Boot Camp: Paige Madison

Paige Madison has arrived!

I wanted to type out her story, so there may be too much detail for some of you. You can always just skip down to the adorable pictures of her :)

Last Tuesday, February 24, her due date, came. I had a doctor's appointment. They still had me a 3 which was the same as the week before. I decided to have my membranes stripped and see if that helped. I began having random contractions that night, but nothing steady or intense. Things started to be consistent around 5:45am, but still 14-15 minutes apart. At one point, they jumped down to 6 minutes apart for a few.... which got me a little nervous. Just as quickly as they had jumped down, they jumped right back up. This went on for a while until they started to be 8 minutes apart for about 2 hours. I was getting a bit antsy and decided to 'get out of the house' and took the girls to Costco. Looking back.... maybe wouldn't have done that as we had gone to the hospital with Lily when they were about 11 minutes apart.

I decided to call a wonderful friend who came over right away to watch the girls.

Meanwhile, the weather was deciding to do it's own thing. We were suppose to have about 1" of snow on the day she was born. This quickly changed to 6-8" of snow all starting at 2-3pm.

We checked in to the hospital, but the contractions started to fade. I was still having them, but not as consistent and not even close to 8 minutes apart any more. At this point, it was somewhat defeating. We were so excited and ready to meet her and then all of that just vanished.

This was not what we expected or had planned.

From this point on, we had to make a decision I thought we had already decided on. Should I have them induce me, break my water, and have this baby? Or not? I absolutely did not want to be induced. That's why I had my membranes stripped. That's why we ate spicy food the night before. That's why..... etc etc.

I was so opposed to being induced.

I was induced.

We decided and clung to this verse:

Proverbs 16:9

We make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

This was not what we had planned. But, our girls at home were taken care of. There was an incoming snow storm that could hinder us from getting back to the hospital. We were already at the hospital. I had been having contractions, so it should go quickly....With all of these things taken into consideration, the nurse started me on pitocin about 3:10pm. The OB planned to be back in when she returned from the office at about 5:30 to break my water if needed. We 'hung out' for 20 minutes, but because the snow started to pick up, the OB came back in and said she wasn't going back to the office.

At 3:30, she broke my water. Contractions picked up very quickly. I had the anesthesiologist come in about 4:30 to administer my epidural. It took him 3 times... which was quite painful. During this time, Jay was extremely self aware and noticed he was getting pretty dizzy. When I looked up, he was pretty white and had little beads of sweat on his forehead. After a few minutes of sitting down and some juice, he was back encouraging me.
Contractions were picking up and intensifying. I quickly went from a 3-4, at 3:30, to a 7-8 at 5, and was at a 9-10 by 5:15. The OB came in, and it was time to push. It was pretty awful as the epidural hadn't quite gone into full swing yet. I started to push and only recall pushing a handful of times. At one point Paige had shoulder dystocia, but praise the Lord only for a few seconds before the OB scooped her out perfectly fine.

Here she is:

Paige Madison Udey

7 lbs 14 oz

19" long

Born at 5:32 pm

Excited to show the girls our 'view' as they love the Capitol building.

Heading home!

We had a check-up on day 5 of life for Paige as she was a tish yellow in the hospital. After a screening and blood test, we got to experience something else new: the biliblanket. Paige's level of jaundice was just enough for our pediatrician to want her to be on the biliblanket as much as possible.