Science Museum

On Martin Luther King day, the local Science Museum here in Cleveland had a free admission day, so I decided to take Jaxon and go check it out. There were a couple of exhibits that were for Jaxon's age, but a lot of them were for kids a little bit older. Also, because it was a free admission day, it was super crowded and Jaxon was a little bit nervous going up to some of the exhibits cause there were so many people around. We waited in line for about a half hour to get into the little play area for the younger kids and that was by far his favorite part. It was fun to go out for some Jaxon and mommy time and I was so amazed that I was able to even go do this a week after Mailee was born. :o)
This was a cool little exhibit showing a funnel cloud and how a tornado would work.
This was in the little kid area...Jaxon knew exactly what to do and put on once he got here. I think he totally looks like Jack in this picture. :o)
Just some more activities Jaxon got to enjoy.

Labor Details

Well, here is the labor and delivery story that I know you've all been dying to hear...or read :o). First off, my labor and delivery experience this time around was quite a bit different from Jaxon. I had 4th degree tearing with Jaxon and even with that, the doctor still had to use forceps to pull Jaxon out. He was a BIG boy (8 lbs. 12 oz.) So, this time around, I was very concerned about having another big baby that I wouldn't be able to deliver "comfortably." My doctor was great and tried to do what she could to help me deliver a little earlier. We had a planned amniocentesis at 37 weeks to determine lung development, and if that had gone well, my dr. was going to induce me that week. Unfortunately, there wasn't a safe place to take a sample of amniotic fluid, so inducing early was out. The earliest the dr. was going to be able to induce was going to be 39 weeks and at the 37 week appointment, Mailee was already 7 lbs. 1 oz. And at that point, I hadn't had any major contractions and was only dilated about 1.5-2 cm.
The weekend before Mailee came, I started having several bad contractions that felt more like the "real" contractions, so I called my sister in Philadelphia and asked her to come. She was so amazing and left her family behind and came out the next day to come help...and good thing she did. She arrived on Sunday afternoon, and Sunday night/Monday morning at 2 a.m. my water broke. Since this did not happen with Jaxon, Jack and I were actually a little lost about what we were supposed to do. I even considered just going back to bed for a couple more hours. :o) We finally decided to go to the hospital, which was fortunately just up the street and took us less than 5 min. to get there, but by then, the really bad contractions had started and I was grateful we were so close. Since it was still only 2:30 a.m. we actually had to go in through the ER entrance. We got admitted right away and the dr. checked me and said I was in very "active" labor and that they needed to call my dr. right away or she might miss it entirely. I was at a 6 and 90% effaced. I got them to give me the epidural right away, and then we just waited and tried to rest until I was ready to push. I was ready before the doctor got there and had to try and just wait and not push until he showed up. Finally, at 6 a.m. the dr. strolled in and after 15 min. of pushing, Mailee was born! The epidural wasn't quite as strong as the one I had with Jaxon so the pushing was more painful than I remember, but hooooray, I actually got to push her out myself and only had 2nd degree tearing this time around!! I can't say enough how much of a difference that 2 degrees is. I was actually able to walk around and move around SOOOO much faster and easier than after Jaxon's delivery. I can actually sit without using a donut!! :o) That did not happen for MONTHS after Jaxon was born.
Anyhow, sorry for the huge long post, but just wanted to get it all down. It was wonderful to come home after 48 hours at the hospital, but it was EXTREMELY hard being away from Jaxon for that whole time. Because of the H1N1 virus going around, no kids were allowed into the maternity ward, so big shout out to Aurelia for being here and giving us the opportunity to just take off when we needed to head off to the hospital and being such a great help with Jaxon the first couple of days. Jaxon has LOVED having a baby sister and gets so excited and wants to hold her and share his cars with her. Unfortunately, that also means he wants to squeeze her tight to give her lots of "hugs" and that he will pile ALL of his cars on top of her to let her "play" with him. But it's been extremely sweet to see the love Jaxon already has for Mailee and I have high hopes that they will be good friends...once Mailee is a little older. :o)

Baby Mailee

Announcing...

Mailee Oi-Yan Madsen was born on Monday, January 11th at 6:20 a.m. She weighed in at 7 lbs 5 oz. and is 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great and expect to be home Wednesday. Pictures and labor story to come...:o)

Baby Update

So, as you can all see, I'm mucho pregnant. My doctor had talked about inducing on Wednesday this week as long as the baby's lungs were fully developed...which we had hoped to check this morning through an amniocentesis. However, due to the placement of the placenta...it was a no go. So, no baby this week!! :o( :o( :o( :o( :o( :o(...can you tell I'm just a teeeensy bit disappointed????? Especially since we found out she is already at 7 lbs. 1 oz.
The earliest I'll get induced is the 15th, so until then, any and all advice about how to get me into labour would be greatly appreciated! :o)
On the bright side though, I've got to say I've embraced the pink (as you can tell by the blog :o) and have made several cute blankets that are VERY pink. Who knew I would get that far. :o)

Christmas in Utah

We had a FABULOUS time in Utah and were soooo happy that we got to see both sides of the family over Christmas. Here's a bunch of pictures from our trip...most don't need any explanation other than we had a great time ! :o)
We got to Jack's parents' early enough for Jaxon to help decorate the tree with Grandma Char.
Hanging with Lau family.

Lights at Temple Square.
It was COLD that night and Jack was a good sport letting his wife drag him around in it. :o) Jaxon was too bundled up to give much voice to everything we saw...but I think he liked seeing all the fabulous lights...guess we'll never know. :o)
When we went to visit my sister, she was cat-sitting for a friend and Jaxon LOVED playing with the cat. He would chase it around and just basically bug the cat like crazy, but she didn't seem to mind too much.
Hanging with Uncle Ezzie.
Making a gingerbread house.

Jaxon actually did so well with this project. He put on a lot of the candy all my himself and surprisingly didn't eat as much of it as we thought he would. I love these kits that you can buy now with everything all included. Soooooo much easier than doing things from scratch. :o)Christmas Eve and Jaxon in his Christmas jams. I LOVE these jammies of his. My favorite are his little striped elf pants. He was up so late and just being so silly dancing around towards the end of the night. It was hilarious.
Girls opening our gift from Jack and Char...which I LOVED!!
Jack and some of his his bro-in-laws opening their present. They were all very happy with their Gerbers. :o)I was surprised Jaxon knew what to do with this toy of his cousin's. As soon as we got to Kim's he just picked up a ball and threw it through the hoop. Future NBA star in the making. :o)Christmas morning. Sooooo much fun watching Jaxon open his presents. Everything seems so much more special and exciting when viewed through the eyes of an almost 2 year old. :o)
Jack got a new iPod touch for Christmas and spent most of Christmas day playing with his new toy...while Jaxon and I watched on. :o) My parents were able to bring me some of my favorite foods from Canada and we opened some of it up on Christmas day. My ALL TIME FAVORITE snack are ketchup chips...and they HAVE to be Old Dutch. :o) Well, we were surprised to discover that Jaxon also loved them too. Unfortunately, he chowed through the bag as much as I did and the chips did not last that long. :o(Playing out in the snow.
We miss all our Utah family so much already. Thank you for such a good time!!