Laryngomalacia

Madelyn has been having some breathing problems. It appears as if she is struggling while inhaling. This has been happening off and on since about 3 months of age. We videoed it and the doctor had told us earlier that this was typically something called periodic breathing which could be very scary looking. Over Trish's birthday weekend it seemed to be happening a lot so we called the doctor on Monday, September 14th. The doctor decided to send her in for x-rays that afternoon. I met Trish at the imaging center, and waited for them to call her name. Trish volunteered to go back with Madelyn and said they put her in a tube type contraption to restrain her and Trish held her arms up so they could get the xray. Only one of us could go back, so I had to sit outside and wait but I could tell you she didn't like it much because she screamed pretty loud. When the x-rays were done we were expecting to go home and they asked us to stay while the radiologist reviewed the results. The next thing we know, the radiologist came out and told us that our Pediatrician was on the line, I think I got a little nervous at this point in time. I just wished someone had told us what was going on. Trish talked to the doctor who told her on the x-ray there was a cloudy spot around the heart wall and inflammation. Eventually she told us that she believed that this could be some residuals from a virus or possibly a sign of asthma. She said she would review the x-ray and call back the following day. The following day she called back and said she was "underwhelmed" with the x-ray results and they were better then she thought. She said there were signs of strain but not due to a virus or asthma. She said she was going to do some thinking and we would discuss at Madelyn's 6 month visit which was a week later.

While waiting for Madelyn's 6 month apt cousin Kate called us to find out how Madelyn was doing. She is great and so helpful. She watched a video of Madelyn's breathing problems and had some co-workers look at the video as well. Everyone agreed it was an upper airway issue and that she needed to see a specialist.

On Monday, September 21st Madelyn went to her 6 month appointment. We discussed the breathing issues and the pediatrician had already written a referral for a pediatric ear/nose/throat doctor. Everything else went great at her appointment and she is in the 90% for height. She is going to start eating fruits and veggies and by the time we go to her 9 month appointment she should be eating breakfast, lunch and dinner. YIKES!

Wednesday, September 23rd we went to see the specialist. The doctor was very nice and made us feel very comfortable. They did a scope of her upper airway and larynx and determined that she had laryngomalacia and acid reflux. She was very upset during the scope (a tube went up her nose and down the back of her throat) but they did let me hold her. The doctor was very quick with the procedure and confident with his results. The doctor wants to monitor her but thinks she will outgrow the problem by 12 months.

6 Month Pictures

We went and had Madelyn's six month pictures taken. We went to the same place that we did for her three month pictures. It was so much fun and even though she wasn't in the best of moods we still had fun. The photographer was great and captured everyone of her few smiles. After the pictures we went to Aunt Mary & Uncle Randy's house for our family birthday celebration. Since it was our b-days we got to choose the meal and we chose Mexican. That is always a favorite by the kids, especially Truman. We enjoyed a delicious homemade cookie cake as well. It was a great Sunday!!

Birthday Dinner/Big Girl in the High Chair

On my birthday, me and Trish decided to go out to Zio's for a quick birthday dinner. Before we left we decided to grab Madelyn's high chair cover so she could sit in the high chair. We brought her books and rings for her to play with. As you can see she did very well for a while and lots of people commented as to how well she was doing. Eventually she figured out that if she reached over and dropped her rings on the floor, Daddy would go get them for her. This was apparently a great new game, until after the third time she dropped them and laughed. It was funny she would drop them look over at me and then stare at them until I picked them up and gave them back at which point she would laugh and continue to play with them. Eventually I did take them away and we had to stop the new game.

Happy B-Day Grandma, Mommy, Daddy & Aunt Jennifer!

The weekend of September 11-13 we decided to head to Ponca City to celebrate Grandma and Mommy's birthday as well as try and make it to the home opening OU game. For the last 3 or 4 years we have always made it down to Norman for this game. This year we thought it would be fun to take Madelyn down for the experience. We left for Ponca City Friday evening and when we woke up Saturday morning we decided not to go to the game because there was 100% chance of rain. Good thing we didn't buy tickets beforehand. It turns out this was a good decision, as despite it being a beautiful day in Ponca City, Norman had a pretty good amount of rainfall. We ended up having a relaxing Saturday with my parents and since it was my Mom's birthday we enjoyed partaking in her b-day calls with Brian, Melanie & Lauren and Jennifer, Antonio & Thomas. We video chatted with Jennifer and the boys which was a lot of fun.



