One year ago today, I was sitting in the living room of our old apartment with the air conditioner blasting, anxiously waiting for our new baby to decide to finally make an appearance. Up to this point, I had been slowly progressing and on this day last year, I was feeling especially "crampy" all day. Brenton came home from work and we watched episode after episode of 24 until I finally made the call that we were going to the hospital at about 10:30pm. We were hesitant because although I couldn't exactly "time my contractions" I felt that we needed to get there. We drove almost the whole way in silence. I can't exactly remember what I was thinking, but I was surprisingly very calm (thank the LORD). We got there, they hooked me up to the monitor and said I was 100% effaced and 5 cm dilated. YAY for halfway and YAY for not being sent home! From there it's actually pretty straightforward. They set me up with an IV. A midwife came in a broke my water. A funny old guy came in a gave me a *perfect* epidural. For about 2-3 hours I laid there and then it was time to push! 30 minutes later, baby Madeline Noelle Colton was born at 2:42 am on July 4th and she was absolutely the most perfect little firecracker! Her birth weight was 7 pounds, 4 1/2 ounces, she was 19 inches long and she had a full head of red hair. Now she's all of 17 pounds and I have no idea how long... But I can't believe how much love Brenton and I have for our little angel. We thank God for our sweet blessing everyday. It is SUCH an honor to be a parent. The God of the Universe choose to use us to care for His child who he loves more than we do. Blows my mind! We try to be the best parents we can be, knowing that we will and have already made mistakes. Like my mom tells me, the best thing we can do for her is to love her. And I ask my mom and my work moms lots of questions because of course I need all the help I can get.
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| She TOTALLY still makes this face! |
This year, and every year for the rest of my life, July 4th will have a whole new meaning for me, but we are having a big party tomorrow and I don't have enough time to elaborate on the overwhelming mixed feeling that go along with this holiday. I am happy and sad at the same time. It doesn't even make sense so how am I supposed to elaborate on it anyway...
Happy fourth of July everyone and thanks for reading!
**And thank you again, a whole year later, to one of my best friends, Lacey! She takes amazing pictures of new squishy babies. I still look at ours often**
