like the great eater we left the hospital with. Then, after eating an afternoon snack, Maggie proceeded to throw up absolutely everything she had eaten up to that point. We talked to the doctor on-call at our physician's office and he recommended we go to the Urgent Care center at Children's Mercy.
So, we packed up a few things and flew out the door.
Little did we know we would get admitted to Children's Mercy Hospital that evening.

At first, the doctors thought it might be a high bilirubin level causing Maggie to act funny, but that turned out to be fine. They tried 6 times, unsuccessfully, to get blood from Maggie so they could run some more tests. But, they didn't want to take any chances and they transported Maggie by ambulance to our downtown Children's Mercy Hospital (the hospital that I work at).
I was pretty tearful and scared to say the least. I just sobbed and cried, not really knowing what else to do. And, they wouldn't let me ride in the ambulance to the hospital because I was only 3 days out from delivering a baby, and that was hospital policy. So, Brian took a ride in the ambulance, while Brian's parents took me back to the house to gather up a few things and head downtown. Colin was at Grammie and Grandad's house sleeping while Brian's youngest brother David was watching him.

Upon arrival, they gave Maggie an I.V., collected blood and urine, and performed a lumbar puncture on her. They wanted to make sure all of her fluids were clear for any bacterial infections. Brian and I felt so badly for her, but she has been such a trooper throughout all of this. She really is such a calm and peaceful baby, but not when people are poking and prodding all over her (I wouldn't be, either!) The results from the tests would come back periodically throughout the next 24-48 hours, but we would have to wait the full 48 hours for the bacteria culture to grow from the lumbar puncture in the spine.

As results came back, everything was looking great, tests were negative. However, our lumbar puncture did have some bacterial growth in it by Friday afternoon. The doctor, however, was not able to rule out the idea of it being contaminated though. The growth didn't really appear to be the type they would expect it to be, as well as growing & behaving the way it was. So, we're still waiting to see when we might be discharged.

Maggie with all of her millions of wires and tubes attached to her

Sleeping peacefully.
They had to put Maggie on oxygen the first day here because she began having episodes of apnea (not breathing) while she was nursing. It happened 3 times and scared me to death each time. She would just be eating fine, then I could tell she would continue eating without stopping for air, and her face would begin to change colors. She turned grey, with purple lips and blue eyelids. Luckily, there was a nurse around each of the 3 episodes and she was able to talk me through it all (at one point she went 40 seconds without breathing and her oxygen saturations dropped to 70%). They still don't know what that was all about, but thinking it might be linked to being dehydrated, possible reflux issues, and some general breastfeeding changes. Sheesh! Enough already!!

Daddy and Maggie, hanging out...waiting for lab results

Mommy and Maggie

Right after a good burp!

Brian and I gave Maggie her first bath (in a hospital with some fancy bath wipes) and she's all dressed up in her fancy new gown. Brian called it a "dress" and I about died laughing. He'll have to make sure he gets his girl-clothing names correct over the next few years...

Such a gorgeous and beautiful young lady! We love you, our expensive little Maggie!!

Throughout this entire ordeal, we haven't really been able to spend much time with Colin. This is totally breaking our hearts. We love love love our time together, he is so much fun right now. The Urgent Care facility is just down the street from Brian's parents house, and they were able to pick him up and get him to bed on time. They have been taking him to daycare every day, which is something we had always planned on doing, even while I was on maternity leave. We figured, that is Colin's normal routine, and I should get to spend my days loving and bonding with Maggie like any new mommy should. Tiff and Chad are going to have Colin over the weekend, and hopefully we will get discharged soon so we can start our new "normal" as a family of 4. Keep your fingers crossed, we are missing our Colin!

The Adventures of Maggie

On Tuesday, May 17, we were discharged from Liberty hospital, but only after about 24 hours of Maggie receiving Bili Light Therapy. When Maggie was born, she got bruised pretty badly on her face and thighs. This caused her bilirubin levels to be elevated when her body was trying to clear all the broken down blood vessels. To treat this, she received light therapy (or sun tanning on a beach). Basically, we didn't get to see or spend any time with her our last day at the hospital because she was under the lights the whole time, except when she was nursing.

Maggie's future is so bright...she's gotta wear shades!

Before discharge, a picture of Mom, Dad and Maggie. Once again, since Maggie was under the lights the last day, we didn't have a chance to get a REAL family photo with Colin, too. Bummer!

Mom with her Sweetie Pea!

Meemaw and Maggie


Once we got home, we had a couple of hours before we picked up Colin from daycare. We tried hard to get some things unpacked to make the house look as familiar as possible to Colin (with the addition of Maggie, of course). Colin was so excited to see her when he got home. He was really interested in all the parts of her face, particularly her eyes and nose. He was poking at her eyes and trying to "honk" her nose.

Look at all that crazy blonde hair!

Colin checking Maggie out...

Kisses for Maggie

Daddy snuggling with Maggie on Wednesday morning...

Trying out some "tummy time" on Wednesday morning. I think she was passing gas (she is a very gassy young lady), but I caught a smile nonetheless.

We are so excited to be a family of 4 now! Let the fun begin!!

Maggie Mae Teson is here!!

MAGGIE MAE TESON'S BIRTHDAY STORY

5.15.2011

I started having contractions around 9 pm on Saturday night. Not good for getting a good nights sleep though...

We headed for the hospital around 10:30 and was in for a long night! I had progressed to a 6 already and was doing fine with my pain. The doctor wasn't going to get called to the hospital until I was an 8, so we took a couple laps in the hall, watched a couple of movies and I bounced on the birthing ball while we waited. I progressed to an 8 by about 1:30 and the doctor came in to break my water around 2:00 am. The next 45 minutes was pretty intense, but Brian says I did great and at 2:53am we had our beautiful baby girl!

This is me bouncing away on the birthing ball. Definately helped distract me from the pain and how I killed a lot of the time, before the doctor got there.


Maggies stats. To go along with this, she had a full head of light hair and an APGAR of 8-9. God Blessed us with a beautiful, healthy baby!

Look at that lower lip. Such a good pouty face to get what she wants...

Proud parents, not long after birth. Clear those lungs Mags!

Our adorable little girl

Chillin with cousin Johnny, Katie and Michaels newest addition.

Landing a left hook on cousin Johnny. I think he cracked a joke about Maggie being gassy. Take that!

A rare picture with her eyes open. So tiny and cute!

Mommy talking to the Best Big Brother, Colin. This is the first time Colin got to meet his new little sis and he did great. He was so excited to see mommy and daddy and baby sister.

One of our favorite pictures. Colin giving baby sister a kiss. What a great big brother!

Maggie just relaxing with Uncle Chad

Getting some love from Aunt Tiffey (who didn't mind at all when she held her for around 2 hours...)

Maggie and Aunt Katie (thanks for all the little girl clothes Aunt Katie & Olivia!) Maybe someday the girl count will catch up to the boys in the Teson family...

Maggie with Uncle Chris

The Dudley clan with our newest addition, Maggie Mae...

Meemaw and Maggie. Maggie's middle name, Mae, is named after Meemaw.

Proud Grandparents. Grammie and Grandad with Maggie, grandchild number 8.

Daddy and his little girl

Cute picture of mommy and baby Colin, I mean baby Maggie. We think she looks a lot like Colin when he was born.

Thank you all for your well wishes and prayers.