Arrival of Hadlee Marie

On the morning on June 1st we all got up early and went to the hospital. I had to be there by 7:30. I sat in pre-op for a long time, getting my blood drawn, my blood pressure checked, my iv put in, a million questions from anesthesia . . . Jeremy and I watched the Today show. At about 8:45 they took me into surgery (Jeremy had to stay in the hall) where they attached all the monitors and put in my spinal. This was about the time I started to get nervous only because it suddenly became "real" and Jeremy wasn't with me. And maybe it had something to do with the resident sticking a needle in my spine. Once they got me laid out on the table Jeremy was allowed in. During surgery it felt hard to breath sometimes because I was numb into my upper chest but they never had to give me an oxygen mask. I just had to not let it freak me out. My blood pressure went down occasionally and they gave me epinephrine a few times, then my blood pressure went up a little too far but they just watched that. It also felt like it took forever because the doctor said he was going to take his time going in to look for adhesions and such. Not quite as quick as the first one. But for this one I wasn't tired and was very coherent. I could hardly stay awake for the first c-section. The hospital doesn't allow video or pictures in the operating room anymore until they get to this point. They used the same incision and size as last time and said Hadlee had a hard time fitting through. I didn't feel much yanking though, just a little. Looking at this picture, it looks like Hadlee felt a lot of yanking though!

9:33 am-- Hadlee Marie was born. Dr. Braquet cut her cord.

Once the baby was taken over to the warmer table Jeremy got to cut the cord again just for the symbolism. She was 7 lbs 12.8 oz and 20 inches long. (For those of you wanting to compare, Maddox was 7 lbs 7 oz. and 20 inches also.)

There she is, fresh from the womb and screaming. She cried a lot more than Maddox did. I was sort of worried that was a sign of how she would be at home, but so far it hasn't been that way.

After they checked the baby out and made sure she was healthy and strong they wrapped her up and gave her to Jeremy. He was so cute with her and teary eyed. While they stiched me back up we hung out like this, looking at Hadlee, touching the tiny bit of her that was exposed, and talking to her.

After they got all done Dr. Braquet gave us an update on what he found inside from the last c-section (some normal scar tissue) and what he did to prevent adhesions with this surgery. He probably told me more but I don't remember much at this point. Just relief at being done and having a healthy baby.

After surgery they wheeled me out in the hallway and retrieved Mom, Dad, and Maddox from the waiting room to come meet us. Maddox was very quiet and unsure about Jeremy and I. I'm sure our clothing wasn't helping her comfort level. And why was Mom holding this new little baby? They took us to recovery after that where I got poked and prodded some more. My contracting uterus hurt the most of all of this. I mean, really really bad! I also felt nauseous because they sat me up too soon. That was my fault though because I said I wanted to try to nurse, which Hadlee was not interested in at all. As soon as the nurse reclined me a little bit I felt better.

We spent about an hour in recovery then I was wheeled to my room where Mom, Dad and Maddox were waiting. Hadlee was in the nursery for a while, then she was brought to my room. Gammy and Maddox really got to meet Hadlee at this point. Maddox kept want to see her little fingers and toes and touch them.

Gammy gave Maddox some pictures to look at while she sat next to me in the bed. She started showing them one at a time to Hadlee, over and over again. "Haddy, look, Haddy look" Hadlee was awake, so she was looking. How can you miss it when a photo is shoved an inch from your face?

At night everyone would go home and Jeremy would cuddle with Hadlee. Proud Daddy!

Hadlee was born on Tuesday and I went home on Thursday. One day shorter than normal. I was feeling pretty good and SO much better than Maddox's c-section! But Maddox also broke my heart when she had to leave with Papa at nap time Wednesday and was crying. I told Jeremy to walk her out to Papa's car at least and she was sort of being drug out the door. She turned around to me on the way out and said through her tears " Bye bye Momma". I said, "I'm going home tomorrow if they'll let me. Hadlee was a little bit jaundiced so we also had to see if they'd let her go home. The pediatrician thought she'd need a light but told me that I could have one at home. Turned out she didn't need a light anyway.

Maddox held Hadlee for the first time on Friday. She was fresh from a bath so that's why she was naked.

Hadlee had a huge diaper blow out on Saturday and got it all over her carseat, back, legs and even hands so she had her first bath. She didn't scream at all as much as Maddox did for her first bath. She cried a little bit, but has been quiet for her baths for the most part. She's a very easy baby and now that life is getting a little normal, that new baby jaunced sleepiness is gone and she gets up usually once a night to nurse. She nurses about every 1.5 hours to 2 hours during the day now. She goes through a lot more diapers and clothes than Maddox did! It seems like I'll change a poopy diaper and within 15 minutes she's done it again. The clothes changing is slowing down though. Partly due to her spitting up less and I think partly due to using up Huggies newborn diapers which leaked more than Pampers do.

