Living the Life and Loving It!: Madison's Birth Day and Labor Story

Here she is!!

Madison Grace Daniels

Born April 27th, 2013 at 12:47am

7lbs, 6oz, 19 inches long

Madison's Story:

My pregnancy with Madison was very similar to my pregnancy with Barrett - uncomplicated, pain-free, and almost enjoyable! The major difference with Madison is I wasn't stressed out or worried about...anything! I didn't look up anything about pregnancy online and allowed myself the freedom to just enjoy being pregnant and not worry about every little thing like I did with Barrett. In January, I started working out again, and I started eating a better diet, both of which made a world of difference in this pregnancy. I felt healthy and active, and I was able to keep up with my toddler the whole time as well (at least until he ended up in a cast...but that's another story).

So, after talking to my doctor, we decided to let the baby do her thing and come when she was ready. I wanted to experience a natural delivery and let my body do it's thing, without having to worry about inducing, c-sections, or pitosin. (I wasn't induced with Barrett, but ended up using the pitosin to "speed things along" and it was not an enjoyable experience.) My doctor was willing to be patient, and I wasn't in a hurry to get Madison here, so we just waited.

At my 39.5 week appointment on a Wednesday morning, I was still feeling good. My doctor and I started talking about the next appointment and how 41 weeks would be enough, etc, etc. She checked the size of the baby (7 pound estimate), checked that she was still head down, and everything looked good for me to continue to wait her out. I scheduled my next appointment for the following week and headed home.

That afternoon, the contractions started. They were very irregular, infrequent, and spaced-out, and although I figured they were "the real thing", I wasn't eager to race to the hospital. That night, I couldn't sleep due to the contractions - they kept waking me up throughout the night. I would have three or four in a row over about 30 minutes, and then they would stop for a few hours. Throughout the day Thursday, Travis kept vigil over the timing, tracking every little twinge I said I felt. Still, they weren't consistent or regular, but they were definitely there. My dad drove into town, and we told Travis' mom to head this way, not sure if it was a false alarm or not, but we figured we should have everyone here just in case. By Friday morning, the contractions were getting stronger, more frequent, and really starting to be apparent (my face would turn red, I was having a harder time moving around, etc). I called the hospital to let them know so they could pull my file and be ready to take us in whenever we got there. Travis (and my mom and Diane) were all diligently keeping track of the time, and my dad was starting to worry that we weren't heading to the hospital yet. Finally, after two hours of contractions 7-10 minutes apart, we decided to head to the hospital. Still, I wasn't eager to spend a whole lot of time there, so I showered and finished packing my bag before we left.

On our way to the hospital!

We arrived at the hospital, got checked in and settled in to our room by 2:45 pm on Friday afternoon. The nurses hooked up the monitors and checked everything out, and we discovered that I was already dilated 4 cm!! (Wahoo!!) So, they told me I would not be going home that day and would probably have a baby pretty soon. The nurses hooked up the antibiotics I needed and we started monitoring the contractions again. They were still steady, coming about 4 minutes apart for about an hour, but things seemed to be going really slowly. Then, after a couple of hours, everything seemed to just stop. For about half an hour, I felt nothing. While it was nice to have a break from the contractions, I was so worried that they would try to use the pitosin to hurry it up again. I really wanted to let my body do it's thing and I really wanted to wait. Luckily, our nurse Pam was one of the greatest ladies ever and allowed us to be patient. By the time Barrett and my family came by to visit around 7pm that evening, everything had started up again, and I was having such strong and frequent contractions that I could barely talk to them while they were there. I was so grateful that it looked like things were back on again!

At this point, though, the contractions were becoming pretty rough. They were so frequent (every 2-3 minutes) that I wasn't able to get a break between them. At this point, we made the decision to go for the epidural. I was wanting to avoid it, in case it slowed things down and made more procedures necessary, but after a lot of talking (and praying) we decided it was the right way to go. (I was also hesitant about using an epidural due to the experience I had with Barrett's birth where epidural made things much more complicated (and seemingly more painful). I couldn't feel my legs at all, couldn't even feel the contractions or know when to push, and had the shakes so badly afterwards that I couldn't even hold Barrett for an hour because I was so afraid I would drop him. During labor, I also had excruciating back pain that no amount of numbness or medication could disguise - it was miserable. I did NOT want to go through that again!!)

This time, however, everything went perfectly. I was so grateful for the amazing staff at the hospital who supported my decisions and were very knowledgable about how to do what they needed to do. The epidural procedure went without any problems and the relief was immediate. I could still feel the contractions, but all the pain was gone. The contractions were very manageable for the rest of the delivery and I was still feeling really good. For some reason, my left leg was pretty numb, but I could feel everything else without feeling any pain, so we just let it be. I hated being confined to the bed now, but it was totally the right way to go.

Feeling good and ready to go!

Around 11:55 pm, the nurse came in to check me and found that I was completely dilated and ready to go. It took about 20 minutes for the doctors and nurses to prep everything, but that time flew by. One of the things that stood out to me with this delivery was how peaceful and harmonious it all seemed to be. Everyone was relaxed, quiet, and peaceful. There wasn't any sense of urgency or concern, and from my point of view, everything was going just right. I could feel the contractions and knew when to push. They would last about two minutes and then I would have about three minutes before another would come. (This was very different from Barrett's delivery where the contractions were coming every two minutes on the dot and I had no time to relax or rest in between them!) I was so grateful to be doing this as naturally as I could stand (again - epidural (done correctly) was amazing and totally worth it), and I was so grateful that everything was going so smoothly.

I started pushing at 12:15am, and by 12:47am, sweet little Madison was finally here (right at 40 weeks). She was so beautiful, and her first cry was a delight to hear. What a wonderful morning!! :)

A special thanks to Diane for all these great pictures of Madison's first few moments of life - priceless.

Compared to our 9lb, 3oz boy, little Madison is as light as a feather!

Madison's proud papa!

We are so grateful Travis could be here with us!!

Barrett, my mom and dad, and Diane all came to visit the next day. Barrett was eager to see the baby, but wasn't really sure about what was going on. (In this picture, he had been asked "where is the baby?", so he is pointing at her.)

Madison has a perfect little round head and is sooooo tiny! Her hair is jet black (and mainly on the back of her head). She didn't open her eyes for a while, but in the light at home, they look like they are blue.

She loved being swaddled at the hospital, but once we went home, she couldn't stand it. She likes to wiggle her arms around and kick her legs!

I was truly not expecting a baby this small (7 pounds by the time we left the hospital), so I was not prepared at all. I am so thankful that my sister-in-law Kelly sent a whole box full of her daughter's clothes which included a lot of newborn size clothing! Those are the only things that fit right now!

Madison is a hearty sleeper, and nothing seems to bother her. This is great, because we have a house full of noise from two dogs and a toddler! The TV is on, things get dropped, dogs are barking and running around, people are yelling across the house, and this little girl just sleeps right on through it.

We were at the hospital until Sunday afternoon, and we were more than ready to go home. Fortunately, we were only there two nights. We were surprised with balloons when we got home, and Barrett was very excited about giving them to Madison!