Baby Steps

Madeline's First Christmas

Madeline celebrated her first Christmas with visits to family and friends. On Christmas day, she got to hear Daddy sing at church.

Then it was off to Christmas with Lisa's family.

Here is Madeline in her Christmas outfit, a gift from her Godmother, Judy.

Grumpy and Grumpier???

Then we headed down to Iowa to meet and visit Eric's family from the 26th through the 30th.

Grandma Roling gets reacquainted with little Madeline.

Madeline and Great Grandma Mary.

Great Aunt Sr. Maurita meets little Maddie.

And good ole (Great) Uncle Pat!

Great Uncle and Aunt Michael and Joanne came in from Michigan for the holidays.

All the aunts, uncles and cousins we could find!

After all this excitement, Madeline takes a much needed nap.

And where better to curl up but in her mother's loving embrace?

Birth Story and Grandparents!

We've been remiss in sharing Madeline's birth story, so here is Eric's take on the tale:

The best place to start would be Sunday evening, November 24th. We were treated to a visit by Helen and Eb, Lisa's great aunt and uncle, along with Lisa's parents. Eb wanted to see Lisa pregnant, and knew that time was running out. After they had left, we looked at our list of baby names, which consisted of 16 boys' names and 15 girls' names, with very little consensus on which were our mutual favorites. After some hard work, we had narrowed the list to 5 boys' names and 6 girls' names, with a specific favorite for each (Jake or Jacob if it was a boy, and Madeline if it was a girl). Our plan was to review the names once he or she was born and see which name fit the baby's personality best. The middle name would be John or Marie, based on both our families' traditions of using the godparent's name in that place. Her godparents are John and Judy Schulte, and Marie is derived from Judy's middle name since we felt it was hard to make Judy or Judith work as a middle name.

Mission accomplished, we retired for the evening. Around 3:30 am, Lisa wakes me to say "I don't think we're going to work today..." as she was starting to feel regular contractions. Pragmatist that I am, I determined that she was doing ok, then promptly rolled over and went back to sleep, as I knew I might not be getting any rest for quite a while.

We got up around 7:30 am, where the contractions were about every 10 minutes. By 10 am, they were happening every 5-6 minutes, but Lisa was able to talk through them. We called the hospital, just to let them know she was in labor, but chose to stay home as long as reasonable since Lisa would be more comfortable here. I checked and repacked our bags for the trip, then we putzed around the house.

After 1pm, Lisa suggested that we should start heading to the hospital, as the contractions were becoming more intense. I started gathering things together, but was not in much of a hurry since I figured the longer we spent at home, the better. Eventually Lisa clued me in by handing me my coat and heading for the car. I caught her drift and we headed out.

We checked in to the hospital around 2pm. Lisa was dialated to 3cm, which was a big disappointment to her since she had been 2cm for weeks. We walked the halls a little and relaxed in our room for the next 3 hours. At 5pm, Lisa was dialated to 5cm, and contractions were very intense. The nurses informed her physician, Dr. Hughes, who volunteered to stay and deliver even though she wasn't on call. This was a very nice gesture, since Lisa really likes this doctor. She came in and broke Lisa's water, and warned us that the contractions would get even more intense as a result.

The next hour is the one we'd both like to forget...

Contractions quickly got incredibly painful. Lisa remained in control (no screaming or yelling), but it was clear from her tears that she was in tremendous pain, and that she needed something to help her through this. It was at this point that she began communicating by throwing things at me (ok, washcloths, but still). It was clear that Lisa had reached her pain threshold ("There is no Lisa, there is only Zuul...", if you're a Ghostbusters fan). She asked (ok, begged) for an epidural, which kicked in around 6pm.

From 6pm on, the pain had been alleviated and we actually had some wonderful, peaceful moments alone together. We talked about what we were going through and that Lisa had definitely made the right decision to have an epidural. Around 7:00, she was dialated to 9cm and the nurses had her begin pushing around 7:30 or 7:45. At 9:17, our baby was born. It took a few seconds for them to tell us that it was a girl, and for this to sink in for us.

When they broke her water earlier that day, there was meconium present, which meant that the baby had already had a bowel movement. They warned us that when the baby's head came out that they would suction her so that she did not inhale any of the meconium into her lungs. When the head emerged, they suctioned her, and there was a lot of meconium present. The rest of the baby emerged and they very quickly clamped and cut the umbilical cord. They immediately took her over to the warming table, intubated her and suctioned as much of the meconium as they could, as they did not want her to inhale this deeper into her lungs with her first breath. This procedure took about 5 seconds, then they removed the tube and she immediately started crying. They did continue to attend to her for a minute or two after this, which was moderately concerning to Lisa, as a nurse was blocking her line of sight to the baby. We asked if everything was ok, and the nurse said yes and moved so that she could see. The Apgar scores were 7 and 9 (out of 10), so everything was quickly under control.

After a minute or two, they had finished what they needed to do. They then brought her to me and I held her where Lisa could see and touch her. Lisa was able to hold her in another few minutes, once the doctor had finished up. Then everyone left us alone and we had some time to bond. We went over baby names and decided that she was definitely Madeline Marie Roling. We called our parents and shared the news. Lisa also took the chance to try nursing Maddie for the first time, which seemed to go just fine.

In a couple hours they moved us from the delivery room to a more comfortable room at the other end of the floor. We called friends and relatives for a few more hours. Around 1am, I went home for the night to take care of our dog, Bailey, and let her know that she now had a little sister to take care of!

So that's our birth story. Let us know if you have anything to share or reflect upon!

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Eric's parents came up last Sunday through Tuesday. They met Madeline at church, where I suspect Grandma Roling didn't get very much praying done! Here are some pictures from their visit.

This cradle was built around 1904 and was used by Eric's paternal grandfather's family. It has been used to comfort Roling babies ever since. Madeline is the fourth generation to use it.

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The Sandberg cousins came to visit last week:

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Madeline and Mom spend some quality time together.

Yup, she definitely takes after her mother...

Madeline met Santa for the first time last Saturday when they crossed paths in an Italian restaurant in Stillwater!

Who does she look like?

One of the popular pastimes with babies is debating who they look like. Team players that we are, we figured that we'd get you all involved. Here is a picture of Madeline (in the middle) surrounded by baby pictures of Lisa and Eric. Go ahead and make your comparisons, and let us know who you think she looks like in the comments section! (Note that the picture of Eric is at age 3 months, since this had the best view of his facial features).

P.S. - I've already staked my claim to the the fact that she obviously got Lisa's good looks!