Lots of updates

Soooo....a lot has happened since my last post. First off, we had an excellent Christmas. Dave, Jenn and Mia came in for a few days and we had an absolute blast! We even got to take Mia to Claire's 2nd Birthday Party! Claire and Mia became instant friends and got along beautifully. I have posted the pictures in the album. Thanks Claire for inviting us to the party - it was fun! :)

Then today was a big day for Baby McGrew. We had the first part of the Integrated Screen. For those of you who don't know, Integrated Screen is a test that shows if you are at increased risk of having a baby with Down syndrome, Trisomy 18, or an open neural defect. It requires a blood sample and an ultrasound measurement from the first trimester and a second blood sample taken during the second trimester. Today we had the first trimester ultrasound and blood test. We will not receive the official results until after Part 2. However, Dr. Barrilleaux was able to give us some information from the ultrasound today. One of the main measurements that is taken during this ultrasound is called the nuchal translucency (NT), which is a measurement of the fluid filled space at the back of the fetus' neck. Baby McGrew's measured completely normal!! Other signs that we looked for were clinched fists (like Madeline had), no sign of a nasal bone (possible indication of Down syndrome), chambers of the heart and several other measurements. Baby McGrew had hands wide-open, a nasal bone, skeletal bones, two arms, two legs, and what appeared to be 4 chambers of the heart - ALL are normal!!! Again, this is not "official" but the doctor said that based on today's ultrasound, he sees no cause for alarm at this point. This was the absolute best possible news we could have heard today! We are still anxious for the results, which we will receive February 2nd, but this has allowed us to breathe some sigh of relief. We are also hoping to find out the sex at that appointment as well! So...more to come...but wanted to give you all an update. Thank you all for the prayers and keep them coming!

On another happy note, Travis and I will celebrate our 4th Anniversary tomorrow! WOW - how time flies! Travis is the absolute best friend and husband that I could ask for. I can honestly say that I couldn't get through some of these rough times without him being right by my side. I couldn't imagine my life without him and I'm truly blessed to have him as my soul mate. I love you, Travis and Happy Anniversary!

Oh!!! And I posted Baby McGrew pics in the album as well. The 3D ones are a bit scary because they still kind of look like aliens at this point! But I must say - that's a very cute alien! :)

Slideshow

Hello everyone! Lyndsay Melancon graciously put together this slideshow for us of the pictures that she took of Madeline in the hospital. It's just awesome! For some reason I couldn't attach it to the blog before...but now it has allowed me to attach! So here it is in the post below. Enjoy!!

Also, just this past weekend we had our first small fundraiser for Maddie's Footprints and we raised $3,500!!! We are just overwhelmed how much we were able to raise for such a small fundraiser! Thanks to all of you who came and or made donations. We are so grateful to have all of you in our lives!!

We are also having our first Board Meeting tonight and I'm just so excited it's finally here and we can get things started. So many of you have offered to volunteer and/or help out with events (which hopefully we will have plenty) and we cannot thank you enough. So to try to keep things organized, please email me (lorimcgrew@cox.net) if you'd like to volunteer when things start happening. I'm starting a "list" so that we can remember all of our resources! Please give me your name, email address, mailing address and phone number so that we can contact you in the future.

And also, we have had another doctor's appointment since my last post. Baby McGrew is still looking good and has a strong heartbeat! Thank you for all of the prayers - they are working!

Again, thank you so very much for all of your love and support. I don't know what we'd do without all of you!

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MORE exciting news!!

So for those of you who don't already know.......I'm pregnant!!! We had our first doctor appointment today. I'm almost 7 weeks. We did an ultrasound and everything looks great so far and we even got to hear our little baby's heartbeat! It's like music to my ears! My due date is July 8th - which is Papa's Birthday. (If you remember, Madeline's due date was Nana's Birthday - how crazy is that?!?!)

We know it is still early and we are still a little "guarded," but we are remaining positive. Please keep us and Baby McGrew in your prayers!

Mia's 2nd Birthday Bash!

Well yesterday was Mia's 2nd birthday! We cannot believe it's been 2 years since she's been born - time really flies! So my family and I made a trip up to Dallas for the weekend to celebrate with her. She is absolutely adorable! She has grown so much just in the past few months. And she has become very affectionate - showering us with kisses and hugs! We just couldn't get enough! I've posted some of the pics in our photo album!

Exciting news!

First, I just realized that I had never posted pictures of Madeline's completed nursery. Check the photo album for the most updated pics! A special thanks to Aunt Pateen for making the beautiful window shade and pillows to match the bedding, Nana for stripping and painting the side table and Granny for cross-stitching the beautiful blanket!! All of these are so special to us!

So just last week Travis and I decided to start a new "venture." We are going to start a non-profit organization in memory of Madeline. Our ultimate goal is to raise awareness of miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths. We are also hoping to raise enough money to help parents in these situations with unforeseen medical bills, funeral costs, etc. This will be a HUGE task to get everything up and running, but we are so absolutely excited about it and I am confident that things will start to come together soon for us. We already have 7 confirmed people on the Board of Directors!! We really hope that this will take off and become something so great that we can help LOTS of families. Please pray that we are able to gather the resources and people needed to get this organization off of the ground!

Travis's 30th Birthday

Well, we pulled off a surprise party for Travis's 30th birthday. We got him a fun jump boxing ring so that he could show us how the Champ can really fight! We played it up a lot to be cheesy - and Travis was a great sport about it. I think we all had LOTS of fun. Pics are in the Photo Album! Happy Birthday, Travis! I hope you have a great 30th year!