Madion Faith Sessions' Funeral Service Info

On August 6, 2010, we will be holding a funeral service for Madison.

It will be held at the Church of latter-day Saints located on 510 Brannon Rd. Cumming, GA 30041

The Itinerary for Friday, August 6th is as follows:

9:30-10:00am: Family Viewing

10:00am-10:50am-Public Viewing and Visting (RS room)

11:00am-11:30am-Funeral Service (Chapel)

1:00pm-Grave Dedication (Cemetery-by invitation only)

2:00pm-Luncheon (Family and close friends)

If you need anymore info let Jason or I know.

Madison's Final Moments....

We just wanted to update everyone on Madison...

Madison passed away on August 1, 2010 at 1:14am. This is the story (condensed version) of her final hours and moments...

On Saturday, Jason and I met at the hospital around noon, during Jason's MBA class break. Usually, we did not get a chance to go to see Madison together between the kids and schedules, so it was nice that we were going to meet and be able to be together. When, I arrived at the hospital, the doctor was waiting for me, and said that Madison was not doing well. I called Jason and told him to hurry and get to the hospital as the UGA MBA building is about 10 minutes away from the hospital. When Jason got to the hospital, the doctor came and talked to us. She said that Madison's lab results were elevated and she was back on the Oscillator, the high powered ventilator. Also, the doctor said that they had been able to feed, small amounts of milk, all night and she had done ok with it. They were interested in why she did so well over the night eating, since she had been unable to tolerate the feedings before. They did an x-ray which came back abnormal. At that point, the doctors were unsure of what was causing the problems. I asked the doctor on a scale of 1 to 10 how worried she was about Madison and she said about a 9. Not good...

Jason had to go back to his second class, since it is finals time, and I went back to pick up the kids, at my parents house. Jason and my dad were going to meet, at 4:30pm ,after his class, to give Madison a blessing. After Jason got home, I was going to go back to the hospital to be with Madison during the evening and night.

I got home and put the kids down for afternoon naps, and decided to lay down and take a nap too . Just after I laid down, I got a call from the doctor telling me that they did another x-ray and found a perforation in Madison's bowel. They were unsure of how bad it was but that she was in critical condition and we needed to get back to the hospital now. I called Jason and my parents and we all left right away to go to the hospital. Thank you sweet Bonnie for dropping everything and coming to watch the kids!

When we got to the hospital, Madison was surrounded by nurses and the doctor. The doctor talked to us about Madison's condition and our options. Basically, she had a perforation in her bowl that ideally needed surgery. However, she was too small and too unstable to transfer her across the street to the children's hospital. The perforation was causing air and junk to leak into her stomach and the air was crushing her lungs. The second option was to put a drain into her stomach and let the air and junk out. A surgeon from the children's hospital would come over and do the surgery at her bedside. Even though the surgery was not long term and did not have a high long term success rate, something needed to be done immediately. I talked with the surgeon, on the phone, and we decided to go ahead and do the drain surgery.

Before the surgeon did the surgery, we were able to give Madison a blessing. Jason gave her a beautiful blessing, as he had with all her others, we all felt the Lord with us. The surgery solved the immediate problem, however, there were other complications such as her brain bleeding she had had as well as her kidneys had stopped functioning early that morning around 5am. Her liver was already damaged from only being on iv nutritional and not milk and they were concerned that she would not be able to get big enough, only on iv nutrition, to get the major surgery on her intestines.

We waited until the 10pm test results came back but they did not look good. At that point, Madison was beginning to swell since her kidneys were not working and she was on a morphine drip as well as other pain medications. We began to pray that we would know what to do for our sweet baby. We were blessed to feel that Madison's purpose on this life had been fulfilled and it was her time to go. We had my parents and Jason's parents come back down to the hospital so that they could be there for her final moments. We had to sign a DNR and DNI so that we could take her off her machines.

