Rub-a-dub-dub...

Maddie had her first bath last night and completely surprised us with how well she did. Looks like she might possibly take after her Daddy and love the water. We had to wait for the 8 p.m. poop to arrive, but the bath commenced shortly after that (which turned out to be a VERY good thing). Here are a few quick photos of the event. She's a little uncertain about the camera -- after all a girl has to have some privacy, right? The only crying were a few wimpers when she got a little cold. I think we can deem bath #1 a success! We'll see how bath #2 goes.

Special thanks goes out to Aunt Jennifer, Uncle Chris, Cole and Caitlyn for the comfy bath tub and the cool rubber ducky that tells us if the water is too warm. :)

You've Got Mail!

Maddie received her first package in the mail yesterday afternoon. It was from Grandma and contained a pretty red velour sleeper with a note saying "Every little girl needs some Christmas jammies." They have bunnies ice skating on them, and we're sure they'll be a hit on Christmas morning. Stay tuned for photos of Maddie in her new jammies on Christmas morning. Thanks Grandma (Mom)!

In other news, Maddie and I made a visit to the Web Communications office yesterday while Daddy went to his dentist appointment. It was good to see everyone again and I think Maddie enjoyed seeing you all even if she did spend most of it asleep. Hopefully we'll be back for another visit soon.

The Parents as Teachers lady came to visit us today. We got all sorts of good stuff including a Scholastic book order form -- you know like the one you received in elementary school. My mom always gave me a dollar limit because I always wanted too many books. I think it started at $3 and then moved to $5 when I got older. It's amazing how much you can buy with $3. I'm looking forward to putting in our first order for books. Now what to choose?

Gobble, Gobble

It's been a busy few weeks in the "Mad about Maddie" household, and I apologize for the lack of posts. We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Maddie took her first long car ride to visit her Grandma, Pa, Ma, Bob-Bob and aunts, uncles and cousins on Thanksgiving Day. She was fussy that day and spent most of her Thanksgiving being held by her grandmas or Pa. She also got to meet her cousins Cole and Caitlyn for the first time. Late evening or early the next morning she lost her cord stump so she'll be able to have her first bath soon.

Friday morning Maddie woke up with a low-grade fever which probably explained why she was so fussy the previous day. Being new parents, we got extremely worried but were reassured by our doctor's office that she was probably just fighting off a bug and that it was nothing to worry about. MaMa and PaPa visited the next day for a Thanksgiving dinner at our house. This was the first time I'd made a big Thanksgiving dinner for folks other than ourselves. I think it turned out pretty well.

Saturday night we had leftovers and watched Mizzou beat the stuffing out of KU (pun intended). It was a great game and something we soon won't forget (KU was favored to win). Sunday was spent recovering from all of the turkey and gluttony of the past few days.

In other news, Maddie has been having a bit of a rough time with acid reflux lately which has meant three visits to the pediatrician --- and unfortunately for Maddie, being stripped down to her birthday suit and placed on a cold scale three different times. The good news is that Maddie is gaining weight like a champ (with her parents are you surpised?!) and was up to 6 lbs. 10 oz. (25 percentile) at her two week visit last Monday. She had also gained a full inch and is up to 20 inches (75 percentile). Her little personality is beginning to emerge.

Things Maddie loves:

• kicking on the ottoman covered with Ma's quilts
• being held by her grandmas and grandpas (she seems to have no problem with shoulder burps when her grandmas hold her, but throws a fit when her parents try to put her on their shoulders)
• sitting up on Mommy's lap like a big girl so that she can see everything around her
• relaxing in the big recliner with Daddy and watching Tiger football games
• "Paci" (the green pacifier)
• peeing on Mommy and Daddy when they least expect it.
• Mommy's patented baby-calming hold.
  

Things Maddie doesn't like:

• when her parents don't get her bottles warmed fast enough (Ma says they are "slow as an ox")
• visits to the pediatrician --- she threw a major fit during the last visit when the doctor was finishing her exam. I think she may have inherited her mamma's ability to throw world class fits (turning red, holding her breath, etc.). I'm sure Grandma smiling as she reads this because she knows that I'm getting pay back for all of the breath-holding fits I threw as a kid.
• sponge baths and generally anything that involves being cold.
• baby Zantac --- it tastes horrible and she's pretty smart about holding it in her mouth until Daddy gives up and removes the bottle (or the "chaser" as we like to call it) and then spitting it all out and crying for her bottle. Mommy and Daddy have developed a new system of dispensing the yucky stuff by mixing it in the bottle thus eliminating the need for a "chaser" so it's less traumatic.
• being put in the bassinet when she's not asleep. This prevents her from seeing everything that is going on around her and makes her extremely grumpy.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! We're looking forward to a more normal week. Daddy will be headed back to work on Thursday and we're planning to put up the Christmas tree on Saturday and cheer on the Tigers as they take on the Oklahoma Sooners that evening. MIZZOU-RAH! I can't think of two better traditions, can you?

