JKLM: Happy Birthday Maddie Kate!

Miss Maddie Kate arrived at 9:34am on October 25, 2011. She weighed 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long. She is healthy and happy and her daddy and I are so happy she's here.

We got to the hospital at 7am after dropping Landon off at his Nana and Papa's. When we got to the hospital we checked in and they took me to a labor and delivery room that she would have been born in had I not been scheduled for a c-section. I had to sign a gazillion papers that freaked me out - something about all the risks associated with anesthesia and surgery - kinda gets to a momma! I met the anesthesiologist and turns out we have a mutual friend and kids that are around the same age. Small world! She is super sweet and knowing her helped calm my nerves a smidge. They monitored the baby and said that I was actually having contractions but I couldn't feel them. Around 9am they wheeled me off to the operating room. I was SOOOOOOOO nervous and the OR did nothing to make me any less nervous. It was so sterile and cold and there were a lot of people in there doing various things and talking all around me...and the operating table was seriously way small...and I was way huge. Getting from the bed to the table was not fun - neither was getting the spinal block. However, once it was in and started working I started to relax - and then Jim got to come in and that made everything better. UAMS is a teaching hospital so every time anyone did anything to me they were teaching someone how to do it - so, there was a lot of talking going on and it was kind of weird. I don't know how long it took but it wasn't long after they got started that we heard our sweet, precious, beautiful baby girl cry. And she was healthy and perfect and I cried right along with her. Jim got to cut her umbilical cord and then they wrapped her up and brought her to my face so I could kiss her sweet cheeks. It was one of the neatest moments of my life. After they got me all sewn up they wheeled me off to recovery and I got to see Maddie Kate again. Our families were able to come back to meet her too and I was so happy that everyone was there. They had a hard time getting my temperature to come up so I had to stay in recovery a little longer than usual. They also had a hard time getting the "gunk" (that's surely a medical term) out of MK's lungs and that was kind of scary - but she was fine. We had several visitors come meet Maddie Kate and her big brother came to meet her the day after she was born. I'm pretty sure he was just as taken with her as we were from the beginning. He's really surprised us with how well he's handled becoming a big brother. We came home from the hospital on Thursday the 27th and we've adjusted well so far. More about our first days with Maddie Kate to come!