At one point in time Jennifer was actually able to play pic-a-boo with Madelyn through the conference. Antonio helped Mom blow out her b-day candles and it was funny to see him blowing into the screen on their end. We ended up going to 5:15 mass that night so we wouldn't have to wake up to early on Sunday. Sunday was Mommy's birthday and we celebrated it by having breakfast and cake with some of my family. Madelyn got to meet Uncle Mike and Aunt Becky, and a little latter Uncle Steve, Aunt Janice, Teresa and Elizabeth came over as well. We sang happy birthday to me, mom, and Trish, and when that was over Grandma even let Madelyn take a turn at blowing out the candle. All in all it was a great relaxing weekend, and it was awesome to get a chance to go home and see family.






























Coming home we stopped to do a diaper change on the front seat of the car, not the easiest maneuver, but we managed to get it done. After that I decided to get a picture of my two beautiful girls in front of the sunflowers. It was a long drive home, but the weekend was certainly worth it, we had a blast.
























Thursday was my b-day and my sister's b-day. We got home from work and called Aunt Jennifer and they were having a b-day pizza party. It is always good to talk to her and we really enjoy talking to my nephews. Antonio always makes us laugh! After feeding Madelyn we decided to head out to dinner for my birthday. We went to Zio's for my favorite Spicy Chicken Alfredo. It is one of Trish's favorite restaurants as well so it worked out well.

September was full of birthday's so HAPPY BIRTHDAY and thanks Mom for making my favorite cake and Trish really thanks you!!!!!

OKC Trip Canceled due to Sick Baby

Well, we were supposed to make Madelyn't first trip to OKC this weekend for the Koster family reunion. Madelyn was being a little cranky on Thursday night and was running a fever of 102. Trish stayed home with her all day Friday and they went to the doctor at 2:00. The doctor said she had a virus and that with the virus there was a possibility she would start having diarrhea and vomiting and would be contagious up to 24 hours after she stopped running a fever. That day Trish got an early birthday cake and balloons at work. I picked it up for her and brought them home. We were a little surprised at how intrigued Madelyn seemed to be by the colorful balloons. I decided to put them a little closer to her and see what she would do. I would say she definitely enjoyed them. We finally went to bed Friday night hoping to wake with a healthy baby and be able to head to OKC early Saturday morning. Shortly after her first bottle Saturday morning the real fun started. I don't know how, but I am pretty sure she managed to throw up a day and a half worth of formula. We ended up having puddles of vomit on both me and in the chair I was sitting in. After we got everything cleaned up and sat down for a minute, I heard what you would expect to come out of a very sick adult after a night of entirely too much Taco Bell. My first thought was did Trish really just have an accident in her pants. Then after closer inspection I discovered that it was in fact Madelyn. I guess I have never seen or smelled baby diarrhea, but this had to be one of the top 5 most foul smelling things I have ever experienced. I think it was at this time that we gave up on the trip to OKC for sure. We called the doctor back, and they advised us to start giving her about a half ounce of Pedialyte every 30 minutes. Between this and the Tylenol she was still running a fever but you could tell she was starting to feel a little better. Madelyn and Mom slept on the couch and tried to get in a little relaxing time before the evenings big OU game. We woke Madelyn up and took a few pictures before her first OU game. Her and mom even got little bit excited for her first touchdown. I know personally I always feel better when OU is winning. However the day would again take a turn for the worse, as Sam Bradford got hurt and the sooners lost to BYU. This morning Madelyn woke up still running a fever and having bad diarrhea but she is in a happier mood and has been enjoying her formula. Overall not such a good weekend, but things will get better. Sorry we missed everyone at the reunion, hopefully we will have a little better luck next year.

The video's below are of Madelyn playing with the balloons and of her talking during the OU game. I know she doesn't know what it means but she says MaMa all the time. It always puts a smile on Trish's face.