Welcome Madalyn Elizabeth Sancken 12-31-08!!

Our little Maddie has finally arrived and we missed having the first New Year's baby by just over 5 hours! When we went to the hospital Wednesday morning for our non-stress test and ultrasound to check that there was still enough fluid for her to be ok in - we had no idea what the day would end up bringing. The ultrasound went just fine - they give the baby 30 minutes to do certain things such as move and stretch around, practice breathing, etc. Of course Maddie waited until she had about 3 minutes left before doing any of her stuff, but did pass with flying colors. After the ultrasound, we headed up to the OB department for the non-stress test. This was basically just the nurse putting the monitor on my belly that tracks my contractions and making sure that's all going ok. About 20 minutes into that, she told me that I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes which was not news to us since I had been having them for about a week and a half or so. She asked if we wanted her to check me to see where I was as far as dilation goes - we told her that would be great and when she checked me, she said I was almost a four! She let us off of the monitor and told us to walk around the hospital for awhile to see if we can get me to a four because if I could get there then she could probably convince Dr. Nyi to admit me. So we practically ran around the hospital hoping it would do the trick and when we went back to the room for her to check me again, I was almost a six! AWESOME!!! My contractions were also closer together (although I still wasn't feeling them much) and Dr. Nyi said that there's no way he could let us go home now. YES!!! So the nurse hooked me up to my IV and got my antibiotics started that I had to have since I tested positive for the Group B Strep. They are suppose to get 2 rounds of the antibiotics in me 4 hours apart BEFORE the baby is born to ensure that the baby will not get sick from the Group B. Dr. Nyi came in and broke my water at 2:37pm and gave me an hour to progress before putting me on the Pitocin which I was really dreading b/c I had heard horror stories about how Pitocin can make things much harder. After an hour, I had not progressed as much as he had hoped so they started me on a very low dose of Pitocin - I was still not feeling much as far as the contractions were concerned. After another hour, they bumped the Pitocin up from a level 2 to a level 4 which seemed to do the trick! They said that a level 4 of Pitocin is what they call a "whiff" because it's such a low level - most moms need it bumped up to the max before it does what it needs to. Dr. Nyi said that if I were to have an epidural then he could probably get me ready to push even quicker, but I was like "Heck no!" I had no interest in having an epidural! Finally, I could tell that I was ready to push and exactly 3 pushes later Miss Maddie was born at 6:44pm - almost 4 hours after my water was broke. Dr. Nyi told us next time to just save ourselves a few thousand dollars and just deliver at home since everything was so quick and easy for me. :o) Maddie weighed in at 8 lbs. 8 oz., 20 inches long and was absolutely perfect from head to toe including a head FULL of beautiful black hair! She took to nursing immediately and Travis took to changing diapers immediately. In fact, he changed her first two yucky diapers within 10 minutes of each other - she has the pooping thing down for sure! We did end up staying in the hospital an extra day because she was jaundice and had to be in one of those incubators with the bright lights. She looked like she was in a tanning bed with her little glasses on and everything! When we left the hospital Saturday night, she weighed 7 lbs. 11 oz. - she had lost almost a whole pound, but there was no concern over it. We were glad to get back home though - there's just not much sleep to be had in a hospital. Home Health did deliver us a lighted blanket that we had to keep on her at all times to help with her jaundice, but when the Home Health nurse came out to the house Sunday to draw her blood and check her levels, she called us back later that afternoon and said her levels were dropping and we could take her off of it! We were glad for that because it just wasn't easy to hold and cuddle her with this blanket/machine attached to her. She then had her first doctor's appointment on Monday and passed with flying colors. All three of the kids really love her and are doing a great job of not being too wild and crazy loud when she's sleeping (which is all the time!). And Daddy is absolutely head over heels over his Princess as he likes to call her. The first thing he does when he gets home is plop in the recliner with her and just hold her and watch her. She has some of the greatest little faces that she makes! I'll stop bragging about her now and get some pictures posted as I'm sure that's what everyone is waiting for!!! But let's just say that we are enjoying every single second of finally having her with us - she is such a calm, relaxed little girl.

Just minutes after she was born:

In her tanning bed (check out all of that hair!):

A proud Daddy:

A week old already: