We took Madelyn to church for the first time on Sunday.  It seemed fitting being Mother's Day and all.  She did really great and slept through most of sacrament meeting.  We'll only be doing the first hour for a while.  She was such a hit and got all kinds of attention.  I can't wait until she's a little older and I'm not so paranoid about all the germs, for now it is fun showing her off though.  More details to come about spending last week at Gma and Gpa Rogers' house...

So we were all surprised when Madelyn came out with a full head of dark hair!  Everyone would ask us if we had hair when we were born, which Dan did, however not as much as Madelyn and I'm pretty sure I was a baldy.  Needless to say it was a shock!  Well now we know whose side of the family it all came from.  See below.

Here's Madelyn just last week meeting her Uncle Scott, my older brother.  I guess we know who she'll be getting styling tips from!

I should be sleeping in with Madelyn right now, however I'm making the sacrifice in order to get this story documented.  I've had several requests to share how the birth went, not to mention friends calling to talk and I just haven't had much opportunity to call anyone back.  SORRY!  But reading this will save us 30 min in conversation and give us more time to talk about other stuff for the usual 10-20 min. window I have before Madelyn needs something... So here it goes.

About 4:30am Tues 4/8 I felt my first contraction, though I wasn't sure that's what it was.  I could tell I felt different and I felt kinda nauseous and crampy.  The contractions continued and gradually worsened as the day went on.  I called my parents and Dan's parents to inform them that this was probably the day!  Dan left work about 30min early, per my request, because I started feeling like I wasn't going to handle the contractions getting much worse.  By the time Dan got home they were pretty bad and very regular.  A couple hours earlier I had called my OB's office and spoke to a nurse and told her my symptoms and wanted to know if I should be going to the hospital yet.  The contractions were never 5 min apart.  During the day they varied but eventually got to about 7 min apart.  It was weird how I could almost tell time by them they were so on the dot.  We left for the hospital as soon as Dan got home and changed. 

I was basically in labor for about 13 hours before we got to the hospital that evening.  By that time the contractions were pretty horrible and the nurses kept encouraging me to get the epidural.  Which I planned on having but thought I could tough it out a little longer.  Well when they walked me from triage to my delivery room I had 2 more rough contractions and was like, yeah, let's get the epidural.  My entire disposition changed, says Dan, and everything was sooooo much more pleasant once I had it.  My Dr came and broke my water around 7:30pm and then they told me to try to get some rest thinking I'd be dilated enough and pushing in the next 5 hrs....yeah right.  I had so many things hooked up to me it was basically impossible to sleep.  At one point 2 nurses rushed in, I was used to them coming in and out and didn't think much of it except when they weren't talking to me or asking me anything.  Apparently Madelyn's heartbeat dropped a bit so they got nervous.  They said it was normal when there's a big transition (like a big contraction or she moves further into the birth canal) but they just wanted to watch her and make sure it came back up, they gave me an oxygen mask which I had to wear for the duration of the labor.  I can't even tell you how many things were attached to me... Also I had read about possible having "the shivers" during labor, but I didn't think much of it.  Well "the shivers" for me meant, shakes and uncontrollable spasms.  It felt like I was having seizures or something.  It was so bizarre.  Apparently it's due to the hormones going through your body to make the birth happen.  It was more annoying than anything else, though nurses kept asking me if I was cold, I'm like, does this look like the chills??  And also, if this is normal, wouldn't they recognize the pregnancy shakes being L&D nurses?

Anyway, I progressed well on my own through the night and was ready to push by maybe 11:30pm??  My Dr showed up, I pushed a total of maybe 15 times (we did it in sets of 3).  They have you put your chin down to your chest when you're pushing and you have to hold the push for such a long time and anyway, I started to gag, which is apparently when her head came out.  I wasn't able to control the gagging which then started to feel like I was about to throw up.  While I was trying to get that under control, the Dr told me I needed to push again, not realizing the reason until after the fact, I pushed again and she came out.  I opened my eyes just in time to see her be pulled out.  Apparently the cord was around her neck which is why the Dr needed me to push despite my condition of gagging uncontrollably.  Once she was out it took her a while to cry out.  Although she never really cried she started breathing and coughing out the fluid.  It was so amazing!  She was awake and alert and not crying for about 3 hours after she came out which gave us time to enjoy her and let the moment sink in.

Okay, my free time has expired. But that basically covers it!  Overall it was a great experience which I owe mostly to the wonderful anesthesiologist who gave me the fabulous epidural juice!  Also we had great nurses, and of course Madelyn is a sweetheart!