Riley family update...

Quick update on life around the Riley Household..

Peyton is doing amazing going to school these days. Once we came home from Disney World, we decided to change to going to two days a week. Obviously for the whole month of October he was not in school due to Maddox being in the NICU in North Carolina. We finally got back on track the first week of November and he has walked in almost every day without much drama. He simply gives maddox and I a kiss and off we go! It is amazing the difference!

As a big brother he is doing great! He loves his baby brother. He wants to hold him and kiss him all the time. One moment that was scary in the moment, but a bit comical now....I was in the shower, Peyton and Maddox were on our bed just hanging out. I poke my head around the corner and all I see is Peyton holding Maddox up by his ankles. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I asked what he was doing and he responded " I am dong the fireman carry with him." Oh my lord...this is what Kevin and Peyton do every night going to bed....Kevin throws Peyton over his shoulder and off they go. So, I quickly told him that daddy was the only one to do fireman carry in our house. Whew!!!

As for Maddox, he turned 6 weeks on Friday November 18. Crazy to think he should have been a week old, but instead is 6 weeks old. We had another weight check on Monday and our little chunker is weighing in at 7 lbs 2 oz and is 20 inches long. He is in the 25 percentile for weight and not sure about height. He seems to be doing great...Still pretty much following the same schedule as before.

He did smile at me for the very first time today...melt my heart!! I hope that he will give more of those this weekend for everyone at Thanksgiving.

We go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for our 2 month checkup...seriously 2 months!!!!

Happy Turkey Day!!!

MDR...1 month old

Maddox turned one month old on November 7! A whole month!!!

Today is my actual due date, so the fact that I am writing a post about my baby being 1 month old is crazy!

He weighs, as of Monday, 6 lbs 4.5 oz. and is 19 1/2 inches long. We have been going frequently for weight checks since being home, just so Dr. Karp can make sure he is gaining weight!

Seeing that Maddox was in the NICU for 2 weeks, he got on a pretty good schedule. He eats at 8, 11, 2, 5, 8, 2 and 5.

He is sleeping through his 11 pm feeding which is fine by me!

We have just started a nighttime routine with him with bath time at 7:30, eat at 8 and then a bottle following that. We try to put him down in his bassinet by 8:30 or 9!

His schedule as of now:
8 am feed
9 am back to sleep
11 am wake up to eat...try to keep him awake until next feeding
2 pm feed...try to put him down when Peyton is napping
5 pm feed...try to keep him awake until his next feeding
7:30 pm bath time
8 pm feed
8:30 supplemental bottle and then bedtime
2 am feed
5 am feed

His brother is smitten with him. Always wants to hold him and kiss him and help him in any way he can!

MDR is wearing preemie clothes, the newborn clothes swallow him. I would imagine he would be in newborn in the next two weeks or so.

We are in Newborn diapers and using lots and lots of those!!

So, for one month, we pretty much eat, sleep, and potty!!!

Maddox Dylan...Part 2

So we had decided that we better go to the hospital and just get checked out...after all, my nerves were shot and there was no way I was going to be able to rest with all that had happened. We decided to call our OB here and let them know what was going on. I eventually got to speak with the on call doctor, which happened to be the midwife of the practice. As I am telling her what has been going on, she proceeds to tell me that I am not in labor and I simply need to go home and take a warm bath and relax.

Kev and I are in limbo...not knowing what to do, we decide to take her advice head to my parents house and try a warm bath and a heating pad. This is at 8:45pm...we get to my parents house and on the way there had decided if I were still "cramping" at 10 pm then we would head to the hospital. We got there and managed to beat my parents and Peyton back to the house. They walked in and I was laying on the couch doubled over in pain with a heating pad that was not helping whatsoever!!! I decided I needed to use the bathroom again and when I did I knew!!

My water had broken and the smell reminded me of a hospital! I knew something was not right!!! I came out and off we went...it was 9:30 at this point. My parents live about 20-30 minutes from the hospital, so we were a wee bit nervous. I grabbed my heating pad and fortunately we had not unpacked our car yet, so I had my pregnancy pillow in the front seat with me. As we are driving, the contractions are coming harder and closer together, I am holding on to Kev's arm for dear life and then the unthinkable happens...we are getting ready to get on the highway, Kev is doing all he can to get us to the hospital and may or may not have run an orange light...

The cop, yes the cop, pulls us over and asks us why we are in such a hurry and Kev's response is...Can't you see the pain that my wife is in? His response was do you realize you could have killed someone??...seriously...no one around us for a mile!!! He then tells us to be safe and good luck, but offers no type of escort to the hospital. Seriously....

We make it to Forsyth Medical at probably 10:15 ish and Kev then drops me off at the ER where I am wheeled into the waiting room and I am being asked 100 different questions, which I cannot answer because I am in so much pain. Kev finally gets back inside to me after parking the car and we then get put up in Labor and Delivery for them to check me. I am laying on the bed in excruciating pain and wondering what in the world is happening. With Peyton, I never experienced "real labor." With him it was pitocin induced and that I can't remember 100%.

A nurse comes in to check me and at this point I am asking for pain meds. She checks me and says you are 6 centimeters dilated. WHAT????? I am sure Kev and I turned white as ghosts. We were in NC, nowhere near our OB and 5 weeks before my due date...

