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):