Madee's Arrival

Remember how I was going to be induced on Thursday (August 4th)?
I had mixed feelings about an induction. I had been induced with Jaxen, so I knew, generally, what to expect, but I felt kind of bad about evicting her from the uterus before she (or my body) was ready.
But... I knew I was done being pregnant. Five days overdue was my limit.

Well, Wednesday morning, I woke up having contractions. This wasn't anything too exciting, because I have been having contractions for several weeks. Although, of course, I was hopeful that she would make an appearance (I have been hopeful every day for two weeks...). Since I was planning on having the baby the following day, I spent most of the day making sure our house was clean and the dishes and laundry were caught up. I woke Tim up around five (he works during the night) and started on dinner. Once dinner was in the oven (tin foil dinners and bran muffins, just in case you were wondering), I mopped the kitchen floor. It was around then that I noticed my contractions were more painful. Tim was testing our baby monitor to make sure it still worked and I told him over the monitor that I thought I might be in labor.

I finished cleaning the floors, and got dinner on the table. By 7pm when I got the boys up to the table, my contractions were really hurting, but I was afraid they would go away.  Tim started timing my contractions during dinner and we were surprised to find they were about 4 minutes apart. I was finally convinced I was in labor, so we cleaned up dinner and gathered our things to go to the hospital.

We originally planned on dropping our boys off at my parents house and then going to the hospital, but after a couple of contractions in the car, I decided to have my parents pick them up from us at the hospital (have you ever had contractions in a moving vehicle? it doesn't feel awesome). For the last two weeks, whenever I call my parents house, the first thing I get asked is "Are you in labor?" and it brought me some joy to finally say "yes!". I don't think David (who answered the phone) believed me at first. We arranged to have them meet us, and it worked out well that my Dad was already downtown becuase we were going to get there before my Mom.

When we pulled up to the hospital, my Dad was waiting out front. We left him with our car and our boys and went inside. They got me right into a delivery room, and started monitoring my contractions. By now it was almost 9pm, and my contractions were about 2 minutes apart and I was dialated to a five. As soon as I had a bag of IV fluds in me, I got an epidural (I am a big fan of the epidural). They checked me again after my epidural was in -and I was a happier person- and I was at a nine. So they called the doctor on call. Unfortunately my own doctor was at scout camp (blasted scouts!).

When the doctor arrived, I was fully dialated, but my water hadn't broken yet, so he broke my water. Madee had her feet wedged nicely into my ribs, which was rather uncomfortable, especially after my water was broken. I pushed for about ten minutes before our sweet little girl was born (at 11:54PM). She came out clinging to her umbilical cord (which was kind of around her neck, but it wasn't causing her any problems). The doctor got it out of her hands, but a soon as Tim cut the cord, she grabbed it again. They had to pry her tiny fingers off of it! She had a lot of stuff in her lungs, so the nurses took her and started suctioning her nose and mouth. As soon as she was cleaned out, they gave her to Tim, and he and I held her. Her eyes were wide and alert, and she was healthy, perfect, and beautiful. We were immediately in love.

7 lbs 4 oz

Dr. Ogelsby and our cute delivery nurse, Jodi

I think it's safe to say that Tim is pretty crazy about his little girl. 

Daddy giving her her first bath

Madee and her (very tired) Mama

We think she's pretty fantastic.