3 weeks

We made it to the 3 week mark that everyone says is the hardest part. Things are going pretty good. We have had several bumps along the way but we are surviving. We had one rough night that we had to put our little princess in the car and drive around at 3 am to get her to sleep so we could get come sleep. We are working on getting the 4-5 hour sleep interval at night and getting her to sleep in the cradle. The past couple days she has only slept if someone is holding her. Yes, I have broke the rule a couple times of letting her sleep with me, but in the middle of the night with no sleep I could care less. Some recent advice was to try and swaddle her tighter to feel like she is being held. This seems to be helping. So much to learn along the way!! We do still think she is adorable and a gift from God. I am getting better at sleeping when she sleeps round the clock and telling what her cries mean.

Our cats have finally adjusted to the new addition. I know they were hoping it would leave soon. For the first week or so they hid and only came out to eat. My cat was vomiting every morning for a few days that poor Chris had to clean up. They have finally given in to the fact that she is here to stay and now come and hang out with us. You can see in the picture my cat is happy to be with the girls now.

Chris is having a great time dressing her up in coordinating outfits, hats and socks. Also, as evidenced by her picture he loves to do her hair (I am not sure she would love it). This is pretty funny since the next day her hair remained spiked because it dried this way! Her great grandmother came to see her for the first time and she had crazy hair! (Note to self her hair dries fast so style it quickly)

Here are some updated pictures of all the fun we are having with her!

Blessed

Well here we are....we did it!! And right up until that moment it still seemed so surreal. I cannot believe we have been blessed with such a beautiful, healthy baby girl!!

The delivery went pretty well. We started the induction at 8am and she was born at 7:26pm. There was a slow period around lunch time where there was no progress and the doctor was about to send us for a C-section. Luckily, I was able to labor a little longer with an epidural and sure enough things went really fast! I have to say my labor was not bad at all, probably because the epidural had messed up a little and they had to bolus a dose right at the pushing stage. This was so great...I was numb, I could not feel contractions, and the doctor had to tell me to stop pushing because she was already out!! Madelyn did have the cord wrapped once around her neck (which was scary), but I was assured by the best nurse ever (Jenni) that she would be fine.

Madelyn is a little over one week old now and I have learned sooooooooo much. Madelyn is doing great. Her first Dr visit went wonderful. I started crying in the parking lot thinking they were going to draw blood from her and I would have to see her scream. After we got in the room, he was so pleased with how she looked he did not feel the need to check her bilirubin. No pokes, yeah!!! She is doing great at nursing I could not ask for much more (except sleep.....but that is ok). As for me (now known as 'mom'), I am also doing good. I am still adjusting to the sleep schedule, but that gets better with every day. Here are some updated pics. There will be plently more to come!

Madelyn Paige has arrived...

Below are a few pictures of our baby girl!

Madelyn Paige
Born - April 4, 2008 @ 7:26pm
Weight - 6 lbs 15 ounces
Length - 19.5 inches

40 weeks and counting

Ok, well here we are at the due date and no signs of Madelyn. We made sure to take this picture today of what mommy looked like when she was supposed to arrive. This is no April Fool's joke our little girl is very happy where she is. Chris and I made a deal this morning that no jokes would be made between us or to anyone regarding the impending birth. We went to the Doctor today to find out there has been minimal progress. Dilation to 1cm and more effacement. She has not dropped to the point she should be right now which is causing some concern. Apparently, dropping at the last minute is more like a second or third child kinda thing. Today my doctor decided to strip the membranes to increase odds of labor soon (72 hours) and schedule an induction for Friday morning!! So we wait to see if the procedure worked or proceed with induction if we do not get bumped by someone needing the induction more than I do! We have also been informed that with all the abnormal things that have happened this late in the pregnancy that he still worries there may be something causing this and our odds of a C-section have increased from the average 20% to 50%. At this point I am fine with whatever. I am also officially off work since my hands are so swollen and painful. It is very hard for me to write records, palpate animals and of course inpossible for me to do surgery. Sitting at home waiting for her to arrive is driving me crazy, but an end in sight is helping a little!!

Update at 39 weeks

We went to the Doctor yesterday to find out that our baby girl has found her way into the pelvis. This means that the likelihood of her flipping again is slim. He was hoping to induce this week but there has been no change in dilation and he does not want to risk it. Being in the medical field I totally agree with this. So looks like we are heading towards the due date. I have been having more contractions which is a good thing. Here are a few pics of the belly that has grown quickly over the past couple weeks. So we are just waiting for her to make a debut. We have also decided at the last minute to change the spelling of her name from Madeleine to Madelyn.

Folks we have a wild one here

Ok, well for those keeping up with my crazy end of the pregnancy I wanted to give an update. I am 38 weeks and my dear, sweet Madeleine has still found room to flip again. As of today, she is head down. It has become evident today that she is not dropping and the fluid level is good. This is allowing her the room to move about. At this point, she can continue to flip about if she does not drop. My doctor says there may be a couple reasons for her doing this all of which have nothing to do with her health thank goodness. Basically, he is going to induce me the second I am dilated and she is head down or take us to a C-section at this point should she flip again. A moment of reality hit today when he told me that if I was dilated today we would be heading to the hospital today for induction to catch her head down!! So we are scheduled for a Monday appointment to see what little Madeleine's plans are! Back in the waiting game!!!!

Nursery Update

Well, here we are in the final 2 weeks. We finally got our furniture in last week. I am so excited the way it turned out. I was a little worried the dark furniture would over power the room but I think adding the green to the color scheme helped out a lot. The only thing I have left at this point is to decorate the walls which will be my task this week (I hope). I plan to paint polka dots on the walls, hang her initials or a shelf behind the bed, and add something above the chest of drawers. I think a trip to Hobby Lobby is in order!! Be back with an update Tuesday with her current preferred position. Some of the pics are above and yes my lovely cat Chaz was following me around in every picture!!