Finally...

Our adorable baby boy is finally here! And just in time for Mother's Day :)

Madden Randel was born Thursday, May 7th at 4:59 p.m., weighing in at 7 lb 9 oz, measuring at 20 1/2 inches long, and with a full head of dark hair, just like his Daddy! :)He gave us a little scare during labor and we ended up having to do an emergency C-section. We are so grateful that he is here with us and healthy and beautiful as can be! Everyone’s been asking for the story, so here it is…

Thursday morning I woke up at 5 a.m. with some mild contractions. They were consistently 5-6 minutes apart so Randy and I drove to the hospital. I was so sure on the drive there that they were going to send us back home. When they checked us in triage, I wasn't that far along, dilated to about a 3 and 80% effaced, but luckily they decided to keep us. Once we knew this was really happening, we made some phone calls: my Mom dropped everything to hop onto the next flight out of Oakland, Ca into Phoenix and Randy's family all piled into the car and started making the drive down from Snowflake.

Labor was moving very slowly...and contractions were getting more and more painful. At about 1:00 that afternoon, I was ready for the epidural...greatest thing ever invented. Seriously. Loved it.

Things were going fine, just moving slowly. After laboring for almost 12 hours, the baby's heart rate suddenly dropped dramatically. The nurses were able to get it back up, but my Dr. said if it happened again, we needed to do an emergency C-section. Well, about an hour later it happened again, this time dropping even lower. After that, everything happened so fast. Within seconds there were about 8 nurses and doctors in the room, flip flopping me in all kinds of crazy positions, trying to get the baby's heart rate back up and sticking needles in me, trying to stop the contractions. I was on oxygen and a little out of it and there were so many people surrounding me, I couldn't quite take in what exactly was happening. But when I saw Randy being told to put on scrubs, I knew we were getting ready to do an emergency C-section.

Our wonderful doctor raced to the hospital (breaking a lot of traffic laws along the way, he said) and made it there just in time to perform my C-section. Randy was able to be in there with me and sat right by my side and held my hand through the whole thing. From the moment I was on the operating table to the moment I heard Madden's first cry, it was literally seconds. I could not believe how quickly they got him out of me! As soon as I heard him cry and they held him up over the curtain for me to see, I was so incredibly happy, I could not wipe the smile off my face! And I could not wipe the tears off my face, since my entire body was numb, so the anesthesiologist dabbed at my tears with a tissue, while Randy followed Madden to get cleaned up. As soon as he was all clean and bundled up, he was placed in Randy's arms and Randy brought him over to me and lowered him down to my face so I could give him a kiss before he was taken out to be weighed and measured and I was left to be sewn back up.

That night while Randy and I stayed up late watching Madden sleep in our hospital room, we were talking about how differently everything turned out with the whole labor and delivery experience. I had always looked forward to the experience of delivering a baby with my husband by my side, having my baby placed in my arms for the very first time as soon as he was born, being the first one to hold him, and having that special moment with just my husband and my new baby. And because of the C-section, I missed out on some of that. But for some reason I wasn't sad about it. I was just so incredibly happy that my baby was here and that he was healthy and safe. I may have missed out on some moments that I had pictured in my head, but I will never forget the moments I was able to experience that day. I will never forget the blessing my husband gave me just before I went into surgery. I will never forget the moment I heard Madden’s first cry. I will never forget the moment they held him up over the curtain for me to see for the very first time. I will never forget looking to my side and seeing my husband hold our newborn baby for the very first time and seeing my husband in a new way and loving him more than I ever have before. I will never forget placing my lips on Madden's perfect little cheek to kiss him for the very first time. And I will never forget finally being able to hold my baby for the very first time.

4 days later, we were finally able to take Madden home…and just in time for Mother’s Day.

I will never ever forget my very first Mother’s Day…

Happy Birthday, Madden! Mommy and Daddy love you so much!! XOXOXO