Introducing............

Madison Grace! I have some fantastic pictures ordered and once I receive them I will upload them for all to see. This one was on our way home this past Saturday. I am sorry that it has taken so long to post a photo and her birth story, but things have been a bit hectic.

Last Monday night I went into the hospital to be induced. At 10 pm they started Pitocin. I started out at 2 cm and if things went well she was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday afternoon. Things did not go well. By midnight I was having contractions but nothing bad enough to need an epidural. Through the night I dilated to 3 cm. At 7 am my doctor broke my water hoping to speed things up. He also upped the pitocin. At this time it looked like Maddie would not arrive until later that evening. All through the day they checked me. I stayed at 3 cm forever!! Then I would move a half of a cm. By 10 pm I was only to 5 cm. My doctor again upped the pitocin. And I now had an epidural. I finally got to 7 cm early Wednesday morning but my contractions were never strong enough to move. My doctor really did not want to do a c-section if there was any way to avoid it. We held out as long as well could, but after 36 hours of labor and my water being broken for more than 24 there was no other option.

At 9 am on Wednesday morning I was wheeled to the OR. At 9:16 we heard her first cry. It was amazing!!! But between the drugs, nausea and fatigue I could not hold her or even care to see her. I felt horribly guilty about that, but know that it was out of my control. After about an hour my body began to relax and I held my precious little girl and everything else melted away. All I could do was hug her and kiss her. She was beautiful. She was perfect. She was mine!!

On Thursday morning she had developed jaundice and was kept under the photo therapy lights all day except for feedings, and then she was brought to me for those. It was so hard to be separated from her! On Friday they took pity on me and brought the whole bed and light into my room so that I could at least see her. It was hard to have her so close and not be able to hold her though. Thankfully they allowed her to come home with me on Saturday and she is using a Bili Bed at home. She is being retested tomorrow and we are praying that her levels are down so that we can discontinue using the bed. I just want her near me at all times and hate that she has to be in her bed all day.

All in all things are going great. She is a very good baby! She sleeps well and eats well. I am trying to nurse but because of the jaundice I have had to supplement with formula and she prefers that to breast milk. She likes to be lazy and let the bottle do all of the work! I am hoping that I can return to just nursing soon, but we will have to see how things go.

I am recovering well from the surgery, though it is not fun! I am very sore and am ready to be up and about again. Daddy is loving every minute of having his Maddie home.

I think that about sums it all up. But then again I am hopped up on percocet so I may have just typed a bunch of gibberish!! ;-)