The Finseth Life: February 2009

Madelyn "Mady" Ruth Finseth arrived about 4 days ahead of our due date (much to our surprise and joy) on February 16, 2009 at 12:12AM. She weighed in at 6lbs 10.2oz and was 19" long. I was so lucky to have a fairly quick and relatively easy labor. My first contractions were at around 4:30 in the afternoon on a Sunday. We were at a friend's house visiting and I announced to Andy and our friends that my contractions were 20 minutes apart (if anyone cared). Andy and I headed home soon after that thinking that this COULD be it but just the night before we had a false alarm so we didn't really think so. By the time we got home we were pretty well convinced it was probably the real deal because my contractions were ramping up and getting closer already. We wanted to get some food in me before heading to the hospital because they say you should. But my contractions were getting very intense by 6 or 6:30 and we were on the phone with our doctor who said we should be on our way to the hospital by around 8PM based on my contractions. We got to the hospital around 8:30 and although I had planned to hold out longer I was so ready for my epidural as soon as they said I could have one. So by around 9:30 or 10 (after two tries at getting the epidural placed correctly) I was feeling much much more comfortable and could now visit with our friends and family who had made their way to the hospital. At around 11:30 the nurse came to check my progress and was surprised when she found I was 10cm and she announced she could see Mady's hair. So the nurses scrambled and got our doctor there (thankfully she lives close by the hospital) and got my room ready for delivery. I started pushing at around 11:50 and by 12:12 AM Mady made her entrance into the world. It was all a very sureal experience and it went so fast.

My mom made us promise to take a on the way to the hospital picture...I was not a very happy camper by this time so the smile is very forced.