Since Jason and I had never gotten to hold her, only touch her through the incubator, we decided that we wanted a chance to hold her, while she was still alive, and before things became critical and we did not have that chance.

The doctors and nurses gave her a lot of pain medication and put her on a portable ventilator and moved her into a private room so we could hold her. It was so great to be able to hold her! Everyone was able to have a chance to hold her and then the doctors pulled out her ventilator. Madison lived about 5 to 10 minutes and then she joined her Heavenly Father. We were able to continue holding her as long as we wanted and then take out all her IVs and pick lines and give her a bath and dress her. The doctors, nurses, and hospital staff were so wonderful. Thank you to Jenn and Chris and Ken and Donna for taking the kids for a couple days so that we could have a break and plan the funeral!

The ward has been amazing and so loving and we are grateful for everyone's love and support.

Jason and I know that Madison is with her Father in Heaven and that Families are Eternal and Forever. We are beyond grateful for this knowledge and the comfort that it has brought to us. We know that our sweet baby is a perfect little being and it gives our family renewed drive to live better lives so that we can be with her once again. We have had our moments, and will continue to do so, but for the most part we are doing ok. We are at peace knowing Madison is in a much better place and we are grateful she is not suffering anymore. We are proud of her for fulfilling her mission here one earth and being such a brave little girl for doing so. She fought a great fight and is "our little lion".We love our sweet baby so so much and while we miss her, we are so greatful she is part of our family.

Madison update- 7/27/2010

Today was a rough day but I am counting my blessings for all the little miracles and things we have. Madison continues to do well on some fronts and we have been presented with some new struggles on others. She is doing great on the regular ventilator. Her skin is improving for the most part. She looks like a little boxer in this picture with her hands all taped. But fitting since she is our little fighter. Her toes are much improved although the doctor told us that although they may not be black anymore we have to watch to make sure they grow properly. Madison's weight continues to remain about the same...around 1lb. 4.5oz. The doctors tried feeding her again but she didn't do so well with it which is not unusual for her gestational age. It was rather alarming seeing her today as she has an iv in her head. She has no more usable veins left and apparently, your head has very good ones. I had a hard time seeing her with it in but the drs assured us it was ok.

The hard new came when we met with the neonatologist. The doctor had called last night and said that Madison's head ultrasound had come back showing bleeding in her brain and she was concerned and wanted to meet with us today to talk about it. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well last night. Madison has grade 4 bleeding in her brain, which is the worst grade possible. Usually, babies with grade 4 bleeds do not live but luckily Madison was blessed and due to the location of the bleed, at the front of her brain, the doctors feel that she still has a chance. If the bleed was anywhere else it would be worse because it would be where most of the new brain cells are made and she wouldn't have a chance. The grade 4 bleeding is only on one side of her brain although it has overflowed to the other side as well. There shouldn't be anymore new bleeds at this point, they just have to watch to see if this one is absorbed by the body. The doctor said that it would take a month or two to absorb. Also, we have to watch to see if, because of the bleed, her brain produces fluid normally and does not begin to back up and put pressure on her brain. If she cannot drain the fluid, then she will have to have an access portal put into her skull to drain the fluid. If she continues to need to access portal by the time she is ready to go home, then the doctors will be able to put a shunt in her skull and run a tube to her stomach to drain the fluid. This would be a lifelong problem that would require multiple surgeries to adjust her shunt. However...all of this is a maybe that could happen. As far as the bleeding affecting her brain functioning, the doctors said that about 80% of babies have some sort of brain damage that affects functioning. It is too early to see how she will be affected or what she will have to deal with but I am preparing myself to deal with some challenges due to this.

