Going Home Day...

We were all ready to head home Monday morning. The problem with babies born at night is that after staying your 24 hours (so they can do the required test on the new baby), it's hard to go home at 10:oo pm. Well, maybe not for me, but Mr. Earlytobed would rather stay the extra night, and the hospital seems to like that more as well.

Photo-op with Daddy, wearing the same going home attire as Maddie. Neither one fit in it well...but at least one of them grew into it FAST!

The dinner we were supposed to have on Sunday night was moved to Monday night on account of Miss D's early arrival! Here she finally got to meet two more aunts, Aunt Dan (who got sick on Saturday night so he & Aunt Karen couldn't keep Maddie or visit Delaney in the hospital) and Aunt Karen.

First Visitors

Auntie Sherry was there to see her newest niece being born.

Grandma Mary drove to the hospital as soon as Daddy called her so that she could see her new granddaughter right away!

Boppa came back to wait for D after going home to get his car and saying goodnight to big sister Maddie who was at his house with Grandma Gina.

The next day, Aunt Jenny came with Daniel. They ran into our friend, Tina, in the elevator, so they all came in together as Delaney's first visitors of the morning.

It looks like Daniel approves of his new cousin!
Big Sister was very excited to meet "her" baby... and she loved seeing her cousin, Daniel (one of her favorite people in the world!) for a little while too.

Grandma Gina Ann got to come and hold little Delaney Ann. Grandma is holding the "Big Sister" badge she got for Maddie. After wearing it briefly, Mad gave it to D.

A nice moment with Great-grandpa Leo.

Delaney and her Great-Gommie: our girls are definitely lucky to have so many grandparents so close to them.

Welcome to Our World, Delaney Ann!

After an afternoon of timing contractions, a birthday dinner where we planned who was coming to the hospital and who would take Maddie, plus three more hours after being admitted...we finally met our newest princess, Delaney. She came into the world April 18 (thanks for waiting until the day AFTER my birthday!) at 9:57 pm with her Daddy and Auntie Sherry as witnesses. Boppa and Grandma Mary were in the waiting room...Grandma Gina was home with Maddie, waiting to hear D was out and all was good. It all went so fast, she didn't have to wait too long!



Measuring 20 inches long and weighing 6 pounds 12.5 ounces, Delaney was smaller than her sister and had far less hair. But she did have some hair, complete with Daddy's extreme widow's peak! She's quite a little beauty, and we can't wait until we're home with both of our girls...and life becoming a new and exciting kind of normal.

Mom, Daddy, and Maddie at the OB

At today's visit, we had to wait to hear the heartbeat. Initially, we were having some trouble finding it. The doctor thought Delaney was to the left side last week, but I was pretty sure she was on the right. Neither side offered any indication of a heart sound. He could hear the baby move, so it wasn't as scary as it could have been. Just to keep everyone happy, he grabbed the ultrasound machine from the hall. There she was, scrunched way up high...and we said Maddie was wedged up in her turtle shell. Delaney was even higher! It was fun to get another chance to see our little Snickerdoodle. Maddie, who was along for her third visit, again immediately spotted her baby on the monitor and whispered, "Baby. That's Baby."


For Maddie's benefit, the doctor did get that strong heartbeat playing in the room. I think that's Maddie's favorite part of the doctor visits. When we go home, she likes to rub the room monitor on everyone else's belly to hear the baby. Sometimes we expect she'll be a doctor when she grows up...along with her flying and singing careers!

Same Old, Same Old...

Back to the doctor we went today, and as usual, nothing's going on. Did the typical stuff, and discussed my downhill race. His advice was to take hot baths or use cold packs since pain meds are still risky at this point. I think he enjoyed my pain; it held me back from some of my normal attitude. Though I did volunteer to come up with an interesting test to put him through for our next appointment! He did give me the choice of coming back in one week or two. Apparently, we're experts at this sort of thing, so we don't have to go every week if it doesn't work for us. Being the curious type, I opted for the one week return just in case anything gets going. I must be some sort of optimist too...or just dense!

Ouch!

So Monday afternoon, I picked up Miss Maddie from her day with Grandma Gina, and ended up going home in pain. After hanging there for a bit so Maddie and Grandma could finish their book and then Maddie playing with Boppa after he got home, out we went to see if we could get home before Daddy. Mad was milling about in the last bit of snow in front of the Buggy while I stood in the doorway and talked to my mom (who was inside in the laundry room). Maddie said she was ready to go, and walked around to the passenger side of the Buggy. I told her she needed to come to the other door so I could put her in, but she had other ideas. Down the concrete hill driveway she ran. She's gotten a lot faster since last summer (or am I just that much slower?)! I dropped all our stuff and took off after her, every step an uncomfortable jarring motion. When I caught her, helpfully she fell, but only on her knees, I actually managed to not laugh at the joyful look on her face. Back up the hill I carried her, stopping to show her the line near the top she knows not to cross alone. It wasn't until after I got her in her seat and climbed in my own seat that I really felt the pain. After considering taking her back in the house so I could sit down and cry over everything that hurt, I decided to try to just get home. Every time I moved my right leg between the pedals, my left leg screamed out in hot pain. Just another time it's nice to only live one mile from my parents. We got home a few minutes before Jeff, and waited in the car for him. When I finally tumbled myself out, I had to slide my leg across the ground to move it.

Playing with Maddie, at least getting on and off the floor, hauling my sorry self out of bed, and reaching in any direction has not been an easy task. All seems just fine with D -- she's kicking and dancing as much as every other day. Tomorrow we go back to the doctor, so we'll see what he has to say about all of it.