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We are starting to get a little used to what to do with a baby.  She sleeps a lot (especially durning the day, intermittently at night).  Other than that it is milk, diapers and burping.  Those first few nights were really rough with little to no sleep but last night little Madeline slept for 1 hr to 2 hr blocks, rather than the 10 min blocks we endured the first few nights.  The whole "you sleep when the baby sleeps" routine doesn't work when you have a two year old, so we were surviving on coffee and well more coffee.  Sleep gives the world a whole new shine!

Andrew and Madeline.  What a great Dad!  

We will be trying to take lots more pictures as time allows :)  The next few weeks we will be focused on enjoying our new family and having fun with our visitors and friends!

pictures

5:40 pm

Don't I look happy?  Thats because I have no idea what is in store for me.  At this point my contractions were getting pretty close together, around every 4-5 minutes and Andrew finally convinced me it was time to go to the hospital.

6:00pm By the time we got to the hospital (15 min later) the contractions were now 3 minutes apart and VERY painful.

 They took us into triage to see if I would be admitted, or sent home.  It was about this time I asked to get the epidural  because there was no way I wanted to miss out on the window of opportunity for a pain free birth.  The nurse asked us questions and monitored contractions for about 30 minutes total.  This process abruptly ended when she checked my cervix to discover I was at a 7.  (10 means the baby comes out).   I was admitted.  I was not a screamer so I think she did not gauge the urgency of the situation.

problem #1 there were no birthing rooms.  too many women were in labor at the same time.
problem #2 I needed a birthing room stat
problem #3 My nurse was not the best at time management, aka she was slow.  really slow.

 6:48 pm I was put into a wheelchair, and by this time tears were running down my cheeks and contractions were every 2 minutes.
problem #4 my nurse still had not sent my bloodwork (results are required prior to epidural)
problem #5 I was taken into a storage/ recovery/office room with no birthing bed or supplies.  There was a regular hospital bed that was going to have to do.
problem #6.  There was someone working in the office part of the room- problem solved- the pulled a curtain across my portion of the room
problem #7  These contractions were unbearable

7:04 pm I pushed a baby out in a storage room with no pain medication at all- yes it hurt a lot.  The midwife barely got there in time to put on gloves.  Literally I had to say "the baby's head is going to come out.  You need to find her NOW!"

This would be about the time I said "I guess you were right we should have left for the hospital sooner"

 Madeline Lucette came out fast and furious, but I am thankful for that because on the bright side, the pain didn't go on for too long.  She was healthy and finally here.

 Big long feet like her sister.  7lbs 2 oz and 19 inches long.  She is tiny!

 We made it through, and now she will have a great story about the day she was born.  Looking back I am dang lucky Andrew finally insisted we go to the hospital otherwise he may have had to pull over on the side of the road to deliver a baby!

 We are home and although exhausted, very happy.  Chloe is already an adorable big sister!  I am sure I have left out a ton of details, but I think I covered the main ones.

Finally!!

Madeline Lucette Romerdahl is finally here! She decided to make her appearance on Friday night at 7:04 pm. She looks just like Andrew and just like Chloe did when she was a newborn. She is finally sleeping, and we are exhausted. Andrew will post photos soon! Story to follow as well.

Baby Prep

For the most part we are ready for this little bundle of joy to arrive.  We should be since this is day 2 past my due date.  The baby room has been converted from (ugly) guest room to cute baby room.

AFTER

BEFORE (oh yes the walls were sponge painted)

Notice the super cute retro mobile.  Donna saved it all these years from when Andrew was a baby!

I couldn't find changing pad covers that I liked so I made my own.  I also made soaker pads to put on top to minimize the mess associated with diaper changes.  Also I wanted to add some color to the room.

I made big mats too for diaper free time in lots of fun colorful fabrics.

We started the whole room with a bright green crib and built around that.  

Chloe likes the crib a lot and is always trying (usually successfully) to climb in.

 Aside from sewing and painting I have also been knitting up a storm.  I am going to try some wool diaper covers this go around.  We will see how they work.  The idea is that they are naturally anti-bacterial and repel water, but are soft on tender skin.  I am cautiously optimistic, but only enough to make one.  I will knit more if it seems to work.

