Mommy or Daddy?...or both?

Ok guys...let's take a poll. Who do you think Madalyn looks more like, me or Ryan? For those of you that have seen her in person, it might make a difference. The first picture is me, the second Madalyn, and the third is Ryan. Leave a comment with your decision.

First Doctor's Visit - 4/27/09 - 11 Days Old

Madalyn had her first doctor's visit on Monday. I also had a first...breastfeeding in public! It was kind of difficult, and I much prefer feeding her at home. Thankfully, I live in a small town and am always right around the corner from the house.

Mom and dad took us to the doctor because I am still not supposed to drive or carry anything that weighs more than 20 lbs.

The appointment went well. No problems, and she is above average on everything. Praise the LORD!

FYI - she weighed 9.7 at birth, left the hospital weighing 9.2, and weighed 9.9 at her visit 10 days later.

Enjoy!

First Day at Church

We had our first day at church today. Madalyn is 10 days old. She was wonderful. She only had one little outburst at the end of the sermon that lasted about a second. I think she was "amen-ing" the preacher.

Thank you to Emily and Jimmy for the beautiful Sunday dress. By the way, it is a size 3! There was a moment of doubt when I was getting her dressed...I almost couldn't get it buttoned around her neck! Grandma and Grandpa had a wonderful time showing her off.




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Almost a week already???!!!

I cannot believe that our baby girl will be a week old tomorrow! Time has already flown by. I apologize that I have not done more blogging, but I have been a little pre-occupied :)

I wanted to post a few more pictures and let y'all know that everything is still going great. Aside from sore boobies, I have no complaints. :) It has been wonderful having Ryan home. He has been such a servant and I love to see him with Madalyn. He loves her so much! Tomorrow will be a sad day when he goes back to work. :(

Oh, if anyone has any tricks to help with the "soreness", I would love to hear them. It isn't unbearable, but anything could help.

Introducing Madalyn Suzanne Sauer!

Born April 16th, 2009 @ 6:33 PM

9 lbs 7 oz - 22 inches long

Induced @ 6:30 am, water broken at 1:20 pm, born naturally at 6:33 pm

We Have Made a Decision

Well folks, Ryan and I have made the decision to go ahead and induce on Thursday morning if Madalyn has not come by then.

We went to the doctor this morning and things were pretty much the same. I am about 3 cm dilated and everything else looks good. We talked with our doctor and asked a bunch of questions, and then she let us talk by ourselves. We decided that we wanted to go ahead and induce Thursday morning after much deliberation.

We want to avoid a c-section as much as possible and avoid any kind of pain drugs. My biggest concern about being induced was the fact that a lot of women have really hard, fast labors with induction that eventually leads to an epidural. In talking with our doctor, she told me that the amount of pitocin she gives me in completely up to me. If I feel like my labor is progressing to fast based on dilation then we can cut it back to give my body plenty of time to dilate. She is not going to rush me or give me a time limit on how long she thinks I should labor before taking surgical measures. This gave me a good sense of peace. I am really thankful for our doctor and her desire to make labor and delivery go the way we want it to and not by the standard.

She had me do a non-stress test at the hospital too. This monitors the baby and makes sure that her living environment is still in good condition. The nurse gave me an A-plus. :)

Today I will be busy doing laundry and vacuuming to get things ready, and I will be walking as much as I can. The hope would obviously be to go into labor before I have to be induced.

So, be looking for pictures and news of Madalyn's arrival by the end of the week or weekend. I cannot believe that by this time next week I will be holding her in my arms! WooHoo!

Love you all.

40 Weeks and Counting

Well, today is my EDD. I am pretty sure she is NOT coming today. I really didn't want her to though. I want her to come Friday. Does that sound selfish? I hope not. My motivation is completely unselfish. Of course I would rather have her here than in my belly. The timing (mainly for the rest of my family and my husband) is the best if I have her on Friday. Adrienne, Jason, and Jackson are already planning on being her then, and they can't be here sooner. Also, my dad has a dr's appointment tomorrow at 2 and I really don't want him to have to cancel. Ryan can also take Friday off and have the whole next week off. That would be awesome! Also, my sister is going to be in Alabama for 2 weeks starting Monday and I REALLY want her to be here for the birth.

I am really trusting the LORD on this and know that He knows my heart. I also know that His timing is perfect though, and I will be happy no matter when He decides to bring Madalyn into the world. He is in control anyway.

I am progressing. I went to the doctor today. I have lost my mucus plug (sorry if that grosses some of you out). My blood pressure was slightly elevated. I had a tiny bit of blood in my urine (I am thinking that is because Madalyn was VERY active last night and she was pressing against my bladder and urethra). I also had a couple of contractions while I was at the doctor.

I know that I am contracting (right now actually), but there is nothing consistent about them.

People keep telling me that I am going to have her tomorrow or Friday because it is a full moon. I know that has some merit to it. Have any of you experienced labor on a full moon? I would be interested to know how many women give birth on full moons. Very interesting.

Again, I will let y'all know if anything happens.

Doctor's Appointment

I had another check-up today. There was really no change from last Thursday except her head is a little more engaged...which is great news. I go back on Wednesday which is my EDD. If nothing changes by then, I will go back the next Monday.

We are not planning on inducing. If we end up inducing it won't be until next week at the earliest. Hopefully, she will be here by then. I have lost the nesting "drive" and I am now exhausted and needing to sleep a lot more. Maybe that is a sign. Did any of you that have had babies feel this way toward the end?

I will update you again on Wednesday. Have a great week everyone.

I Want To Hold Your Hand

No baby yet. I am anxiously waiting for her to make her grand entrance. I am not uncomfortable and I am definitely not complaining, I just want to hold my baby.

FYI - when I went to the doctor last Thursday, I was 2 cm dilated. The doc said that her head was not engaged yet, but that was most likely due to the fact that she is a large baby and she needs my uterus to contract to move her down. She estimated (from the ultrasound) that Madalyn was already around 9 lbs.

Because my doctor is estimating her to be large (and she seems to be in charge right now), she doesn't want me to go over my due date too far because she knows how much I want to have a natural/vaginal delivery. She mentioned giving me a small amount of pitocin by the end of the week if I haven't gone into labor.

I go to the doctor Monday morning to check progress. I will let you know what she says and let you know what we decide as far as induction goes.

My hope and prayer is that I will spontaneously go into labor and won't have to make the decision to induce or not. Would you pray that with us?

In other news, the sermon today at church was great! We talked about God's grace and that we, as Christians, need to be Grace-full. I am so thankful for God's great grace and what it means in my life. I don't deserve it, and I am thankful that God sees to it that I have the exact amount the I need no matter what the circumstance. He is so faithful!


Here are a couple of pictures from today. 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant.

39 Week Ultrasound

My doctor ordered an ultrasound today to see how big the princess is. I don't know the "results" yet. I will probably find out tomorrow when I go to the doctor at 10:30. What we do know is she is still a girl (thank you LORD! I was having nightmares :)

Sorry the quality of this picture is not great. It is a picture of the picture the tech printed out for us. If you can't tell, it is a profile shot of her face with her little hands tucked near her chin and her knees pulled up. I will let y'all know tomorrow what the doctor says.