As for me, I'm healing very quickly. I made it through the whole day yesterday without even an ibuprofen! I still have to remember that I did have major surgery and not do too much or I get pretty sore by the end of the day. Sometimes when I feel no pain I do things I shouldn't or too much. The pounds are coming off very quickly . . . but unfortunately the shape isn't coming back just as quickly. I'm ready to be able to take real walks, jog a little, lift a little, and fit back into my summer clothes. I'm really tired of wearing the same few things that fit and don't squeeze on my incision too much. Speaking of those clothes, I guess I better find some so we can go outside!

Memorial Weekend Pre-baby

Now these pictures are out of order, but it's too difficult to move these top three to the bottom of the page. On Monday the guys went golfing and Mom and I took Maddox to Lake Tom-a-Lex park. Usually Maddox is afraid of big slides, and this one is very tall, but she did it with no fear this day! Climbing up to the very tip top . . .

We fed the ducks and geese before we had our own little picnic.

Now back to the correct order of things:

In the weeks before baby Hadlee Maddox had a good time playing with and exploring her baby things. She crawls in the storage area underneath the basinette and reads books and uses the carseat as her new tv watching chair. Even today she pulled the carseat to the middle of the room and watched a little bit of The View.

Here's a couple of pictures of Hadlee's finished room. I decoupaged her letters above the closet doors and they're really cute if I do say so myself.

I made these three flower pictures out of quilting material to match the flowers on her growth chart that's hanging by the window across the room.

This is my last pregnancy picture, a couple of days before the c-section, at 39 weeks.

On Saturday morning Gammy escorted Maddox to a Cinderella tea party. Papa and I sat outside and read books since they had limited space inside. She had just gotten that doll from Gammy the night before so she was not going to part with it. She named it Baby Giggles. Maddox got to wear her princess dress that Gammy made her. She was one of the youngest ones there so I think she was a little overwhelmed and shy about the whole thing, but she seemed to enjoy it anyway when she was telling me about it afterward. The tea party was a fundraiser for West Side Civic Theatre which does a couple of outdoor musicals in the Lewisville ampitheater every summer. The weekend after Hadlee's birth we went to see the Cinderella musical there.

'I'm shy, I won't smile, I won't be very involved, and I'll just watch and take it all in.'

Shy Maddox didn't want to sit on Cinderella's lap (although there is a picture of her and Cinderella on Gammy's camera) so they held Princess Giggles instead. On Saturday evening we went to a park where we cooked out and Dad and Jeremy played frisbee golf. Gammy gave Maddox a new stroller for her baby so she pushed it around the park.

And then she sat in it, looking very pleased.

Maddox found this balloon floating around somewhere so I stuck it in her shirt so she could have a baby too like Mommy. She was very happy with that idea and everyone at the park thought we were a funny site.

We took a little vacation to Charlotte Saturday night. I really have been wanting to go swimming and float for a while with this big belly! Besides, a little mini vacation was just the break we needed before having a new baby. We stayed at a hotel that had free dinner, drinks (adult and pop), popcorn, and breakfast. We went swimming before dinner, after dinner, and the next morning since that's all Maddox wanted to do. That was fine, that's why we went! In the couple days before I kept telling her we were going to go swimming and she kept saying "swimming? Grammy's house?" I guess that's the only place she remembers swimming before. My family checking out this picture may notice that this swimming suit doesn't quite fit as well as it did at Christmas and spring break! My tummy is too big now! After leaving the hotel on Sunday we drove up to Dan Nicholas Park which is awesome! Jeremy hadn't been there before so we had to take him. It has a lake with paddle boats, petting zoo, carousel, train ride, animal viewing area, snake house, mini golf, and a great playground. It's all about 50 cents to a $1 each. Such cheap fun! First we rode the paddle boats and fed the ducks, which Maddox had been asking to do for a few days by then.

At the petting zoo Maddox ran around looking and petting all the animals she could. She is DEFINITELY her mother's daughter in this aspect! She loves petting the goats and sheep and was so animated about it. She just darted from one fence to the next jabbering away about what she saw and telling us about it. It was funny to see how excited she was about it. At the reptile house she also had no qualms about petting the snake. She just about squeezed it a little too hard. I even got Jeremy to pet the snake, which he's scared to death of. I said "if your 2 year old will do it then you can".

Mommy is in sheep heaven! I gave them one "Maaaa" and they all came running to me. They know I'm their friend.

