Baby Madelyn Has Arrived!!

Madelyn arrived on December 7, 2009 at 9:33 am. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and is 20 inches long. We are so happy to have her in our family and that she is healthy.

I'm not a big fan of newborn baby pictures, because they still are so swollen and it is hard to tell what they are going to look like. But because we have so many people asking for pictures, here they are. I'm looking forward to posting more in a couple weeks after the swelling has gone down.
Hannah is already being a great big sister and sharing her things with Madelyn. She is also telling everyone how much she loves Madelyn. She is a sweet girl.
Jake loves to rub Madelyn's hair. He is a good big brother and likes to tell everyone that she is our baby. He is also already doing a great job at throwing away diapers. =)
So yes we barely made it in time to the hospital for Madelyn to be born. Just a minute or two later and Paul would have been delivering her in her truck.

My other two labors were very similar in how everything happened, so I just expected this one to be the same. So here is a brief summary of what happened.

3:30 - I think it is time to go to the hospital.

4:30 - Go to the hospital.

5:30ish - I am dilated to a two and have stronger contractions every 5 minutes, but they tell me I can go home and make it sound like I probably won't have her for another couple days.

6:00 - Go home and go back to bed.

7:00 - Get up and still having stronger contractions. (Hum, I thought the contractions were going to get weaker.)

8:00 - Contractions consistently 2 minutes apart and starting to really hurt. (Why hasn't my water broke like my other two labors. Oh well, I'll stay home until it breaks.)

8:30 - Contractions are strong enough that they cause me to start to puke. (This is when I start thinking, well maybe we better go to the hospital. I'll wait just a little longer.)

9:00 - Get in the truck and STRONGLY encourage Paul to get the kids out in the truck as fast as he can because I REALLY want some pain medicine.

9:05 - Drop the kids off.

9:07 - Drive to the hospital. My contractions are killing and Paul thinks I'm going to leave a permanent indentation on the truck door handle. (Better the door than breaking his hand right.)

9:20 - Get to the hospital. My hands and feet are numb, so Paul helps me into the wheel chair. I have another hard contraction while sitting down that causes me to push. (Was that her head I just felt?!?)

Paul parks the truck while they ask me to fill out some paper work. (Are you kidding me, I can barely breath through the contractions much less fill out paper work!!) I have another hard contraction that makes me almost fall out of the chair. I hear someone say, "no..try not to push". (Um, ya...I barely feel like I can control that. It's more like a reflex from the pain.)

Paul comes in and I hear someone say they need to take me to triage to make sure I'm in labor. (WHAT!! Are you kidding me?! Can't you tell how much pain I am in.) Thank goodness one of the nurses used to be a midwife and she steps up and says, "No, she is not going to triage. Take her to the closest room the baby is coming now." Paul makes sure my wishes are known that I want an epidural. But I hear that it is too late. (WHAT!!! You mean I'm going to feel everything. Oh man, oh man!!!)

9:33 - We get in the room and they barely get my pants off and I have another contraction and push the baby most of the way out and the next push she is all the way out. (Wow, I actually did it.) I was glad the nurse used to be a midwife. The cord was wrapped around Madelyn's neck, but she got it off quickly. Since Madelyn came out quickly it didn't cause any problems. She is a healthy baby girl. =)

So not having an epidural wasn't as bad as I imagined. I still have great respect and admiration for all of you that plan natural births with no pain medication.

I loved afterwards not having anything hooked to me and just feeling like I could walk out of the hospital right then. I've had a great recovery and Madelyn is doing great.