Seven weeks in a snapshot

The last several weeks have been a blur.  I feel like I am doing something all the time and rarely accomplish anything.  At times that's a frustrating feeling, but when I live in the moment, rather than constantly thinking ahead to the next thing on my to do list, I find a lot of satisfaction.  It's easy to be changing Madelyn's diaper and thinking about how I need to hurry up, so that I can get lunch made, but if I stop thinking about hurrying and talk to Madelyn while I change her diaper, she smiles.  Then we have a moment to connect with each other, and I find joy in that exact moment instead of stress.  Wouldn't it be nice if I could learn to always live in the present?

A few days after Madelyn was born, Kirsten and Reagan pulled out their bikes again.  Kirsten seems to be getting over her fear of riding her bike, which is great.  It makes me so happy to see her riding.

Kirsten riding her bike.

Three Ehle Sisters

 Reagan has been riding her bike so well lately that she could almost ride without training wheels.  I actually think she's ready physically, but psychologically she doesn't seem to be ready to try.

Matt trying to teach Reagan to ride without training wheels.

I took the girls to the Mapleton City Park because it's one of our favorites, and they played in the sand volleyball court.

Playing in the sand

We went to a Family Concert at BYU with my mom one Saturday.  The woodwind orchestra played some really neat songs, and afterward the girls got to go up and look at the instruments.  Since it was a concert, I didn't take any pictures, but Reagan did enjoy this garden out in the lobby of the Fine Arts Building.

In the lobby of the HFAC

Madelyn laying in her crib.

One Friday I took Reagan to the library for story time while Kirsten was in school.  Madelyn came, too.  We happened to run into our neighbors, and Reagan got to play with her friend Harper while I talked to my friend Jessica, who also recently had a baby girl.

Climbing on the dragon statue in the entrance of the library

The next week Mimzy came to visit!  We had such a great time with her.  We did lots of artwork together.  Kirsten came up with this idea to make dolls and animals using clothespins, popsicle sticks, and paper, and we did it for hours.

Kirsten with her Rapunzel doll

I made a Rapunzel doll for Reagan

Kirsten with her Ariel and Rapunzel

Reagan cuddling with Mimzy

Madelyn when she turned one month old

 Uncle Jake came down from Logan to spend a couple of days with us while Mimzy was here, too.  We even got to celebrate his birthday with him.  Yahoo!

Cuddling with Uncle Jake

Cuddling with Mimzy

While Mimzy was here, we watched Winnie the Pooh, read Winnie the Pooh, and played with Winnie the Pooh toys.  She has successfully passed down a great love of Winnie the Pooh to her granddaughters.

We also went to the mall for lunch and to play at the play place, went on a picnic in Hobble Creek Canyon, and played at McDonalds.  Matt and I even went on our first date since Madelyn was born.  We went to see Peter and the Starcatchers at the Hale Center Theater in Orem.  It was nice to get out, and it was nice of Mimzy to make that possible.

The girls really missed Mimzy a lot when she left.  I mean--A LOT.

Matt cuddling with Madelyn

 I saw that the library was starting a new class called Art City Kids for children in Kindergarten through 3rd grade.  I'd been feeling like Kirsten needed a little extra attention.  So, I asked my mom to watch Reagan and Madelyn while I took just Kirsten.

Kirsten showing off her pink self portrait

She made these glasses, too.

The next day I took Reagan and Madelyn to story time at the library while Kirsten was at school.  Madelyn was very obliging and slept.

Reagan made some glasses, too.

The Saturday before Easter we dyed Easter eggs.

The girls wore their beautiful new Easter dresses to Church.

They enjoyed the egg hunt in our yard.

And they also enjoyed the egg hunt in Nana's yard.

This is what Madelyn did during the egg hunt.

We finger painted for our Family Home Evening activity the next day.

Last Saturday we went on a family outing to the Museum of Natural Curiosity and spent six hours playing there.  It was such a nice day.

Our family built this house out of blocks.  It was fantastic.

