M&M&m

It is with great pride and joy that we announce the arrival of our precious daughter!!

She arrived on May 28,  at 3:06 pm.  She weighed 8 lbs, 2 oz, and was 21 inches. All girl, and all beautiful!!

The story: 

 I woke up at 2 am on Wednesday, May 28, to a bit of a trickle, and very shortly thereafter realized that my water was breaking! We are very glad we took Kassey’s advice, and put down that shower curtain under the sheet!  So, I quickly woke up Matt who is usually very difficuly to wake up. This time, as soon as he heard those words, ” My water just broke”…he was up and into action!  We called the hospital who told us to to go ahead and get ready and come on in.  Then we made the necessary phone calls to our parents and others who had wanted to know about labor right away.  We felt so bad calling people at 2:30 am, but for some reason they didn’t seem to mind!!! =   ) 

We arrived at the hospital and in our room at about 3am.  I was still at only 1.5 cm. So we rested as much as we could for about an hour, then got up and tried walking the halls to bring on more contractions. That didn’t seem to work as well either. By 5 am I still wasn’t progressing  or contracting as much as they had wanted with my water broken already. The Dr. decided it was time to start me on Pitocin. I was pretty nervous about this, as I had wanted to labor as naturally as possible, and have heard nothing but nasty about Pit.  They started me on the lowest dose, and thankfully that was all my body needed to start contracting regularly.  Not long and I was up to 3cm. They only upped my dose one more time, and I was able to breath and relax my way through them without any meds. Matt was a dream!!! I could never have done it all without his help!

I progressed along, and by 1pm I was at 8 cm. With a little help I was just shy of 10 right away. I wanted to feel the urge to push before I began we started that. So, we waited out a few more contrations, to get her head nice and low. I started pushing at about 1:30.  It took me a little bit to get the hang of the right way of pushing..but once I got it, we made good progress. With NO pain medication, I was able, with the Lord’s strength, to deliver Maelyn naturally at 3:06 pm.  Our lives will never be the same!!  She was bright and very alert almost immediatly, and I just couldn’t believe that this beautiful baby came out of ME!!! = ) 

The adjustment has been wonderful!  Maelyn is an adorable and sweet little baby. She is nursing really well, and even lets us get some sleep at night!! It has been a true joy to watch my husband turn into daddy. He is so attentive, self-less, and completely in love!! My heart melts to see the two of them together.

More updates and funny stories to follow!! = )  We have a feeling this blog will now be all about the little princess in our lives!!

I guess being this close to my due date, May 28th, I should expect to hear this quite often. That doesn’t mean it gets easier to answer. Isn’t it obvious???  O well.

I wanted to update the readers out there that we don’t see often….that are wondering if our little Maelyn has arrived yet. I realize we haven’t blogged in awhile!! But…NO, no baby yet. I am still quite LARGE and with child. Dr. says it could be any day now…but I think this little girl is quite comfortable in her current surroundings…he he.!! We are daily trying to talk her into coming out to see us…but so far it hasn’t worked!!  =) 

Matt is busy with summer school, and has only 1 week left. This will give him 3 additional credits under his belt in only 3 short weeks. It is a TON of work…but worth the trouble if you’d like to graduate sooner!! Which happens to be his case!! He discovered while registering for the fall semester 08 that with a little extra work, he will be able to walk and graduate next May! We are of course thrilled and so excited about this…but it will involve much work in the next 2 semesters. We know with God’s help, it will be accomplished. Also, Matt has changed his work hours to 3rd shift recently. It was a big adjustment, and we know many wondered what we/he was thinking.  These new hours inable him to be quite a bit more active at church during the week, and leaves him with quite a bit more family time on friday nights. So far it has been worth it, and Matt is enjoying the change.  We will see how adding a little one to the mix goes. 

So, as of today , it’s 10 days and counting!!! Give or take a few!!! We will be sure to keep you all informed, and post pictures and all the wonderful news when the blessed event takes place!

With the final countdown begun, we are enjoying this month of April.  Now at 34 weeks, we have appx. 6 weeks to go until we get to finally see who has been keeping me company these past 8 months. It’s such a beautiful time of year with the tulips coming up, and the crocuses in bloom.  We can only wonder what May’s flowers will bring?? The pregnancy continue’s to progress in all health, no issues, no complications. We are so thankful!!!

 Sat, the 12th was such a special day for me, as it was my Baby Shower given by our church.  I never really expected to have a baby shower at all under these circumstances, so it extra special to us.  I was just so blessed to have so many wonderful friends from church make it to the shower. We were so suprized by everyone’s generosity as well. What fun to open all the cute baby girl things. We just can’t wait to use them all on Maelyn. She’s a very blessed baby already, with so many people who love her. 

