"Maggie"

Magdalyn Jean Farnum

Photo Album

Maggie Jean was born at 7:07 pm on March 8^th, 2004 at Cox South Regional Hospital in Springfield, Missouri, to Norm & Trish Farnum.  She weighed 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and measured 21 inches long!  Due to our blood incompatibility factor, we chose to have this pregnancy monitored by a specialist.  And although faced with the possibility of an exchange transfusion, thankfully, that was NOT necessary, and only a week's stay in the hospital under phototherapy was all the treatment she required!!!  We praise our Heavenly Father every day!

Some of our birth experience is chronicled in the gallery that follows.

We hope you enjoy viewing these shots...

An example of Maggie's earlier ultrasounds...

Oct 15, 2003

(one of our favorites!)

Dec 11, 2003

March 1^st, 2004:  Are we going to have a baby today?

At 37 weeks, before the amniocentesis was done, another ultrasound was performed to determine baby's position...

... and to measure Maggie's blood velocity in her "middle cerebral artery" -- she always checked out OK!

Trish, relaxing during a 'pregnancy non-stress test'... before learning that Maggie was not quite ready...

After we received the results of the amniocentesis, we learned that Maggie's lungs were not sufficiently mature for her to be delivered.  We had to wait another week before our doctor would induce labor... but the date arrived before we knew it!  So we arrived at the hospital at 7:30 on the following Monday morning and went over our birth plans with the attendant nurse.  At 8:45, Trish was started on a drip IV of pitocin.  Contractions slowly began and continued with gentle regularity throughout the day.  Then at about 5 o'clock that evening, they began to increase in intensity, until just after 7 pm, at which time Maggie 'crowned' and the doctor was called in!  Then, at 7:07 pm, everyone in the delivery room cheered as our little Maggie made her entrance into the world!  What a blessing!!!

Phototherapy treatments began the day after delivery, and continued for about a week.  Maggie was under as many as four distinct ultra-violet light systems at a time for about two days of her 'tanning session'...

And a week after delivery, here's what we had to offer...

Sunday evening, March 14^th, 2004

Our Maggie was in the hospital for nearly nine days.  During that time she was monitored in the nursery, particularly for signs of hemolytic jaundice, and to what degree that it might manifest.  We had braced ourselves for the possibility of an exchange transfusion, even asking for and having blood donated from some special friends!  Thankfully, she did not require treatment to that extreme, and only needed phototherapy for a week of her hospital stay.

Monday, March 15^th, 2004

Tuesday, March 16^th, 2004

WAAAAAAA!!!

... all dressed up for her first official portrait!

Relaxing with daddy, March 17^th, the morning of Maggie's discharge from the hospital!

("Nice hair, Dad!")

Hand and foot prints for our album...

March 17^th, 2004 - 10:45 am

Our 'papers are in order' and we are officially discharged from the hospital!

... and overjoyed about going home!

YEP!  I'm OVERJOYED and READY to GO!!!

She was dismissed from the hospital on Wednesday, March 17^th, 2004!!!

To our many wonderful friends...

Thank you so very much for your encouraging calls and prayers!!!

We also thank those special friends who have helped (or continue to help)

with Maggie's hospital & physician bills.  One day we'll have them all behind us.

Norm & Trish Farnum

*  We had no trouble knowing what we would call our little blessing as we both loved the old song, * When You & I Were Young, Maggie.  But desiring a biblical name, Norm thought it could be a short version of Magdalene, so we finally settled on Magdalyn Jean.  We deliberated over different ways to spell Magdalyn (Trish kind of preferred Magdaline, but Norm liked it with a y) and also thought about adding an extra middle name, but unless we change our minds (and it still could happen) we will leave it as is.  We wanted to use Jean since it is Trish's mother's middle name, and we had also thought about Grace since one of Hannah's middle names is Mercy.  However, since Jean is a feminine form of John which means "God is gracious" we decided it might not be necessary to add the third name.    You would think that since we've known that she is a girl since October we would have had her name settled long ago, but we have taken longer with this one than any other.

Thank you & Yah bless.

Back to Maggie's Home Page