Happy One-Week Birthday, Maddie!

It's hard to believe that Maddie is already a week old. My how our lives have changed.

We had a busy weekend. Maddie watched her first Mizzou Tigers football game on Saturday and then got to meet her Uncle Mike, Aunt Lori and cousins Erin and Rachael that afternoon. Here's a photo of Maddie with her two cousins, Rachael (left) and Erin.

Saturday night was rough. Maddie was spitting up most of her bottles and had severe gas pain. A call to the nurse triage line wasn't much help. The nurse recommended complete prohibition of the beloved green pacifier --- which we dutifully did for about 16 hours. She also told us not to change formulas, but after two more episodes of spitting up her entire feeding (not to mention cries from extreme gas pain and many poopy diapers), we took matters into our own hands and switched formulas at midnight on Sunday. Matt and I were both up with Maddie all night. It was hard watching her be in so much pain and not being about to do much about it. By morning we were completely exhausted and very, very worried about her. The only light moment of the whole day came as I was sitting in the middle of the living room floor with Maddie spread out on a quilt my grandma made for her. At this point, I think I probably was more than a little tearful. When I happened to look down at one of the quilt blocks, I realized it had cigarettes, pipes and matches printed on it! Matt and I got a good laugh. I wonder how long ago that fabric was printed. I'm sure my grandma was paying more attention to the pretty pink and blue colors in the fabric than to the actual images printed on it.

We called both grandmas and a great-grandma for advice, and before I knew it, Maddie's great-grandma (my grandma) was at our front door. She had ordered my grandpa to take her to our house immediately (that explained why I couldn't reach her on the phone when I tried to call her back). Once "Ma" was here, she sent both of us to bed to get some sleep and sat up with Maddie. I'm not sure what her secret was but Maddie seemed to be so calm when she was with her. Once Matt and I had some sleep and clearer heads prevailed, things started improving. Maddie was able to keep her bottles down and the poopy diapers started decreasing in number. The gas pains gradually went away. Switching formulas seemed to do the trick.

My grandma stayed with us that night. In fact she spent most of the night in the recliner with Maddie. The next morning she helped us give Maddie a quick bath and get her ready for her first pediatrician's appointment. Maddie wasn't thrilled to be undressed at the doctor's office and put on a cold scale, but her dad and I were thrilled that she had gained weight and was almost back to her birth weight. The doctor told us that Maddie looked "perfect" (but hey, didn't we already know that?) and sent us on our way. We have to go back next Monday for another check, but all is well so far.

When we got home, my grandma had already vacuumed and loaded the dishwasher. She fixed Matt some fried potatoes and ham steak for lunch and then decided that we were doing just fine and that she was ready to go home. We were so grateful for her help, and for the advice both of our mom's (Maddie's grandmas) had given us over the phone. It's good to have so much help.

So that's a recap of the last few days. I know you all probably want to know how Gooseyard and Callie have taken to the baby. The answer is pretty simple. They really have done a good job. They haven't bothered Maddie and seem to consider her part of the family. When she was having so much pain from the gas and would cry out frequently, Gooseyard and Callie would both cry with her. Callie was often nearby with a concerned look on her face like she was making sure we were taking good care of Maddie. Here's a photo of Gooseyard, Matt and Maddie. As you can see, Matt has his two babies with him.

Today we tried out our Baby Einstein gym. Maddie seemed to like that. Friday night Matt read her "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and I read "Goodnight Baby."

Maddie's a pretty easy-going baby when she feels well and has her green pacifier (no other pacifiers will do!). She can get a little "zesty" sometimes (as Grandma would put it) and did wing her pacifier across the kitchen floor this evening to let us know she was ready for her dinner and not the pacifier. But on the whole, she's pretty great. We can't wait to see how she changes over the next week.

First week lessons learned:

• Enfamil = bad, Similac = good.
• Sometimes you have to completely break the rules to find the right solution to a problem.
• Green "Soothie" pacifiers rule. All others should be abandoned.
• 6 lb. babies don't fit well in bouncy seats, car seats, sleep sacks (wearable blankets) and most of their clothes. We to engineer our own homemade sleep sack with a blanket and diaper pin.
• Sometimes calling for help is a good idea --- even if you just need someone to watch the baby for a few hours while you get some sleep and regain your sanity.
• Always put a fresh diaper under Maddie while she's "airing out" on the changing table -- else you'll be changing the changing table cover and her clothes when she pees on them.
• You'll think that little pink bow the nurses put in her hair is so cute until you try to remove it two days later. What kind of "glue" is that!?
  
