Madilyn Kaye is HERE!

For those of you who don't know, our precious baby daughter was born last night, 3/3/09, at 10:18 pm. She was 6 pounds, 3 ounces, and 20 inches long.

There is basically NO cellphone reception in the hospital. So I apologize if you called or texted and I didn't answer you....

I have included some pictures for you to see. Note that I have not had much time to take many good ones...so, these will have to do for now! :)

Jennifer as we were leaving to go to the hospital Monday night

Jennifer's first time to hold her new daughter!

The first family picture

Our beautiful door decoration

Daddy's Favorite Close-Up Picture...so far! Look at that smile!

Now I'll tell you about how things progressed. For many of you, knowing that she's here and seeing a couple of pictures is good enough. For the others, here's the (non-graphic) story:

At our doctor appointment on Monday, Jennifer had not made much progress. The doctor, still concerned about her blood pressure, advised us to go ahead and induce Tuesday morning. Since she hadn't progressed, we were admitted Monday evening to get a round of medications that made things ready for her to be induced. So, we went in Monday evening and started the first dose of medication at 9:15. This was given every 3 hours. Jennifer started feeling contractions around 12 or 1 in the morning Tuesday. They got to be pretty bad by 7, so the doctor went ahead and ordered her an epidural. She had not made much progress at this point, but was slowly working on it.

The day continued...very slowly. Jennifer slept MAYBE 20 or 30 minutes during this entire process. Finally, around 9:00 pm or so (I can't really remember the time), Jennifer hadn't made much progress at all in the last 2 hours, so the doctor said she needed to have a C-section. For most, this would not have been a big deal. For us...we were a little nervous. Jennifer had never had an operation before, plus, we knew with a C-section, there would be a significantly longer recovery time. It's not the best option, but it's good if it's the only option!

So, she got more drugs, I got some scrubs, and we went into the operating room. THIS WAS PHENOMONAL! It was like watching an episode of ER - everybody had their jobs and was going at it like the script said. They threw in humor to lighten the mood - the team was great! I watched every bit of it and was amazed! Once she was drugged to where she couldn't feel anything, the process took around 15 minutes. Bing, bang, boom - she's outta there!

I made sure Jennifer was ok, and then followed the nurse with Madilyn to clean her off. Although she didn't, and still hasn't cried very much, when she did, it was the sweetest cry I have ever heard! Anyway - they cleaned her, weighed her, and I was able to take her back in the OR to show her to Jennifer, who was getting stitched up at the time. Jen got to be the first one to kiss Madilyn and got to spend about 2 minutes with her. Then, I took her to the nursery for everybody to see. We had SO MANY family and friends there! We are truly blessed! I then put on her first diaper (by myself!) and the rest is history.

Jennifer did so good throughout the entire process! Her first dosage of medication was 9:15 Monday night - Madilyn was born 10:18 pm on Tuesday night. That's a long time to not have eaten or slept, but Jennifer did great! She is so very strong! I appreciate her SO much!

Our pediatrician came and examined Madilyn today and said she's perfect! She may have a slight case of anemia, but he wasn't too worried about that and will check it again in a month or so. Jen had a time getting her to nurse, but on the third separate attempt, she nursed for about 10 to 15 minutes.

She's just doing great! Jen is, of course, sore. But she's doing wonderfully as well! Thanks for all your prayers and support!