I guess Daddy wanted to document that Baby sis was with us. Only 2 weeks left!

This is the first time Maddox rode the horse by herself without me standing next to her with a hand on her. She made Mommy a little nervous but did just fine. She loves the carousel.

After we rode the carousel Jeremy and I played a round of miniature golf where I beat him 39 to 43. I only mention it because he's still upset by it and can't stand to lose to me. It may have been my FOUR holes in 1 vs. his one that caused the problem. He had an off day. Maddox threw her ball around and just watched very patiently. We headed to the playground after that for a little while before we drove back home. It started to rain just as we decided it was time to go. Worked out perfectly! We spent 4 hours at the park . . . so much to do! Maddox was strangely brave at the playground and went down all the big slides and even the tunnel twisty slides by herself. It was a nice change.

I guess the next thing on our list to do is have a baby! Last week I was dilated to a 3 and 50% effaced. We'll see what this Thursday's visit brings!

April's Activities

I haven't blogged about anything in quite a while! Thought I better post some random pictures that I've taken over the past month. Sometimes Maddox wakes up from her nap and doesn't let me know that she's up. She'll usually play in her room or her sister's room quietly. One day I heard noises in her room and this is what I found. On an earlier warm day of spring we went up to Horizons Park to hike around, have a picnic, play at the playground and play some frisbee golf. I know I always post pictures of Maddox swinging, but how can you not when she's this joyful about it?

Awww, how cute.

Jeremy did a 10K in April here in Winston. I didn't really take any pictures that were worthwhile except this one. At the race start they had the Winston Salem State University marching band march over from another area and then they played during the race. WSSU is a primarily black school so the marching band is not exactly what I grew up with in Savannah and was really cool! Maddox loved them and was a little disturbed when they left. This was the look on Maddox's face when she saw them marching over and playing. Try to tell me she won't be a band geek like her mom!

At church one day Maddox's class got bandaids that said "God heals us!" and in the car on the way home she was being really silly with it. She started by sticking it over her mouth and then stuck it on her nose.

This morning we went to Thomasville for the Spring Daze Festival. It was Main Street full of crafty vendors, plants, food, and other things like that. They also had chain saw carving and we stood out and watched for about 30 minutes. It was pretty hot but leave it to resourceful Maddox to find a shady spot under her Mama's belly. If you look closely you'll also notice that I have no ankle bones anymore.

Only 31 more days until baby sister is born! No, she still doesn't have a name. I'm still feeling good. I am completely ready to be past the heartburn and inclined sleeping though! I think my ankles are only so swollen today because I had a concert last night and a standing rehearsal the night before. Too much standing 3 days in a row. I've also been having lots of Braxton-Hicks, most of which don't hurt, just noticeable. We're getting excited about meeting our new daughter!

Easter

Maddox and Grammy colored Easter eggs in Florida. Maddox wasn't very interested at first and then made big messes when she got interested. Being gentle with eggs is not her thing, so she'd plop them in the cup, splashing color everywhere and then stir them with her whole hand in the color. Oh well, we went swimming after she got done and washed it all off.

Grammy had an Easter Egg hunt in FL for her too. Most of this hunt was with real eggs so Maddox broke most of them.

How many people does it take to find an egg?

Saturday Daddy took Maddox to an egg hunt at church while I worked. She came home with way too much chocolate.

Sunday morning we looked for eggs in our own backyard and flowerbeds. She still needs lots of help and wants you to hold her hand and help her look. Everytime she found one she'd suck in her breathe like it was a big surprise.

We went across the street to utilize the neighbor's tulips for Easter pictures. Maddox had no desire to look at the camera though, but playing with her eggs is pretty cute too.

Maddox didn't at all want to pose with Mommy either so this is about as good as it gets. She's even got her little white lace Easter gloves Grammy bought for her. Isn't this tree gorgeous? It's another neighbor's. It makes for a great Easter backdrop though.

"Open, Mommy?" She's already got an M&M in her mouth. Some of them had goldfish in them but when I'd open those for her she'd say "No, close it."

One of Maddox very favorite things to do is empty the grocery bags after we go shopping. She'll pull everything out of the bags for me and I put it away. And she does this all excitedly. Last week in FL Grammy came home with grocery bags and I said "You'd better get ready quick. She won't stop emptying until it's done!" She found her winter hat in the car on the way home and wanted to put it on so I had to take a picture of the hat/Easter dress combo.

I started my 32nd week today and will have a new baby no later than 7 weeks from tomorrow! Wow, how time has flown by! My c-section is scheduled for June 1st but I'm still sort of hoping I go into labor on my own in May, even if the end result is a c-section anyway. Lots of walking going on here!