Madeline's Arrival

On Wednesday, April 6, we welcomed our first little child into this world. Madeline Faye Newton was born at 12:08pm at Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg, OR. She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz, and measured 20.5 inches in length. She was 8 days early, which came as a surprise, but I guess she is impatient like her daddy :)

Overall, the delivery went pretty well. (Not that I have any reference point or anything to compare it to.) After having irregular contractions all day Tuesday, we headed to the hospital around 2:30am Wednesday morning when they became more consistent, frequent and intense. I labored for a couple of hours before requesting an epidural around 4:30am. At this point I was 6cm dilated and the contractions were getting very intense and painful. However, the nurse informed me that the anesthesiologists don't arrive at the hospital until 7am, so I had a bit of a wait. Let's just say that was not the response I was hoping for.

So, I labored. It was hard. Joe was very supportive and encouraging, but nothing could distract me from the increasingly intense pain. By the time I finally received the epidural at 8am, my body was shaking, I was in more pain than anything I've ever experienced, and my contractions were (literally) peaking off of the charts. I was 8cm dilated at this point and all I can say is I do not even want to imagine how it feels to complete the birthing process without any pain meds.

Once I received the epidural the whole process was tremendously better. The shaking subsided, the pain eased, and I actually got a short nap in and regained some energy for the most important part: the delivery. I started pushing around 11:30am and in less than an hour our beautiful, healthy baby girl was born. As any parent knows, there are simply no words to describe the emotions we felt when the doctor handed her to us and said "Say hello to your beautiful daughter". Let's just say we feel incredibly blessed and are very happy with the addition of Madeline to our little family.

3:30am- After laboring for one hour, there was still a long ways to go...

Joe attempting to get some sleep 

Hello baby girl :)

She did NOT like getting weighed

...or measured

Daddy comforting his little girl

A natural :) 

Our little girl 

In love 

Daddy and Maddie

Grandma Kathy

Her first bath 

All clean! 

The first of many diaper changes...

Auntie Nicole

Grandma Bev

Sleeping in Grandma's arms 

Nap time with daddy :) 

All cozy in her swaddle

Love this little face!