Today I went for my first run since Madelyn was born.  I ran two miles!  I feel very accomplished.

Baby Madelyn is here!

When I went to my 38 week appointment, the doctor told me that I was dilated to 2 cm and 70% effaced.  He predicted that I would go into labor that week on my own.  I'd never heard a doctor predict that I would go into labor.  So, I felt pretty confident that I would . . . Then I didn't.

At my next appointment, I was still at 2 cm and 80% effaced.  I was pretty disappointed, especially since the doctor said that he did not think I would go into labor on my own and helped me schedule an induction.  Now, I was induced with Reagan, and it was a good experience, but I really didn't want to be pregnant for another week since I'd been expecting to go into labor at any moment for such a long time.

It's hard to say exactly when I started feeling real labor contractions.  Was it Thursday night?  Was it Friday night?  I know I was experiencing real labor on Saturday, but everything felt so slow.  I'd been expecting to have a quick labor if I went into labor on my own, but this was anything but quick.  Saturday evening I went to bed, and I woke up to a strong contraction around one in the morning.  I watched the clock for awhile.  The contractions were getting closer together, and they were definitely stronger.  Around 2:30 I woke up Matt and called my mom to come watch the girls.

Matt and I drove to the hospital, and I was able to walk up to labor and delivery, which was nice.  When Kirsten was born, my labor was progressing so fast that by the time we got there I was throwing up from pain--and panic, probably.  They got me checked in at the hospital and watched me for an hour.  Stupid contractions--they started slowing down again near the end of the hour.  They were still strong, which indicated that I was probably pretty close to giving birth.  But who knew how long that would be?  I was in luck though because my doctor was the in-house doctor that night, and he told me that if I wanted to augment the labor with a bit of petocin we could do that.  He wasn't crazy about the idea of sending me home because I would probably just need to turn right back around to come back.

I opted for the lowest dose of petocin, which they gave me for a very brief period of time.  My water broke on its own, and with the epidural in place, I closed my eyes expecting to have several more hours before it was time to  push.  After about an hour and a half, maybe, my eyes opened, and I said, "I'm about to have a baby.  It's time to push."  Fortunately, the doctor walked in right after that because Matt couldn't understand me.  The doctor confirmed that it was time to push, and I pushed.  Apparently, I forgot how to push though.  I only pushed once with Reagan, but I had to push quite a bit more with Madelyn.  At one point, her heartbeat went down to 60 beats per minute, which was really scary, and everybody made it pretty clear that she needed to get out with the next contraction.  I said a prayer and pushed, and she came out.  Her heartbeat returned to normal very quickly, and everything was okay.  But then my blood pressure was apparently dangerously low.  So they had to focus on that for awhile.  I do remember someone saying, "That's a really big smile for someone with that blood pressure."  Well, I was happy.  My baby came to the world.

Baby Madelyn

Madelyn with her daddy

Happy daddy

Happy mommy

Later that day my parents brought Reagan and Kirsten to see us at the hospital.  They were so excited and kept saying that she was the most adorable baby they'd ever seen.  When Daddy offered to have Kirsten hold Madelyn, she seemed a bit nervous and insisted that Reagan go first.  Reagan was very pleased to do so.

Reagan is a proud big sister

Kirsten took her turn and did a great job.

Three happy sisters!

Madelyn with Grampa

Madelyn with Nana

The whole family

Three happy sisters!

 Since Madelyn was born early Sunday morning, we opted to go home Monday night, so that we wouldn't have wake up at 4:30 in the morning to get checked out of the hospital.  The hospital stay was very nice, and I particularly liked my nurse on Monday.  Britini was so friendly, and she made the check out process so easy and smooth.  I really appreciated that.

Madelyn with her first stuffed animal "Bao Bao," a present from Daddy.

Porter really couldn't muster up much interest in the baby, but he was glad that we were home.

Kirsten with baby

Having a picnic with Nana

Playing on the floor for the first time

Reagan is crazy about holding her little sister

More floor time.  She is so loved.