We put it on Chloe's Elmo to check the fit over a cloth diaper.  Not bad.  If it doesn't work out for the baby, Chloe can always keep it for her stuffed animals.  

 Of course I made another sweater.  I found this yarn down in Oregon this summer and didn't know what I wanted to knit with it but soon decided that whatever I made would have to have stripes.

 It is a little big for a newborn....probably more of a 6 month size, but it is hanging in her closet ready to go whenever she will fit into it.  I just love it.

 The bright red buttons really make it fun.  We call it the Brobee sweater because it is the exact colors of Chloe's favorite yo gabba gabba character.

 I made this sweater a while ago, and probably blogged about it, but I am just so excited to use it!  This one should be her size and it is getting a little chillier than earlier in the summer so I will definitely get some wear time out of this one.

 Hopefully soon we will have a post will newborn baby photos, but if not well wish me luck not going totally crazy!!!  The anticipation is killing me!

Another trip to the zoo

These days I am trying to be as active as possible to encourage this baby to come out and meet us.  We go to the zoo a lot.  It is fun for Chloe but it is also great exercise for me with all of the hills and gravel trails.  Friday nights are concerts at the zoo, and we try to go as often as possible.  It is mostly parents with their kids.  Everyone brings picnic blankets, food and kids.  The kids run around together and dance, getting out all of their energy before bedtime!

Chloe LOVES LOVES LOVES dancing so she gets all of our energy out before bedtime too!  Andrew and I switch off, as her favorite thing to do is spin in circles.....whew it makes me dizzy!

This Friday she especially liked picking grass and throwing it at me.  She would laugh hysterically and run off to collect more grass to do it again.  She got me sitting down.

 She also got me standing up!  

 It was a great night, and probably the most fun we have had at the zoo yet!  I think we are averaging once or twice a week these days, and I have proposed every day going forward!  We finally saw the polar bear awake, which was probably even more exciting for me than Chloe!  Those things are HUGE!!!  much like me these days :)

Tiffany and Todd's wedding

We had a wonderful time at the wedding, and no one had a better time than Chloe.  I thought I would share some more of the moments with you. 

Back row seats at the ceremony....just in case we had to get a noisy toddler out quickly... Which we didn't have to do since Chloe was entertained by animal crackers, a glasses case, play dough and Donna's necklace.  It was not easy work keeping her quiet though.  She just wanted to run and play in their amazing yard.  Thank goodness for grandparents!

Chloe met a little friend and they were inseparable the entire rest of the wedding.

They shared a chair for the toast and speeches, and they were laughing so hard we had to take them to go play so they didn't distract people.  We were proactive-- We didn't get any dirty looks but figured when the father of the bride wants to make a speech we had better do our part to make sure everyone could hear him!

I may add photos to this post later, but don't have permission from the little girl's parents to post her pics yet. (although I wonder if they will call...my business card may have freaked them out- my job isn't exactly typical.  Andrew said we should have given them his card instead....oh well)  There are a ton of awesome pics of the two of them, so here's hoping.  I also want to set up a play date, since they got along so well!

On the topic is business cards, I have heard the new trend is making playdate cards.... So they would have Chloe's contact info on them and our number/ email without the work stuff.  Trendy Moms are apparently doing this---  I am a trendy Mom, so I think I will give it a try too!  Way less intimidating than  business cards.  

appreciating family

We are just so happy to have our family. 

We haven't posted in a while because we haven't known what to say.  Over the weekend our friends Corey, Hetty and their two little girls died in an airplane collision.  It was such shocking and devastating news, none of us know quite what to do, or even how to really process that it happened.  Luckily we have a sweet and wonderful little girl that keeps us smiling even when we are sad.  Soon we will have two sweet little girls, although when the newest addition will be here is anyone's guess- I have proven I have no mother's intuition about these things.  We took this picture at another friend's wedding Saturday night before we heard the news.  I figured I had better post it before it is outdated :)  We have more pictures but I will save them for another post.

We hope you all give your family extra hugs and kisses tonight and appreciate the ones you love.