I’m posting pictures below of the shower, our pretty spring flowers, and the blooming ladies in our church!!! Ha ha….it’s just too funny to have 5 pregnant women all at once. God is so good.

 Yesterday marked week 28 here in this amazing pregnancy of ours. This means I’ve crossed over into the third and final trimester! I’m trying to soak up every amazing moment as the end is now in sight. Maelyn is quite the good strong kicker, and it’s been so much fun to watch my tummy move at random.  The Glucose screen test was a few weeks ago, and came back normal. At yesterday’s OB check up I had to have the RhoGAM shot, as I am RH neg. I gotta say I had myself all nerved up, and the nurse was so gentle with the shot it was nothing!! Taking the band aid off hurt worse than the shot!! =)  I can say that the mad nesting has begun.  I find myself wanting to get everything ready now!! We were blessed with a Travel System Stroller/Car Seat combo from some friends at church, so that has gotten the scrub down, and soon we will get to try and make certian the base is in correctly and safley in the car and van. The nursery has been updated at well! The crib is up, the linens washed and all set up in the crib. I think the next step is to start working on washing up all those adorable baby girl clothes.  It’s been fun to prepare for what will soon change our lives forever.   I do want to mention here that we have registered at Wal-Mart and Target. Many people have asked what we are needing yet, and that should answer your question!! =) It was too much fun to actually go and do a baby registery.   Our church is giving us a baby shower on April 12…can’t wait!!!!

On a side note…I have still been keeping an eye on the China adoption scene as we were tied into it for so long. They recently sent out referrals through Jan. 4, 2006. The people still waiting have now been waiting for almost 3 years to see their children. They have the patience of saints. Our original Log In Date was March 9, 2006.  So, as you can see we would STILL be waiting!!!  With the eyes of the world on Beijing and China this summer with the Olympics, I am interested to see how this affects the adoption scene.

Okay!!! Here are your latest belly shots!!! I keep hearing how “big” I am already…so please…no new comments on my largness….I’m PREGNANT…NOT fat!!!! =)  and yes….I am a bit touchy on the subject!!! ha ha…

 It is with great joy and excitement we are happy to say Baby A cooperated today!!   Looks like PINK will be the IN color this spring!! She was hiding nothing today, and we are so thrilled to say we will have little Maelyn Joy join us sometime this spring.  Looks like we will get to use all that girl stuff after all! Time to get out the crib set and let the pink begin!  Can you tell we are excited? We’ve been walking around with grins on our faces all night…just can’t wait to kiss those cheeks!! 

With 21 weeks of pregnancy under my belt, I am now half way done!! I can hardly believe it still at times, but when I’m lying awake at night, and feel the gentle nudgings from my unborn child, it is a dream come true.  Gentle I say so far…but I can see it becoming not so gentle here in the next few weeks to come. I can’t get over how special it is to feel those little feet moving around in there.  Then I look at that ultrasound photo of that little foot, and just smile. Precious little feet! 

We were hoping to find out the gender at our last ultrasound on the 2nd, but since baby didn’t cooperate, we are scheduled for the next on Feb. 8th. ( so you still have time to cast your vote for boy or girl..what do you think? )  Aside from that, things are still uneventful. When I hear all the other pregnant women talking about morning sickness and  other fun pregnancy ailments, I cannot complain.  God is blessing me with a wonderful enjoyable pregnancy. 

As for my better half….I’m sure you may be wondering what he is up to this semester at school.  He is a bit busy to be blogging away on here…but his time will come for updates this summer!!  Matt is currently taking 13 credits. 2 credits of which involve a Counseling Seminar in Lafayette, IN which is requirement for his degree.  It is a week long seminar that he is really looking forward to from Feb. 11-14.  The other 11 credits are his weekly classes:  The Biblical Counselor, Theology 3,  Homelitics 3,  New Testament Biblical Theology,  Church Administration and Finance, and a Men in Ministry Forum.  This has him very busy, but he is managing very well, Praise the Lord.  At the completion of this semester he will officially be a SENIOR!!  There is a light at the end of the tunnel!! Due to the class load, and a new baby on the way, he won’t be graduating next May. He will need to have an additional class or 2 that he is perfectly content to take his time and finish up.  So, that is my amazing husband.  School every day, home at noon, then to work at 2, home at 11, and start it all again the next day.  With a good attitude to boot I might add.  I am so proud of him. 

Here is your 21 week belly shot. 

21-weeks.jpg