Madelynn Ashley is here

Little Miss Madelynn Ashley Carman arrived a few days early - Wednesday, October 13th at 3:04 pm via C-Section.

To catch up, I went into my last routine doctor visit Wednesday morning and everything seemed fine. I did the NST - she was "reactive" and was checked by the doctor and was "closed". We did the last AFI just to make sure all was well and was completely shocked by the outcome.

The ultrasound revealed that there was very little amneotic fluid around Ms. Maddy. She looked at me and said "you're going to have this baby today". I was shocked. She said, don't worry, but this baby will be delivered today. The doctor won't let you go home.

She then, left the room and "broke the news to Dr. W" and he came in to inform me that we were moving her birthday up a few days to ensure that she was safe and healthy. What I didn't know at the time was that the doctor had said that the placenta was no longer doing it's job and that's why they were taking her early.

The next several hours were a complete blur. I was crying and stressed. Jim was supposed to drive in to work - but he didn't because he didn't feel well. Thank God for that. I really think God kept him home that day. :) He was home playing video games. I walked in and yelled downstairs "Jim it's GO time - let's go".

I finished packing, had a small panic attack on Jim and we took off to the hospital. Jim dropped me off and I walked to Labor and Delivery. They had me go directly back to the surgical prep area.

The nurses were great there. They were so upbeat that it really helped me not over react to my day and circumstance. I had to do a bunch of paper work and get into my beautiful gown for surgery. They started my IV. That was probably the worst part of the whole experience. It took the nurse and anestheologist four times to get it into my body. They tried my right arm twice and my right hand and finally ended up putting it into my left hand. I don't think I can ever express through the written word how much that sucked and HURT!!! But they did get it done and got my fluids going.

Once that was all done, my husband was allowed to come back and visit. I needed that. He helped me stay calm. My parents were eventually allowed to come back for a bit to visit before they wheeled me into the OR.

At 2:30 pm they took me out for the C-section. They got me set up with the spinal drug (which hurt, but was easier than the IVs). Then they laid me down and got me all plugged in to start the surgery. Everything was so official - the called out start and stop times on everything. I did learn that my doc had a sense of humor. Just about everyone in the OR was fantastic. My hubby was able to sit right by my head and hold my hand. All I could feel was the pushing and pulling. No pain, just weird. She was born at 3:04 pm. They had me put back together and back out into recovery about an hour later.

Once I got back into recovery, they brought our little bundle out and got her set up to breast feed a bit. The nurse helped me get her latched on. We were surprised to how well she latched on. She did great. After about an hour, they brought me to our room (1331) and this is where we sit... recovering and enjoying our blessing.

More to come later. :)

Madelynn Ashley arrived today

Today I went into the doctor's office for my weekly check and found out that my fluid levels were extremely low. The ultrsound tech said immediately "I don't see any fluid around your baby at all. It looks like you're having this baby today."

Panic set in. I was so worried that she wasn't ok. But the doctor reassured me that all was fine.

We got to the hospital today about 12:00 noon. Things started happening pretty fast from that point on. I had all my paperwork to complete, IVs, blood work, hydration etc... The only really tough thing was the IV - but I knew that would happen. It took them four tries to get one set. The first two times hurt like the dickens. The second two times they thankfully numbed the area for me. They finally ended up putting in my left hand. Ick. The C-section was scheduled for 2:30 pm.

They wheeled me into the operating room at 2:34 pm. Then all the official stuff started. They started "marking time" and geting all the stuff lined up for the doctor to appear. They completed my spinal fairly quickly. Once that was done, it was officially "go time".

The doctor showed up. Jim came in with the camera and looked as nervous about it as I felt. Once they started the actual "section", it was all done within 10 minutes. The doctor picked her up so I could see her. She was icky sticky yet completely beautiful. She cried a bunch which is good since she wan't born naturally. The doctor said "all the crying is good - we need that to clear her lungs".

We got some good pictues in the room and out. Jim got to wear a cool costume for the delivery too. :)


All is well!

Obsession with Rocks

Ever since Reagan moved up to the preschool room, she's been bringing home rocks. Rocks in her pockets, rocks in her bin. Rocks everywhere. Over the weekend, she collected about 10 rocks from various places. Oh, and don't threaten to throw them away. She will have a FIT!

Maybe she'll be a geologist?

Childrens Museum

Today was a great day. Mimi and I kept Reagan out of school and took her down to the Childrens Museum and the Museum Center. I started Reagan's morning with a question over breakfast - "would you like to go to school or stay home and play with mommy". I knew it was a silly question, but I wanted to have fun.

So we hung out for breakfast and got ready while we waited for Mimi to get done with her chiropractor appointment. We took off about 10am and got downtown around 11am. We started our trip off with lunch (of course Ms. Picky didn't eat). Then we headed to the museum.

She played hard. The first room we hit was the "ball room". They had balls all over the floor that you could pick up and shoot hoops with and all sorts of things. That intrigued her for a long time. We finally got her interested in doing other things - Legos, Rocks, painting and the sand and water tables. We played hard for about three hours.

We piled in the car about quarter after three. She fell asleep pretty quickly - I guess we wore her out. She slept for about an hour while we drove around and did some errands. We met Papa for ice cream. She of course slept through the whole thing and woke up as he was leaving. She got some ice cream as well and ate just about all of it on the way home.

We had a great day. I'm so glad I have that memory before Madelynn is born.

Good morning

This morning Reagan woke up, got out of her room, shut the gate, came downstairs and woke me and Jim up. :)

Dualling contractions

Tonight we went out with Paul and Emily. Em and I are due three weeks apart. It's nice because we will be off from work at the same time together again. Hopefully with the second kid we can be more relaxed.

Anyway, we got our parents to take our kids and took off for downtown. We had Boi Na Braza (all you can eat meat) and walked around the Square a bit. I honestly didn't think I could eat as much as I did.

The funny thing was that we both ended up having contractions one after the other at times. I stood up from dinner and almost immediately had one while trying to walk to the bathroom. We decided that the "girls" were trying to talk to each other.

Fall Festival

Today we took Reagan to the Totter Otterville Fall Festival. It wasn't anything major - just a small festival that had all sorts of things to entertain the kids. We went on a train ride to the pumpkin patch. We got to pick out a pumpkin with Reagan. It was cute. She wanted two - even tried to carry two of them at a time.

She got to fish, do tie dye, paint her pumpkin (which we totally forgot there) and get her face painted. We did all sorts of stuff. She had a blast.

We got back in the car and she was worn out after 2 hours. Actually, I think we were all worn out after the two hours. Either way, we finally did a fall festival with Reagan. Glad we could do it before Madelynn shows up. :)