We feel so blessed that Madison still has a chance to live and continue to pray for her. We have seen so many miracles and prayers answered in regard to her development and health and we know that this new development will be no different.

our new house...

new house

the kitchen

the living room

At the beginning of July, we moved to a new house. Our lease on our town home was up and we needed more room. It wasn't exactly ideal to move in the middle of all the pregnancy struggles but our ward and parents were great and helped us out beyond belief! We could not have done it without everyones help. Thank you so much! Its a good house to rent for now and we are glad to have found it. Luckily, it is right around the corner from our old place and so it wasn't far to move. I promised my sisters i would post pictures so here they are. It is really nice having the space of a house although Jason already hates doing yard work as we have a good sized yard.

Madison update- 7/25/2010

Little Madison continues to be a survivor! She is continuing to hold stable and progressing in many little ways. The heart medication to close her PDA valve worked and because that is now closed her blood pressure is much improved and she is off all of the blood pressure medication at the moment. Yesterday, the doctors were able to take her off the Oscillator, the most high powered type of ventilator, and put her on a regular ventilator. She continues to do well on it...next step is to get off the ventilator and on a c-pap breathing machine. Her brain ultrasounds came back with minimal brain hemorrhage...normal for a preemie, which was a huge blessing! They will continue to monitor her brain for bleeding but for now it looks good. They also tried to give her some milk, nothing for nutritional value, just to begin to prime her stomach for food but she didn't digest it well so the doctors are holding off for now and she will continue to just get iv nutrition.

We love our sweet baby and are so proud of her. She is a tough little fighter and we are grateful for all the progress that she has made so far. I can't believe that it has only been a week since she was born. It seems much longer with all of the physical changes that happen on a daily basis for Madison. It has been an emotional roller coaster for me and combined with postpartum hormones I find myself crying over nothing and everything but that's ok. I am hoping to be able to actually hold Madison soon...in my arms..for more than a minute but we will see what this week brings. It has always been one of the hardest things for me with all of the kids wiating to hold them for the first time. Hopefully, we won't have to wait much longer...

Madison update 7/22/2010

Holding Madison for the 1st time

Madison in her little blue light sunglass shields..they protect her eyes while she is under the blue jaundice lights

Sweet baby-looking so much better today!

I just love her little tiny hands!

Sorry that I did not get an update posted yesterday for everyone. I just got back from the hospital and this is the latest update...

Madison is doing a lot better today. She had a rough day yesterday. Yesterday, they were having a hard time keeping her blood pressure up and had her on every possible medication they could to keep it up. Her toes were still somewhat black and she is still having problems with her skin being so fragile and tearing. Each day, she gets about 2 blood transfusions plus platelets to keep her blood levels up. She has so little blood and they have to take so much to run tests so they have to keep re -giving her some. They also started Madison on some medication to close her PDA valve in her heart. All babies are born with it open but it usually closes after birth and Madison's has not. The drs thought this was contributing to her low blood pressure. My dad, Jason, our our old Bishop, Bishop Mower, came down to the hospital and gave Madison another blessing. The blessing really helped as today she was doing so much better.

Today, Madison is off all of the blood pressure medications for the moment. She is keeping it stable and the heart medication has seemed to help. It is a 3 day course of medication so they will test her heart again after the 3rd day. Madison's toes look a lot better. Her one foot is has almost all the black gone! She was much more active today. I even got to hold her in my hands for 2 minutes while the nurse put the jaundice blue lights underneath her. It was great to be able to hold her! The doctors did some head ultrasounds yesterday but we are still waiting for the results to see if their is bleeding in her brain. The doctor thought that there was some but he was unsure how bad it was. We are taking it day by day and glad that she is having a little better of a day today.

Baby Madison Faith Sessions

Baby Madison Faith Sessions was born Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 9:48pm. Madison weighed in at 1 lb 4.5oz and 12 inches long.

