Introducing....

Maggie Rose! Our girl is finally here! And we are so in love.

  She was born 6 lbs 9 ozs, and 19 inches long. She didn't cry too much when she arrived, but somehow the only pictures we have of her first moments are pictures of her screaming her head off! For the most part, she's an incredibly calm baby! I hardly know what to do with myself! I'm used to wild, demanding children.
    I was scheduled for a c-section on Thursday, the 21st. I actually went into labor on Wednesday! I spent the majority of the day having painful contractions. My doctor had told me that I should just go into the hospital and they'd do the operation, whenever it happened. So when Rob got home from work that night, I showered, and we went in. They monitered me for a while, but the on-call doctor didn't feel like coming in at night, so they sent me home! I was disappointed, but kind of relieved. At least sticking with the schedule, I'd have my own doctor. They gave me percocet so I could sleep through the contractions. Ha! I had an allergic reaction. My whole body itched. Head to toe! All night! So I got no sleep anyway.
  In the morning we packed up again and drove the 2 miles to the hospital! Everything went smoothly, except for the IV. I have no luck with IV's. It took 5 VERY painful tries for them to find a vein! The operation was fast. And there was our baby girl!! There's no explaining the joy you feel when you hear that first cry!
  We got very little sleep in the hospital, with nurses and doctors coming in and out at all hours. The walls were paper thin, so we heard every noise that was made in the halls, and a few from the neighbors rooms. My doctor gave me the ok to go home a day early. I was so excited! But the pediatrician said absolutely not! Maggie had lost 10% of her weight, and he didn't want her going anywhere until she gained a little back first. Thankfully the next day we got the thumbs up from him too. What a relief to get home!!! There's nothing like your own bed, your own shower, your own food. Rob and mom have been amazing! They do everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, without complaint!
   I'm looking forward to feeling better. I'm fine as long as I'm sitting, but I can only be up for about 5 minutes before it feels like someone is sticking a red hot branding iron into my incision! But Rob and I took Maggie in for her checkup today, and I did pretty good! And I'm still feeling good! So I think the more I get up and move around, the better.
   We leave for MN on Monday. I haven't done any packing, but I've made a list and am getting some things gathered together. I'm stuck on what to do about Maggie! She's so tiny she doesn't fit into most of her newborn clothes! I bought the most adorable dress for her for the wedding, but I think it's going to be too big. :( She's wearing preemie sized diapers!! I guess we'll have to do some shopping again before the wedding. Aw shucks.
    Here's some pictures of my beautiful baby girl.

  And a couple of random photos...

      Watching Grandma cut out fabric for Maggie's quilt.

   Heading to the operating room.

 He's so in love!

                   Party of five!

                    Sweet Connor

      You can probably see in some of the pictures that Maggie is a tiny bit jaundice. (Jaundiced?) The doctor today said she's just fine and it's nothing to worry about. The yellow should be gone in a day or two.
   I'm still getting used to the fact that we are a family of five now! And I have a GIRL! I'm loving life.

Down Hill

 
    Well, this is it. The speed is picking up! Little Lady still hasn't arrived and has nearly stopped showing signs of popping out altogether. I haven't had false labor for a few days now. I'm becoming ok with waiting! If I were to go into labor now, I'd miss convention. So we might as well just hang out. Literally. Tomorrow morning we clean the house for company. I have a dr appt at 2. Then we're getting quick visitors after that. My pseudo Grandma (Or Gawda, which is the only thing I'm allowed to call her to her face if I don't want her to holler at me.) and her husband are stopping by to see us and the new house. They are both 87 years old and adorable! She's spunky and opinionated, and he's the sweetest thing who follows her around with hearts in his eyes. I was a witness at their spur-of-the-moment Vegas wedding in 2006. Like I said, adorable! I can't wait to see them. Wednesday our weekend company comes, Cori and Brad with sweet little Leah. Wednesday night is the beginning of convention!! After that is over, I'm packing up the kids clothes for our MN trip, having the baby on the 21st, and leaving for the wedding 10 days later! Busy, busy! But at least I'm ready. I've made all the purchases I need to make, and everything is set. Now it can just happen. I'm so excited for all of it!!

Sweat and Poop

Saturday night I was kept awake on and off with contractions. I was convinced it was the beginning of labor, of course! But instead of being excited, all I could do was think about the things that weren't ready! I hadn't washed the baby car seat, the house was a mess, I wasn't packed for the hospital, etc. So when morning came, I fought through more contractions and went nuts on the house. I washed EVERYTHING. I cleaned and organized EVERYTHING. Upstairs and down. I spent the day sweating, and breathing through (false) labor. I didn't sit down until evening. Needless to say, I had some big, fat feet. But my house is sparkling, and everything is ready for baby! The day before that I made 4 batches of bread for convention. It took about 5 hrs. Fat feet again. I'm doing a third of the bread order for Riverton convention, which is in a week and a half. They usually do about 160 loaves all together. It's nice being able to pitch in, even though I can't do anything else!
   I've been pretty happy since yesterday, with all the work I've done. I figured the universe, karma, whatever, would deal me a good hand for it! Guess it doesn't work that way... I've been letting Connor stay up from naps, since he doesn't sleep anyway, and Max gets the room to himself. He usually goes right to sleep then. Today Connor insisted on laying down too, so I gave in and figured it couldn't be too bad. About 1:00 they were getting pretty rowdy, so I went in to get after them. Only to discover poop everywhere. All over the carpet. All over the beds. Everywhere.
        Poop.
        Hoo boy.
  It was not a pleasant moment for the boys after that. I had to wake Rob up to give me a hand. He cleaned the carpet while I showered the boys and washed the sheets. Right now he's at the store buying cleaning stuff for the steamer vacuum.
    The boys got spankings, and will be sitting in time out for the REST OF THE DAY!! Or at least for a long while. Max didn't last long sitting there though...

   

Guess he was pooped out. Ha.