M is for Maddie

Andy, Fischer and I welcomed Maddison Daisie into the world at 7:47 am on Thursday, July 16. She weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful, and we are so thankful for her.

Andy and I arrived at the hospital at 5:30 am and were admitted into a birthing room so that they could monitor the baby (who still didn't have a name). We had a great nurse who seemed to really know her stuff and was a take-charge kind of gal. Apparently though, she had a bit of a bone to pick with our doctor.... so that was a bit unsettling as she kept making comments about him being in a bad mood! NOT what you want to hear about the guy who is about to cut you open!

Anyway, we walked into the OR about 7:30 and the really fabulous anaesthesiologist gave me a spinal block. Then they laid me down, hiked my gown up under my breasts and left me that naked on the table for the rest of the procedure! Is it only on TV when they drape blue things over all of the parts of you that they don't need to see? A little embarrassing... but then what could I do, I was numb from the chest down. They put the oxygen on, the IV in and then I started feeling pretty crummy... and so did Andy. He turned sheet white and had to sit in the hall for a few minutes to regain his composure. Once in, he sat right by my head and started trying to distract me with naming the baby. (We couldn't see what was going on because of the drape in front of us.) He started listing off a few of our more recent favorites, like Willow and Jordan, but still none were resonating with me. Then he started talking about renaming the dog so that we could name her Kaia... which i really was contemplating... but who would want to find out that their namesake was the word's stinkiest dog?

Next thing we knew, she was out and had a full head of dark hair! We thought it must be the goop from the womb. Andy hustled back and forth between the baby and me reporting on what the nurses were doing and trying to show me the pictures he had just taken of her, so that I could see her.

Then they pushed and pulled and practically jumped all over me, till finally I was sewed up and ready to go... can't really remember what happened next. I think they handed her to me and wheeled me back to the birthing room where my parents were anxiously awaiting their new granddaughter. I think it was around this time that Andy started referring to her as Maddie. I kept saying, that's not her name, and he kept insisting that she looked like a Maddison. Just take her hat off and look at her.

Everything went really well and we couldn't be happier with our little bundle of pink. We feel so extremely blessed.

Sometime Friday, the name Maddison had stuck and we paired it with my grandmother's name "Daisie". Of course right after that one of my aunts was just sure that she looked like my Grandmother Daisie (who we all called 'Omi'). But like Daisie herself would have said... "Maddison looks like Maddison."

Fischer absolutely loves her. He is very involved - wanting to hold her and feed her and kiss her and do everything we do to her. He loves to touch her little hands and feet and pet her head. He keeps asking me, "So, how is breast-feeding going?"

Her daddy now just calls her "Gorgeous".