MADELYN LILY IS HERE!

Here goes. The first official entry of our daughter's blog. More so than her poopy diapers and spit up burp cloths, starting this blog makes it so real! Our baby girl is a week old today and though Jason and I are delirious from sleep deprivation it suprisingly flew by.

So--here are the details.

1. LABOR IS NOT FUN. I don't think this is ground breaking news to all mothers out there, but for all you men out there....be glad you get to encourage pushing not perform the pushing. Ours started out as an induction on Saturday June 12th. Bright and early we were set up in the hospital room and were told by our doctor that we'd "probably have this baby by 7 pm." GREAT! We were ready. Excited. Nervous. Both sets of our parents plus Becky were on their way to Jax to cheer us on.

2. NEVER BELIEVE WHAT TIME THE DOCTOR GUESSES YOU'LL HAVE THE BABY. Our "You'll have this baby by 7 pm" turned into a whirlwind of contractions, epidural, 2 different nurses and talk of C-section.......much to my horror. My "should be quick" labor did not end until 03:53 the NEXT morning when our beautiful baby was born. My body refused to dilate more than 4 cms which is where I stayed parked for about 6 hours. My awesome nurse told me after the fact she "knew I'd end up having a C-section" but humored me anyways because of my pretty much refusal to get one. My doctor obliged and gave me till 1 am to "show some progress." Not a full 10 cms, but ANYTHING. Luckily I zoomed through the rest of dilatation and was able to deliver Maddy as planned.

3. BREASTFEEDING IS HARD! No need for explanation.

4. OUR BABY IS THE CUTEST BABY EVER. See posted pics for proof.

5. SLEEP.........I honestly thought people who would say "sleep now while you can!" and "get ready for sleepless nights" and "newborns = no sleep" etc were exaggerating. I WAS SO WRONG. I don't sleep. I don't nap. Every squeak and grunt she makes sends me into a fit of panic (SIDS, SIDS, SIDS). There has been no need to set up the baby monitor yet. I've somehow managed to improve my hearing 1000 fold and can now hear the slightest baby sigh through walls. I know, I know. Paranoid new mother. But I would rather lie awake at night sacrificing sleep to listen out for the slightest abnormal noise.....

For now, though sleep deprived and poo-poo covered, we are so in love with her and don't know how we were able to make such a beautiful baby. In the meantime, we're trying to figure out how to keep her little and sweet forever........