Madelyn Jane Rizzo is born!

For those who haven't heard yet, Madelyn Jane Rizzo was born on her due date, July 4th, at 7:30am. She weighed 7 pounds 13.7 oz and is 19.69 inches long. She's healthy and beautiful and we love her a lot!

Labor and delivery went as smoothly as we could have hoped for and we're really thankful to the Lord for that and for everyone who has been praying for us. I had been having contractions off and on for a couple of days prior but nothing consistent. Than on the afternoon of July 3rd, just as we were about to leave for a BBQ with friends and started having more regular contractions. I figured they'd just go away after awhile like they had before and we headed out to the BBQ. After we'd been there an hour or so I noticed that they were coming pretty regularly and decided to kind of keep an eye on them. For the next hour I tried to keep track by glancing at a wall clock every now and then in the midst of conversation and it seemed like they were coming every 10 to 15 minutes so I told Tony we should probably head home where we could keep a better watch just in case this was the real deal.

So we did and the contractions kept coming about every 10-12 minutes apart all that evening. And they hurt more than I remembered too. Not fun. We went to bed finally around midnight but I couldn't sleep and so I got up to get in the shower and hoping it would take the edge off. In the shower it seemed like they were coming faster so I got out and started timing them again and we were finally at the " every 5 minutes stage" where we could head to the hospital if they lasted more than an hour. I wanted to wait awhile before waking up Tony in case they slowed down but after 30 minutes they suddenly were coming 2 minutes apart. Yikes!

We called our friend Rachael who was going to be staying with Ava and gave her a heads up that we were going to be calling the Dr and getting the ok to come into the hospital. Called the Dr and told her that they'd quickly moved to every 2 minutes and had been for about 15 minutes. She gave us the go ahead to head to the hospital so Tony called Rachael again while I tried to quickly finish drying my hair from my shower in between contractions.

Rachael was there in record time and we were all packed up and ready to go. After peeking in on Ava and getting a little teary eyed, we headed to the hospital, calling our family and the GFA prayer chain to let them know as we drove.

We got to the hospital at about a quarter to 3:00, which is when we arrived at that same hospital with Ava exactly 25 months prior. After checking in at the ER they took us up to labor and delivery and we got settled into our room. The nurse checked me out and I was dilated to a 4 but the contractions had slowed down a bit to every 5-6 minutes, which was fine with me because they were really starting to hurt.





After they got my IV started and the paper work taken care of, checked me again and I was at a 5 and then anesthesia was there to give me my epidural. Hooray! I love epidurals. :o)



I felt a few more contractions after that but then no pain at all. Ahhhh. . . It was around 4:30 now and so I rested and enjoyed a grape Popsicle while Tony updated Facebook on his iPhone and had the audacity to eat Pringles in front of me when I couldn't eat any.



They checked me again around 6:00 and I was at an 8, so they started getting things ready for delivery while I ate another Popsicle, made the prediction I'd have her by 8:00 and Tony and I marveled at the fact that we'd get to see our baby girl in just a short while.


An hour later I was at a 10 and it was show time! Our Dr came in (she'd also come by several times to check on me before this) along with a couple other nurses and Madelyn's nurse. When every one was set, they told me to push and a then all of sudden there she was, out in only one push!

They put her right up on me and it was just so incredible that minutes earlier she'd been inside of me and then there she was, our daughter.







They took her for a few minutes to check her out and then gave her right back to us and she nursed like a pro right from the start.



















We enjoyed her for awhile and then they brought me some breakfast (I was starving!) and Tony made phone calls to family while Madelyn rested in her bassinet next to us. And she stayed with us until we were ready to leave the delivery room for our new room and she then she headed there with us too.


















To be continued . . .