On Friday, July 17th, I went into the Doctor for my weekly progesterone shot. I was having a lot of cramping and didn't feel good. The doctor ended up checking me out and they did an ultrasound. the ultrasound showed that I had started to dilate from the inside out, which is rare. Usually, it happens the other way around. The doctor gave me some anti-contraction medication, pain medication and sent me home to take it easy. On Saturday night, I was in a lot of pain and so I sent Jason out to a 24 hour pharmacy to get my pain prescription filled. On Sunday, I still was hurting and so I stayed in bed. Jason went to sacrament meeting with London, while Brayden stayed home with me and took a nap. As Jason was sitting down at church, London started crying and spit up all over Jason and herself, so they headed back home. When Jason got home, I was coming out of the bathroom where my water had broken (this was around noon). I layed back down to wait things out a bit to see what was going to happen. About 1/2 hour later, I started bleeding and we decided that I needed to go into the hospital. My mom came over and watched the kids and Jason took me to the hospital. The doctors looked at me and did an ultrasound and confirmed that my water had broken. Things were under control for the moment and so Jason left to go back home and get the kids home for bed.

Around 8:30pm, I started hemorrhaging really bad. I called Jason and told him to leave for the hospital that minute. the doctor came in to look at me and by that time, I was bleeding so bad, it was like a water facet. The nurses and doctors started prepping me for an emergency c-section. They didn't have time to put in an epidural and so they just put me out the sleeping gas. Jason wasn't allowed in the room, but he wasn't at the hospital yet anyway. I am glad that they just put me out completely. I was crying so hard, just scared for the baby, and then I started going into shock and shaking uncontrollably. When I woke up, the baby was in the NICU and Jason was in the recovery room with me. The down-side of not having an epidural was that when I woke up I hurt so so bad. They started pumping me full of pain medicine but it took a couple hours for me to be able to get the pain under control. Jason was able to go up to the NICU and see Madison. My parents came down to the hospital, after Jason's parents got to our house to watch the kids, and Jason and my dad were able to give Madison a name and a blessing. My mom was a sweetheart and rubbed my back along with my good friend Maelena. Jason and my dad also gave me another blessing and we settled in for the night not knowing what to expect as the docotor said that this inital week of Madison's life would tell a lot.

The next day, Monday, the doctors had to give me ablood transfusion after losing so much blood the night before. That delayed me seeing Madison longer but around 4pm, I was finally allowed to go up and see her. She was/is so tiny and sweet.

Her eyes are still fused shut and it will proably be a couple of weeks unil they open. Her skin is so fragile, they cannot tape anything to her skin or else is would just peel of. The doctors had trouble getting a cental pick line into her for her medications and feedings but on the last try, before doing it surgically, they were able to get one in. She has had some blood circulation problems and so her little toes are black. We are waiting to see if the skin will begin to heal or if they need to ultimatly be amputated. Only time will tell. She is on a ventilator but on a low oxygen pressure. Considering all things she is doing well. We are taking things one day a time and one challenge at a time. We love our sweet baby and are so greatful that she had a chance to gain a body and come into this world. We know that whatever the Lord wants it will all work out and be for the best.

Thank you to everyone for their prayers and well wishes. We will keep you updated through the blog and all the happenings that happen.
Little Madison in the incubator

Her tiny little legs

You can see her black little toes

Madison's left leg is all bandaged up becasue her skin is so fragile

Madison's special incubator blanket, that helpes keep the light out, that my mom, Grandma Rupp made special

More blanket...thanks mom for the special blanket!

Madison's tiny diapers which she swims in-they are smalle than our cell phones

Seeing Madison for the first time

Madison's tiny hand...yes this is all of her fingers next to my pointer finger

The size of her little leg bone

Tiny baby hands

We tryed to get a point of reference to show how little Madison is. She is about the size of a dollar bill

Her hat is so big it covers her whole head and face

Hopsital stay #2...

