Madeline Marie Lucas

I am so very, very happy to announce that our sweet baby girl, Madeline Marie Lucas, has arrived! She was born on Tuesday, October 22 at 2:11PM. She weighed 8lbs, 4oz and was 20.5 inches long. We are so incredibly in love with her. She is a very sweet baby who loves to cuddle. I have a ton of pictures to post on here, but first I will give a little run-down of the labor and delivery. 

On Monday night, I went over to my friend Marie's house to help her with a project for her wedding. As I was getting ready to leave around 10:30PM or so, I felt what I thought was my water breaking. I told Marie, but I honestly was not sure if it was my water breaking because it was a very small amount of fluid. I got in the car to head home and called George on my way to let him know. When I got home, I had a little more fluid leak and George and I decided to head to the hospital to have them check to see if was amniotic fluid. When we got there, they checked and it turned out that I had a very small trickle of fluid leaking (later on the doctor fully broke my water). 

I was admitted to the hospital around 12:30AM on Tuesday and they took us back to our labor and delivery room. They hooked me up to the machines to monitor Madeline and my contractions. I was having contractions, but they were not painful (I was 3.5 cm at that point). I fell asleep for a few hours and at 5AM they decided to start some pitocin to get things progressing faster. I started to feel contractions more and more and around 9AM, I decided to get the epidural. Getting the epidural was the scariest part of the whole process for me because I hate needles and the thought of getting one in my spine wasn't a very pleasant one. The epidural kicked in almost immediately and from there, I felt almost nothing at all. From there, I progressed really quickly (much faster than the nurse and Dr expected, especially for a first pregnancy). By 11:30, I was 10 cm and ready to start pushing). The doctor was actually in the middle of a c-section so they decided to let me "labor down"...basically, just let the contractions happen, but no pushing. Just a little bit before 1PM, the nurse, George, and I went ahead with the pushing, knowing that the Dr was wrapping things up with the c-section. The nurse and George were sooo awesome during the pushing. Renee was nurse and I can't say enough great things about her. She was so calming, informative, and helpful. George was also helpful during the labor and especially during the pushing. He was right there in the action (nurse on one side, George on the other). He was breathing with me, informing me of my progress, and kept me calm. I made really good progress by the time my Dr came in around 1:45PM. She had me step-up the pushing a bit and before I knew it, Madeline was here! 

It was incredible to see her for the first time. It is so hard to describe what it was like, but I can remember it so vividly...I hope I never forgot that memory. It was also very special for me to see George's reaction. I have never seen him so excited, yet emotional. He was definitely overcome by it all. Overall, the labor and delivery was such a wonderful experience for both of us. Going into it, I expected a traumatic, painful experience. I was honestly terrified of the process. It couldn't have been more different than what I expected. I am so proud of myself, George, and Madeline...everything went so smooth and we now have a wonderful memory of Madeline's birthday. 

We stayed in the hospital on Tuesday night and Wednesday night, which was also a great experience. The nurses were very helpful and took great care of Madeline and me. On Thursday, we headed home. And actually, we were just getting discharged when Parker Stephen Warren was born! We got to see him briefly before we headed home. He is as cute as can be and a little thing (especially compared to his big sister). I can't wait for Madeline and Parker to grow up together.

Our first night home with Madeline was pretty rough. She had a really hard time nursing and was got really frustrated and upset. There was quite a bit of screaming and crying (from Madeline...well, a bit from me too)! We finally managed to all get some sleep. We eventually got the hang of nursing and the timing of her feedings and last night was so much better!! We are hoping for another similar night tonight and it is looking like we'll be in good shape. She has a nice full belly and we are about to go to bed :) 

I think this is my longest post ever, but I want to record the details so I can look back later. Here are some pictures of our cutie pie...

Daddy and Madeline

Love this picture of her!

She looks very tiny in her bouncer.

Her facial expression in this picture cracks me up. 

 She was a good patient and always behaved really well for the nurses.

Less than an hour old...

My baby and me :)

 

 

Madeline with some loving aunts...

 

 Paisley and Emily came to visit after Paisley's dance class.

Ready to go home!

 

Paisley waiting for the news that she is a big sister! The first thing that Paisley said when she say a picture of Parker was, "Parker's hair is crazy!"

  

We could see Brian and Terrisa's room from across the courtyard from our room (they are the room with the open window)

I forgot that George took this video. I found it on my phone tonight and wanted to share...this is just 15-20 minutes or less after she was born.