Madeline is here!

Madeline Mariner Howell
Born 2:21 pm 8/10/07
5lbs 7oz
18 1/4"






Madeline and Sabrina are healthy and home now. It all happened a bit sooner than expected. Sabrina saw the midwife on Tuesday who was concerned about the high blood pressure she had developed and that the baby seemed to be small. As a result of this she had an ultrasound on Wednesday. The ultrasound confirmed that the baby was small and the midwives decided that it was best to induce. We went to the hospital Thursday morning to begin inducing. After a couple doses of that medication, contractions started. They were not very strong, but were coming far to frequently to bring on "real" labor, so our midwife medically slowed the contractions and kept us in the hospital overnight. Early Friday morning she started Pitocin. While this did bring on regular contractions, our baby was not tolerating the contractions very well; after a contraction, her heart rate would drop a little. It always came back up right away, but it was a sign that she would not be able to tolerate labor.

At this point, we decided do a C-section. We were a bit scared, but felt that it was best for the baby. The C-section was surprisingly painless and only took about 40 minutes. About 20 minutes in at 2:21 pm our little girl Madeline was born. She cried a little bit right after she came out, but was otherwise quite calm. Luckily, she's continued to be very good and eats well. We love her so much and are very excited.