She is here!

Well our precious bundle of joy is here! We are so excited for our new addition and are enjoying all the cuddle and snuggle time we can. To start, we would like to thank all of our family and friends who have prayed with us throughout this pregnancy for a successful VBAC because it was! We are so grateful to not have to worry about the C-section recovery.
For details: Madelynn Jo Bishop was born on Tuesday October 19th at 5:38am. She was 7lbs. 10.8oz and 20.5 inches long. If you are not interested in details just skip to the pictures!
I had been having pre-term labor since Saturday night and needless to say it left me quite sleep deprived. On Monday night harder contractions started at about 11pm then by midnight they were coming around 2-5 minutes apart. We decided to call the hospital and let them know. They said to come in so we got all of our things and headed out the door. (This was such a surreal moment. It happens in movies all the time but it is strange when it is really happening!) Before we left obviously we had to get someone to our house to watch Bailey. Oddly enough all the people we had lined up for the evening were deep in sleep. Thankfully our neighbor was able to come on short notice and sleep at our house.
We were admitted into the hospital and I was at a 3! Yipee, all on my own. I felt so blessed. The doctor said he would not start me because we were trying for a VBAC. We got all situated and I started moving quite quickly. I got an epidural and it was wonderful despite the violent shaking. Luckilly the shaking went away after about an hour. A few hours later I was at a 7. Throughout this the doctor came in a few times worried because Maddie's heart rate was up and down. However, she calmed down again and things were going well. At about 4:45am the doctor came in and my labor had slowed a lot. I was to an 8 but wasn't making much progress. He said if I didn't have the baby in one hour he would do a C-section because there were too many variables. I prayed and prayed and prayed. Miraculously at 5:38am she came into the world crying. This is one of my favorite moments as a new parent is to hear her first cry.
She is a very healthy and content baby. She has dark red hair, it almost looks copper. When we were getting her dressed to go home I put on a pair of socks which were 3 month size and they were too short!! Our little girl is really long and skinny.
Bailey is doing well with Maddie. She is quite protective of her and worries when Maddie cries. Gratefully she is not that interested in her at the moment which makes things a little easier. She loves to give her kisses and point out her different body parts. I think her favorite is her belly button. It is so fun to be a family of four. We again are so grateful for the prayers and support of wonderful family and friends. As so much has happened in this past week, I plan to do more posts in the next few days when Grandma and Papa take Bailey out on daily adventures. More to come in the next few days.

Our little girl is growing up

Well, this has been a long time coming and I figure since our little one is due in three days that I should catch up before it gets too crazy around here.
Our precious Bailey turned 2 on Thursday September 23rd and we had a great time celebrating her. She actually made it through opening more than one present and we feel so grateful for the generosity of friends and family. Her actual birthday was full of family fun including a yummy breakfast of her favorite: waffles with fruit and yogurt, a trip to the zoo just Mom and Bailey, swimming and splashing in the back yard with Daddy, and a yummy dinner of pigs in a blanket. There is no better way then that to spend your 2nd birthday :).

Friday night we had a mini birthday party for Bailey. She had a tea party with two of her great friends, Kara and Evelyn. They were so cute and were very careful about the water filled cups. Bailey did take one of the containers full of yogurt covered raisins over to a little corner as if to say, "These are mine and no one else can have them" only to come back a minute later and share with her friends. She and Kara enjoyed the birthday cake and ice cream especially when they were able to eat it off the floor! Thanks again to our good friends for supporting our first attempt at a birthday bash. We had a great time.

Turning two also means going to the doctor. She was an angel the whole time. Usually she screams from the moment we walk into the office until we leave. She only cried briefly when she got her shots. Her stats are as follows: Height 36 3/4" 98%, 28 lbs. 68% so she is tall and skinny! Everything looks great.

Bailey has grown and changed so much over the last few months. She is turning into our little toddler. She is not our little baby anymore. She has begun in the last few weeks to speak in complete sentences, stringing several sentences together. Some of our favorite phrases, words, and Baileyisms right now are "Oh goodness....", "What's Daddy doin", upadupt (I have no idea how to spell it but that is how she says elephant), "Stop Bailey stop" (yes she says this to herself!), "Sit by You" when she wants you to sit down by her, she fills in words to some of her favorite songs such as Scripture Power, I love to see the Temple, Sunbeam Song, I'm so glad when daddy comes home, and Miss Mary Mack. She continues to read to herself while walking in circles. She loves going for walks and swinging on the swings. When we go swing she will ask me to push Maddie's swing as well (her little sister's name).
Because her sister will soon arrive, we had to make some changes to the bedroom situation. Bailey is now in what was the guest room and has been sleeping in a big girl bed for about two weeks. The transistion was not an easy one for any of us but she is doing much better. Currently she is kicking the wall and singing to herself instead of sleeping, but hey, she is still in bed! That is progress.
This last week or so we have been trying to spend a lot of quality time with Bailey and perhaps spoiling her a little more then we should. As I realize the one on one time with her is going to be gone soon it makes me reflect on how much love I have for her. Despite her funny tantrums she is such a sweetheart and melts my heart. She is truly such a joy to us and we are so grateful that she joined us two years ago.

Well, I was so excited to finally upload pictures for all to see with our "working camera" but there is something wrong with the connection to the computer. Oh dear, maybe I will give up on cameras forever. So, sorry this update will just have to do for now.