38 week update

We have a baby girl!! Madeline Ann O'Toole made her debut into society at 12:53 am on May 31, 2009! She weighed in at 6 lbs, 15 oz, with a whopping 22 inches of lucious good looks to grow on :) So, the short version of the story goes as follows: Saturday morning (may 30), I drive up to Alton, IL (about an hour north of Saint Louis) to participate in the swim portion of a triathlon relay team. I swam my 400 yards in record time (the fastest time of ANY pregnant participant -- haha!), and right after I got out of the pool (about 9am) I noticed that I had some warm liquid running down my legs (eewwww). After a brief pause, I quickly changed into some dry clothes and waddled back to my car. As I was driving back to Saint Louis, I called my doctor to let him know about my "situation." I headed home to shower and then we were off to the hospital with mom and Jennifer in tow. We made it to room 4 at MoBap around 11:30, and I was 2cm dilated. Contractions hurt. At 1:30 I got my epidural (Thank you, Jeff Yoder. You are my hero!). I dilated to 4cm by 4:00pm. My doctor ordered some pitocin. At the next exam, about 9:00, I doubled again to 8cm. Woo-Hoo! We thought her birthday was going to be that day for sure (we were wrong). Finally, after much deliberation with my cervix, I started to push at about 12:15am. After about 40 minutes of trying to push my brains out of my eyelids, a beautiful dark haired little girl emerged with her eyes wide open! Yipee!! Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Arriving to the Labor and Delivery ward:

Showing off my triathlon tattoo:Smiling assistants:She made it out safely: The O'Toole clan:
Grandma O'Toole, me, and Madeline:Granny Rowe, Jenn, and Madeline:Poppy Rowe and Madeline:Madeline after her first bath:
Sleeping assistants (it was a long day):

37 week update

Mom and Jen are here helping us get the baby's room ready and the rest of the house cleaned and more organized. They have been a ton of help! Thank goodness, because it seems like all I have been doing is sitting around retaining water :)

36 week update

Well, I'm actually closer to 37 weeks at this point, but I am still technically in the 36th week :) So, things are still going well... the usual uncomfortable feelings, going to the bathroom AT LEAST every 2 hours around the clock, and occasional ankle swelling. Luckily those are about the worst of my problems right now! My next doctor's appointment is tomorrow afternoon, and I will have my first internal exam to see how my cervix is doing. Ha-ha. I am looking forward to chilling out the next several days, since I have a week of vacation from work - yay!! I'll be gettting the baby's room organized, cleaning the rest of the house, and spending time with my mom and sister who are coming to town. Much, much better than going to work every day.