Our newest arrival.

As some of you may have noticed, I have once again disappeared from the blogging scene. This time, it is with good reason. I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl Madilynn Renee Wood, 5 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches on December 7, 2010 at 7:25pm. It has been a whirl wind ever since. I will give you a synopsis of her birth story, but I warn you, it isn't pretty. Luckily, she is worth all the tears.
On Sunday morning, December 5th, I began having contractions that were 5 minutes apart. I went into the hospital that night to get checked because we knew we were going to have a c-section birth. Ms.Madi was still breech at this 39 week mark and our attempts to have her turned had failed. When I went it to get checked, I was hardly dilated so I decided to go home and let nature run it's course so Madi could be as prepared as possible. I continued to experience contractions every 5 minutes for the next few days.
Feeling exhausted from the sleepness nights of breathing through contractions, I woke up on tuesday and decided to go for a walk with a good friend to get my mind off of the pain. I drove to her house and we took a nice long walk. By the finish of the walk, the contractions had me much more winded and I knew there was a good chance we were going to have this baby that day.
I called my OB and went back in to the hospital to have another check. Sure enough, I had somehow broken my water and not noticed and was now 3 centimeters dilated. I called my husband and had him meet me at the hospital. It was show time. I spent the next 8 hours waiting for antibiotics to take tehir course (since I was strep B postive) and for my stomach to fully empty in prepartation for anesthesia. By the time we were ready to head into the OR my contractions were just a couple minutes apart and I was ready.
As ready as I was, I was still terrified. This is the moment you wait your life for and you find out once and for all if your baby truly is safe and healthy. Ben waited outside for me and they gave me the spinal anesthesia. Not even fifteen minutes after that, Madilynn was out. I cried hysterically with happiness.
Then the sadness came. I couldn't hold my baby while I lay on the operating table and my husband was going to leave with her to the nursery to make sure everything was good. In addition, we discovered that she had an extra thumb... and no that is not a joke. The stitched me up and transferred me to recovery. I waited alone in recovery for two hours before my husband and daughter returned. It turns out she had low blood sugar and they needed to bring it up before they sent her back. What should have been a 20 minute trip to the nursery turned into a a 2 hour trip. I remember lying alone in the room waiting for them, realizing that this baby who was once inside my belly was taken out and then taken away and I was completely alone and devastated. I was hormonal and emotional. When they did return, I realized I still could not move because the pain from the operation was so strong. I had to sit back and watch as my husband did all the work caring for my little one and I was completely incapable. I felt discouraged and defeated.

The next morning brought many more happy feelings. I was feeling better and was determined to not let the surgery hinder me in any way. I was going to care for my baby and I was going to heal in record time because she needed me to. I wanted to be there for her and I needed full function back to do it. I asked them to not give me any pain meds aside from advil and I got up on my feet and began moving around. As each minute passed I grew stronger and fell more in love with my baby girl.

She is absolutely AMAZING. I feel so blessed to have her and I feel so much more in love with my husband. I didn't even know that was possible. God gave me this wonderful family and they have made me so happy I break out in happy tears at randomness. She is prefect and beautiful. Her extra thumb is even cute. We are having it removed and I am very nervous about the surgery. I can't stand the idea of putting my baby in pain, but I know when she is 17 and heading to the prom she will be grateful we made this decision for her. In the meantime, I am dreading out consultation at Children's hospital next week.
I will be in touch, in the rare instance, I have a free moment. We are learning so much and are no where near done. I will keep you posted.