Kev then starts to call everyone and get my parents to the hospital. They put us in a room and started to get me prepped for delivery! I am begging for medicine at this time and the finally come back to check me, reassuring me that the anesthesiologist will be there as soon as he can. I was at an 8 at this point and there has been no sign of my parents anywhere. Kev calls them and they are in the waiting room, so we quickly get my mom back and it felt as though it was 5 minutes later I was ready to push.

At this point I am telling whoever is listening that I am ready to push and sure enough, I was! I pushed a total of 3 times and at 11:53 pm Maddox Dylan came into the world. He weighed in at 5 lbs 7.5oz and was 18 1/2 inches long! Kev actually watched this little guy come into the world. He said he saw his head and started to get worried due to the size of it...he was crowing and finally his whole head came through. Granted he still had a small head seeing that he was 5 weeks early!

They wrapped him up in what seemed like 10 blankets and handed him to me. My first thought was that he looked just like Peyton! I couldn't believe it....he was here and seemed fine in the beginning. He had a slight grunting noise as the doctors and nurses called it, but nothing that seemed alarming to anyone, as best we could tell. The doctor just said they would keep an eye on him and if anything was bothersome then they would take him to observe him in the NICU.

I got to hold him, Kev held him and my mom held him. My dad and Peyton came into the room and got to see him, but at this point is was after midnight so everyone was EXHAUSTED from our crazy night!

We all stayed in the delivery room for a few minutes and then the nurse decided she would call the NICU nurses so they could observe him. He was still grunting and they just wanted to be sure that he was perfectly fine!

At this point, my parents take Peyton home with them and Kev and I are waiting to be moved to our room. We are taken by the NICU on the way to our room and I must admit, I have very foggy memories of that night in there. All I remember is talking to the nurse who wheeled me down and waiting for Kev who had to go park the car and bring our bags and pillows up.

Little did we know that our roller coaster ride was only beginning!

Maddox Dylan...the birth story...Part 1

On Friday October 7 2011, I had my routine checkup with my OB in Va Beach...I was 35 weeks and 2 days...right on track! Peyton and I headed to the doctor and we were in a rush, because that afternoon we were headed to NC to visit my parents and go to the Dixie Classic Fair which I haven't missed in 32 years!!!

My appointment was at 9 in the morning and we were there right on time. I went in and saw Dr. Fontaneres and was informed that she would be "checking" me today. Ok...whatever! So, we are doing our routine check and everything is nice and closed!!! Her only concern was that I was measuring small. Through each of my pregnancies I have measured on the smaller side. Nothing completely abnormal, just about 1-2 weeks smaller. She sent me to the other office to have an ultrasound done, just to make sure that the little guy was good. Peyton and I rush to the other office and arrive just in time to have the ultrasound done!

I go into the room and lay down on the table and proceed with getting another sneak peak of this sweet baby boy...who I was ready to meet in another 5 weeks! She did all of her measurements and told me that he was measuring right on time and so I asked her what her guesstimate of weight was at the time and she guesstimated 5 lbs 8 oz!

Ok...no big deal...Peyton and I rush back to the house to get everything packed and loaded and off we went to pick up Daddy at 3pm from work. Peyton fell asleep in the car as soon as we got on the highway. We were very relieved that he was snoozing, so we were hoping we were going to make record time! We ended up getting stuck in traffic before we were even out of town...but we got through it and kept on moving. We had been driving about 2 hours and I remember telling Kev that I really needed to get something to drink...I had tried to limit my water intake that day because I knew we were going for a long drive. About 5ish I had pulled out a snack that I had packed and began munching away. The next thing I know, I felt as if the baby did a jumping jack in my belly! A major jolt ran through my entire body...nothing I had EVER experienced before. I then felt a small "leak" and thought to myself he hit my bladder...great!!

We decided to stop at Smithfields BBQ....one of our favorite places...to grab a drink and get Peyton a snack...he was awake and it was about 5:30 by this point. I got out of the car and felt another dribble of fluid...I started to walk and felt like I was peeing on myself. I took Peyton with me to the bathroom and I began to get a little worried, but never imagined that my water had actually broken...I walked out of the bathroom and Kev immediately saw concern on my face, but again I had just been to the doctor and there was nothing going on.

We got our drinks and got back on the road. We started to joke about it at this point and how we could either go to Chapel Hill or Duke and have the baby! We obviously would have chosen Chapel Hill for those who wanted the answer to that question. So...we were making great time getting to my parents house and decided that we were going to have enough time to meet them for dinner.

We ended up meeting them at Brixx Pizza and we pulled in at 8:04pm...

They got there and I began to tell them what had happened. I went to the bathroom when we got there and noticed a bit of blood...my anxiety went through the roof at this point. The weird thing is I was having no contractions....NOTHING!!! We sat down and I ordered water and began to chug as much water as I possibly could. I was in tears and I am sure the waitress was wondering what was happening. We ordered our food and everyone began to eat, except me...something was WRONG!!! I had no appetite and I was staring to cramp...I just told myself that I just hadn't had enough water and I needed to go lay down. Kev pulled his phone out and we began to time the contractions...every 1 1/2 to 2 minutes apart. Seriously....what in the world is going on?? Peyton became very concerned and was rubbing my arm...my sweet baby boy!!!

I am sitting in the booth not knowing what to do...we decided to go to the hospital and get checked out....

More to come later!