I am currently going on two weeks being here in the hospital, again, for the 2nd time. I went in with contractions and another hemorrhage. After a couple days, they gave me a blood transfusion which helped me feel better. It has been a long two weeks and I am ready to go home. Jason has been a trouper and taken over being Mr. mom and my parents have watched the kids countless hours. Thanks to everyone who has helped out. The kids have gone and spent the night at their cousins house twice with grandpa and grandma sessions and have seemed to love it. Brayden has loved running around with his cousins. I was hoping the doctors would let me go home today but no such luck. They said I have to wait until Friday, for now... I'm almost 22 weeks and I will feel a lot better when I reach 24 weeks and know that the baby would most likely live if born. One of the most frustrating things for me is that every doctor that has seen me has told me that it would be easier to induce labor and end the pregnancy than keep me pregnant. I told them there was no way I was ending it after coming so far and going through so much. This little baby is coming!

1st Boating Trip of the Season...

Since the boat broke down at the end of May and needed a new engine, we hadn't been out boating. A few weekends ago, we went out, where the boat, it turns out, still had some problems, but we still had fun playing in the water. London is out little fishy and loved being in the water. Brayden wasn't as enthusiastic about the water as he was about figuring out ever little gadget on the boat. Since then , the boat has been fixed and we are looking forward to the rest of the boating season ( Not that I can do anything but ride around in the boat). Yay for boating and the lake!

Sitting on the U-tube and London hanging out in the water...

Brayden checking everything out...

I love my Grandpa Rupp!!! Getting some driving instructions at an early age.

Cute little lolly dolly in her hat and Minnie swimsuit!

I love dirt!!!

A couple of weekends ago, my parents brought in some mulch to spread around the yard. Brayden had an absolute heyday helping and playing the mulch. He was covered head to toe in dirt! He had to be right in the middle of the action helping. Brayden is obsessed with his Grandpa Rupp and had to be by his side at all times. Brayden had a blast but was pretty unhappy when he had to take a bath where we had to scrub a lot to get the black dye from the mulch off him.

Brayden looking like a stud with the shovel

Helping get the mulch out of the trailor.

peek-a-boo

Being a big boy with daddy...

50th Birthday Suprise Party

On May 22nd, my sisters and I threw my parents a surprise 50th birthday party. We started planning it months before it actually took place and both Lizzie and AmyAnn flew in for the party. It was hard to keep the surprise or rather to get my parents to come to the party. It was the day of my mom's actual birthday and they had been planning to be on the lake all day. Finally, I had to tell my dad that I had planned a surprise for mom and that he needed to get her to the party. The morning of the party, Lizzie and AmyAnn both flew in on red eye flights. I picked the up from the airport and we began getting things ready. Lizzie was in charge of invitations, AmyAnn decorations, and I was in charge of the food and cake. In the end, we were really glad my parents even made it to the party as the boat broke down on the lake earlier in the afternoon. However, my dad knew that I had a surprise so they hurried and came to the party. The party turned out great and was even better when AmyAnn and Lizzie walked out. Thanks to the Mowers' for letting us have the party at your house. Happy 50th mom and dad!

50 candles!

The birthday cake!

My mom crying after Lizzie and AmyAnn walked out.

It's a girl!

I am way behind in sharing the news that baby #3 is a girl! Since I have so many ultrasounds, the doctors and ultrasound technicians have thought this for a while now but wouldn't confirm it until we went and had an ultrasound with one of the ultra high powered machines. Yep, it's another little diva for this family. I guess Brayden is going to have to handle being the only male sibling since this is the last little one for our family. I am hoping that this one is as sweet and easy as London is but I am not counting on it since Brayden and London are so different. I am super excited to go through all the baby clothes and sort them out, get rid of the outgrown boy clothes, etc. That is...after I get off "bed rest"...

Adventures with babies...

Each day is an adventure with the kids. Some days, I want to scream and then most days we laugh about all the little things that happen. Some days are a matter of survival and then others just seem to sail right by with everything going OK. Such is life...

