She's Going Bald

Maddy was born with a full head of hair.  Well, maybe not exactly what you think of when you think of "full head of hair," but she wasn't bald.  I was 90% sure that her hair was going to fall out because all of my hair fell out when I was a baby, but I didn't expect it to fall out in places - at least for now.  Maddy is one month and three days old today and she now has no hair on the top of her head.  The poor girl looks like an old man - the only thing that would make it more realistic is if all of the hair on the sides was longer so that she could do a comb over.  Hopefully her hair will grow back soon - I miss her her hair. 

Here is a picture of her just two weeks ago with hair:

And, here she is today - with no hair on the top of her head:

I wonder when the rest of her hair will fall out so that we can get her hair to start growing back.  Luckily she is still an adorable baby and she makes me smile :)

Bath = Restful Night

We gave our little Maddy a bath tonight.  I can't believe how much my baby loves the water, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised because I was a little water baby myself when I was young.  I grew up in Southern California, so as soon as it was warm enough outside, my parents and grandparents had me in the swimming pool.  I think I was only four months old when I first went in the pool.  It's too bad that my husband and I now live in Washington because I don't know if Maddy will ever be able to enjoy the water like I used to.  I guess we need to plan on moving back to California someday :) I think it might happen someday :)

Back to the bath - Maddy just loves her baths.  Before Maddy was born we attended quite a few baby classes at the hospital where I was going to delivery.  Unfortunately I don't think we learned much in the classes.  And, the few things that I did learn were not used in our delivery because I was admitted to the hospital before contractions started and when it came down to delivery, I had an emergency c-section.  But, the one thing that we did use was their advice not to spend a lot of money on the fancy baby baths. We had one on our registry, but quickly removed it because they convinced us it wasn't necessary - and I think they were right.  So, we use a simple dishpan to give Maddy her baths.  It's perfect for her size, plus we'll be able to use the dishpans in other ways after she is big enough for the bath tub.

I also love that the baths calms her down - that is why we give her a bath right before she goes to bed.  I'm not sure if it is the warm water or the baby wash that makes her so calm, but I love it.  We dry her off with her cute little baby towel, rub some of the Johnson & Johnson Bedtime Lotion on her and dress her and she drifts off to sleep.  She sleeps so well after baths - I wish I could give her a bath every day :)

Here is to a restful night tonight because Maddy should be sleeping for at least five hours straight! 

One Month Old

I became a mommy one month and one day ago.  It was the role that I was waiting for my whole life. It has been an exciting time, but also very tiring.  I don't think I've ever been more tired, even when I was pulling all-nighters in college.  But, I wouldn't take any of it back because having my baby has made me the happiest I have ever been!

I became a mommy on April 28, 2011 to Madelyn, also known as Maddy :)  My due date was April 28th.  Everyone in my family have had their babies at least one week early, but Maddy was not coming.  I had an appointment on April 26 with my OBGYN and she thought that everything looked and sounded normal, but as she had me sit up, she thought I looked kind of big and I had not dropped.  Since I was approaching my due date and because she thought the baby could be big, she asked me to come in the next day for another ultrasound. My husband and I went in for the ultrasound the next day and they found that the baby looked approximately 6.5 pounds, so she definitely was not big.  However, they also found that I was low on fluid and the placenta was starting to calcify - meaning my placenta looked as though the gestational age was around 42 weeks.  This was very concerning to my doctor and she had me admitted to the hospital immediately.  She inserted a balloon with medication that would start to get me dialated and then they were going to induce me in the morning. 

We checked in at the hospital and just waited.  At approximately 9pm all of the nurses rushed into my room and didn't tell me why... at first.  They just hooked me up to an IV and then told me that they had lost the baby's heartbeat and couldn't get it back for a a minute.  I was freaking out, but they assured me that everything was okay.

At approximately 3am, all of the nurses rushed back into my room again because they lost her heartbeat again.  They transferred me to a gurney and took me to the OR - they were going to deliver the baby right then.  However, once we got to the OR, Maddy's heartbeat was back.  The doctor checked me and found that I was dialated five centimeters - and I didn't even know it.  The doctor that was on-call said that since we got her heartbeat back and I was already that far along, it might be worth it to try to deliver the baby naturally.  So, they took me back to my room.

I began laboring more and more as the early morning hours went on. I had gone into the hospital with the plan of delivering naturally without any medication, but would not feel bad if I needed to have something to relieve the pain.  The contractions got worse and worse and at about 7am I couldn't take it any more.  So, I elected to get the epidural.  Approximately ten minutes after the epidural kicked in, all of the nurses came rushing back into my room again - they lost her heartbeat.  But, this time they weren't going to take any chances - we were going to the OR and they were going to deliver the baby then!

As they were rushing me to the OR, I couldn't help but cry.  All of the nurses seemed so concerned and scared for me... and seeing these women that see labor and delivery everyday scared, I was so terrified.  Was Maddy okay? I couldn't stop crying.

They prepped me and they delivered Maddy at 7:56am on April 28, 2011.  She weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 20.5 inches.  She was perfect.  Why had her heartbeat slowed down and why had it looked like I had not dropped?  My crazy baby had got herself all wrapped up in the umbilical cord.  The doctor delivered her and as they were taking her out, we heard her say, "This baby had herself hogged-tied."  They cut the umbiglical cord, washed her and brought her to us - and introduced us to our "little drama queen" - yes, the doctor called Maddy a drama queen.


Luckily I elected to get the epidural when I did, because if I had not, I would not have been awake when they delivered my precious baby.  The pain during labor wasn't all that bad - I think I could have taken more, but something kept telling me that I needed the epidural.  I kept fighting the voice in my head, but eventually I gave in - and again, I am so glad that I did because I was able to hold my baby after she was born!


Since having Maddy, it has been an adventure.  It has been the best adventure of my life.