• Thank goodness we have so many family members and friends who love us enough to visit us in the hospital, call to check on us and bring us dinner so we didn't have to cook the first few days we were home.
  

Home at Last!

It's so good to be home! We left the hospital around 10:30 a.m. today and Maddie had her first car ride. I was a little worried that she would totally hate her car seat, but as soon as Matt placed her in her seat, she fell fast asleep and slept the whole way home. Here's a photo of Maddie in her car seat.

I don't think we could have asked for a better stay in the hospital (as far as hospital stays go anyway). Our doctors and nurses were fantastic. The c-section went surprisingly well too. Here are a few highlights from the last several days:

On Tuesday afternoon we got to leave the recovery room around 4 p.m. and when we arrived in our regular room, a beautiful little red wagon full of flowers was waiting for us from my mom, dad and sister Chelsea. That evening Maddie's Grandma, Pa, Aunt Chelsea, Uncle Chris and Aunt Jennifer came to visit. It was so good to see everyone. Grandma and Aunt Chelsea also came to the rescue with three new newborn size sleepers for Maddie (Thanks, Mom and Chelsea!). We also received pretty pink flowers from the folks at our church.

The next morning, Matt's parents (Maddie's MaMa and PaPa) came for a visit. They also came to our rescue and brought three new newborn size outfits for Maddie and a vase of beautiful red roses for me. MaMa got Maddie to take 25 ml of formula (something we hadn't been able to do). Even with that success, Maddie refused to open her eyes for MaMa but opened them eyes for her dad and me after both grandma's left. Go figure.

Maddie's honorary aunt, Lori, stopped by for a visit Wednesday afternoon and brought her a cute stuffed animal giraffe that plays a lullaby. We had a great visit with Lori and promised to bring Maddie by the office during one of our next outings. Jeremy, Shawnna, Oliver and Aiden also stopped by later that evening.

On Thursday morning, I had my first experience with projectile poop while changing Maddie's diaper. Fortunately my shirt was the only casualty. Our pastor stopped by to see Maddie later that afternoon and was lucky enough to catch her when she was wide awake.

That brings us to today. We're so happy to be home. It's been a busy day and it's getting late so I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.

Maddie's first day

As you can imagine, neither of us slept very well Monday night since we knew what the morning would bring. Nine months of (sometimes) patient waiting for our new arrival had finally came down to a few short hours. Out the door we went and as excited/nervous as we both were we managed to remain calm and arrive exactly at 7 a.m. at the hospital for check-in. The nurses started prepping Niki and asking her all of the obligatory questions:

Did you bring an artifical eye with you to the hospital? Uh... No.

Any artificial limbs? No again!

Do you have a birth plan? Come to hospital, have baby, get better, leave hospital with baby.

At 9 a.m. Niki was taken into the labor & delivery operating room for surgery prep. Fifteen minutes later I got to join her as we waited with a blue curtain in place for the magic on the other side to take place. We heard the first cries at 9:25 a.m. as Maddie was brought into our world.

I haven't yet figured out how to put into words what yesterday meant to us and to me in particuluar. Hopefully, as hours turn into days I will have time to reflect and add to this blog.

Our first visitors arrived Tuesday evening to greet Maddie. Grandma, Pa, Aunt Chelsea, Uncle Chris and Aunt Jennifer visited to find Maddie trying her best to sleep. Maddie was being zesty and didn't open her eyes for Grandma. Shortly after Grandma and the gang left she opened her eyes when I changed her diaper.

There is so much more to tell, but it is time to head back to the hospital.

View photos of Maddie's first day at Flickr.

'Twas the night before...

There are about 11.5 hours left before the c-section will begin and we'll be able to finally meet Maddie. Back in March when I was trudging through the first trimester and feeling sick most of the time, this day seemed so far away. I think Matt and I are both excited and anxious. We're not sure what our lives will be like 24 hours from now.

We've had a busy weekend of last-minute preparations... mostly cleaning and working on the baby's room (even though we thought we were finished). Our house is definitely very clean. Gooseyard knows something is up. The much-loved recliner has reappeared in the living room. He spent most of the morning meowing about it and we've had to pull rank on him several times just to get a seat. Matt says he doesn't recognize our higher rank -- which is probably true.

We're all packed and ready to be at the hospital tomorrow by 7 a.m. A nurse called today to run through the protocol: nothing to eat or drink after midnight; remove all jewelry, nail polish and piercings; check in at the labor and delivery desk... oh and no smoking, chewing gum or hard candy. Smoking? It's a little scary that this was even part of the warning. I mean, pregnant women aren't supposed to smoke -- BUT just in case you're one of those women who just has to have that one last smoke before giving birth to her baby the hospital thinks you might want to hold off. *sigh*

Well off to bed. Good night, everyone.