Tonight, we had a funny experience that I wanted to write down since this is my new form of scrapbooking. We put London and Brayden to bed around 8pm. They currently share a room and as London has gotten more Mobil the room sharing is not going well. London constantly provokes Brayden by standing at the railing of the crib and giggling and babbling away. Thus, Brayden hears her beckon call to come play and he happily climbs out of his bed and gets into her crib. We try to be really consistent and when we catch Brayden in her crib he gets a swat but the tears last about 30 seconds, just long enough for us to close the door and get back to doing something and he is right back in. London is increasingly more and more just as guilty as Brayden since she provokes him.

Anyway...we put the kids to bed and began watching on our the TV show(s) that we like to watch together. We were sitting on our bed, watching the show on the Internet. We could hear Brayden and London playing but we were ignoring them hoping that they would eventually wear out and fall to sleep. About 30 minutes after being put to bed, out walks Brayden of his room, which was a surprise, since we have turned around the doorknob so we can lock the door, with the full approval of our pediatrician might i add, and on top of it Brayden has taken off his pajamas, which he is very into getting himself dressed and undressed all the time, and he has also taken off his diaper. We haven't really ventured into that area too much so we were surprised to see his little bare bottom running down the hall to our room. Brayden climbs onto our bed and in the room we hear London giggling away. We just have to laugh because at that point what else are we going to do. Jason went and got London out of the crib when he finds that Brayden has peed on the carpet. London is all smiles and being as cute a button in any attempt to stay out of bed. We restart our show, with kids sitting on the bed with us and Brayden back in a diaper. Good thing the show was almost over since all London wanted to do was crawl to the computer to touch the buttons and Brayden wanted to jump on the bed. We played with the kids, finished our show, and put them back to bed. Sometimes you just have to laugh or you would go crazy....

And these days Baby 1 and 2 aren't the only things keeping us on our toes...baby number 3 wants to give us a run for our money too. I know lots of people have been wondering what is going on with this baby and pregnancy so here is the abbreviated scoop.

Last Tuesday, I went in to have some oral surgery. The surgery went fine, I went home and sleep most of the day in a drug induced slumber. Around 11pm, I woke up find that I was hemorrhaging. I thought I was dreaming it but when I got out of bed I assuredly was not. I got Jason which was good because I started to go into shock. Luckily, my dad was on his way home from a bishopric meeting and was able to come right over and help Jason give me a blessing. In the meantime, we had called the labor and delivery department of the hospital and talked with a nurse. She told us we needed to come in...which I knew but I wanted confirmation as well. My dad stayed with the kids, who were asleep anyway, and we headed to the ER. They did all the blood work and a long ultrasound and found that the baby was OK. They called it a placental hemorrhage and a couple of hours later sent us home with orders to follow up with my dr tomorrow. Note, the surgery and problem were not realted...it was just a coincidence which was another reason we went to the hospital. Needless to say, I got put on bed rest for a good week until things got better. This morning, I went back in for a follow up ultrasound and they could actually see the problem on the ultrasound this time. So pretty much the end result is that this problem will keep happening, as it happened with both Brayden and London only much later in the pregnancy, and I have to just take it easy until the next episode. When that happens I'll be back on bed rest and we will start over. The Dr's are 90% certain this will happen again and everyones goal is just to make it to 30 weeks. I start hormone therapies next week, which is supposed to help stabilize the environment for the baby but who knows...until then...the fun continues...In happy news, in 2 weeks we find out what are having! Take the poll and tell us what you think we are having...a boy or girl?

Water Babies...

We have been enjoying the nice weather and being outside. The kids love the swimming pool in the backyard and want to go in it all the time. London is our little fishy. I am excited to see how she does on the boat this year and with the lake. I think she is going to have a blast! Here's just some pictures of the things we have been up to.

We had to wash the car after it stopped raining green (the pollen stopped). Brayden always wants to be right in the middle of the action and help. He loves to vacuum and take out the trash and is learning to be a good little helper.

London just wants to be on the go all the time. Were working on her to take steps but it is slow going. She still hasn't gotten the reflex to walk yet..but she has a cute little army crawl.