BabyAlbum5

Well...now that I have taken over this website...I might be a little slow in getting new things up
here. My mommy says my life just consists of eating, sleeping, and pooping. But, I hope to add
some new pictures and stories every week so please bookmark my page and keep checking back
often!!!! I like to express myself. My mommy says I like to speak my mind and daddy says that I get
that from mommy. Whatever that means!! My next chapter will be about my first week at home
and what living with my mommy and daddy is like!!! It should be fun.

Well....the day has finally come!!! My doctors decided
that they preferred to induce labor a week early...so,
on Monday evening we headed to the hospital to get
all checked in and start some basic medicines that
would start to get labor moving. You would think I
would have been allowed to sleep since I was not
actually in labor yet...HA! The nurse was checking my
blood pressure every 30 minutes and the baby was
hooked up to all of the monitors...so of course every
time I moved even a little the monitors would move
and the nurse would come running in to yell at me and
re-adjust the monitors on my belly. It definitely got
really old really quick!!! Tuesday morning at 6am it was
time to start the pitocin drugs that would get "things
moving".

When I checked into the hospital I had been at 1cm for
about 3 weeks. At 6am I was at 1.5...ugh....So they
started the pitocin and the steady stream of doctors &
nurses in & out started. From 6am to Noon everything was
pretty easy, the contractions were so mild I would not
have known they were even happening if it weren't for
the monitor beside my bed showing me they were
happening. Of course I could not walk around because I
was tethered to the monitors but Mark & I still managed
to have some fun with the camera taking our pictures and
trying to relax. Alas...about 10 minutes after this picture
was taken the "honeymoon was over". Around noon the
REAL contractions started with no warning whatsoever.
I was in absolute agony for an hour before our doctor
begged me to take the epidural. So at 1pm I had the
epidural and was told I was now only 3cm!! Sigh...I
figured this was going to be a really long night!!

OK....here's the deal. My name is Mary Grace and now that
I am finally out of my cramped and sqwishy prison I will be
taking over here. (I overheard that my name is very special
because Mary is my daddy's grandma and she is 98 years old!
And Grace is my mommy's aunt and is a very special name in
my mommy's family. I love my name.)
My daddy took this picture before I could even get any
clothes on. (I know why he took it, but I swear....if he
shows this picture to any of my boyfriends when I come
home from a date in the future...I'll kill him.)
I was a little traumatized at this point in my life. Just a
minute ago I was all warm and snuggly sliding down that neat
chute I was in. It was not so bad. Now, all of a sudden - it
is cold and bright and all these big people are touching me
and these flashes of light keep going off in my eyes. I just
wish I could be back with my mommy.

Ah...this is better. I am warm again and I hear that
voice that has been talking to me for the past 39
weeks. She is so soft and she tells me she loves
me...which I really like. This is the first time I was
able to meet this lady who takes such good care of
my. The lady who pulled me from the chute told me
this is my "mommy". I also heard the doctor say that
I was a "little peanut". I guess I really am a little
small, but I like to think of myself as "petite!"

Boy was I ever wrong!! (Thank God.) Once I had the
epidural I almost immediately fell asleep and except for the
blood pressure readings every 10 minutes I slept well until
5pm. At 5 my doctor came in to check and see "how far
along" we were. Next thing I know she turns to the nurse
and calmly asks her to "get everything ready" while she goes
to change into scrubs, then turns to me and says "you are
having a baby now." It seemed that while I was asleep and
feeling absolutely nothing, the contractions had worked
the baby almost completely out without any help from me!
They scurried around and got everything prepared until the
doctor returned. It all happened so fast and I was not even
fully awake yet. At 5:10 I started pushing and at 5:20
beautiful Mary Grace was born without drama or
complication!! This is picture is the first one Mark was able
to capture of her.

After I spent a little while with my mommy - she
handed me to this bigger person and said this was my
"daddy". He is pretty nice too...just not as soft. But
I really like his voice too. I remember this voice
reading stories to me ever night before mommy would
go to sleep. He was really good at reading stories
and it was nice because it helped me to fall asleep at
the same time as my mommy.
My daddy holds me very tight and tells me that he
loves me and he will protect me forever. I am not
really sure yet what that means, but he is crying, so
it must be pretty important.

Now this, my friends, is the life. Let me tell you. Of
course, I really liked it when I was still "on the
inside", but now that I have been sprung from the
brig for a while - it really is not so bad. I get to eat
some nice warm milk with my mommy and I get to lay
here and sleep with her all day. She is warm and soft
and she sings me songs while I sleep. It is pretty nice
actually. I heard mommy and daddy talking once that
it is wonderful that I never "cry". I am not sure what
it means to cry....But like everything else I do not
know how to do, I will figure it out and I will
practice and practice until I am perfect at it!!! My
daddy said I was very smart...so I need to prove to
him just how good I am at learning new things!!!

Ok....I really need to have a discussion with my
mommy and daddy. I was all warm and content just a
few minutes ago and now all of a sudden daddy takes
me away from mommy and starts to put all of this
stuff on me he calls "clothes". I am not sure why I
need to go through this...but it kind of sucks. That
is why my face is all red in this picture because I
made sure I told my daddy, very loudly, how unhappy
I was about this new development. It didn't make it
any better that these things they called clothes did
not fit me very well. I heard mommy say she did not
understand why they did not fit me, she said
something about the "label" said it was for a
"newborn". Whatever that means. All I know is
these things are WAY bigger than I am. I hope these
people get the hang of things soon!!!

Well, if the clothes that are way too big were not
humiliating enough...then daddy had to wrap me in
this thing too!!!! I can't move my arms and I feel like
a sausage all wrapped up like this. I don't know why
I need to go through all of this...I was quite content
sleeping on my mommy's chest before all these people
started putting all these clothes on me and wrapping
me up in blankets. And, let me tell you, this
contraption they have me strapped into is definitely
not very comfortable at all!!! I hope I don't have to
be in here for very long!!

Well...it took a while for us to get out of that big
hospital place, but here I am with my mommy and
daddy about to go to a place my mommy calls "home".
I hope it is a nice place. My daddy said he was a bit
nervous about driving in something called the "car"
now that I am in there with him...but I fell asleep
anyway, so I don't know what he is worried about.
He should be more worried about what mommy will
do to him if he "hits any bumps" in the road. I am
not quite sure what mommy meant when she said
that but it must be rather important because she
was very specific about what she would do to daddy
if he hit any big bumps and made her any more sore
than she already was.

When we got to this place that daddy announced was
"home", he started walking around and showing me all
of the rooms and fun things I could do there
someday. When we got into this room daddy said this
one was mine. He was so proud to show me all of the
things I have in there and how pretty everything is. I
kind of like it. It is very pretty and peaceful. He
showed me the really cool closet he built for me too.
He might think it is cool now...but wait till I am a
teenager and he has to fill that thing with the
trendiest clothes!!! Sweet.

Once my daddy was all done showing me around my
new home, I was pretty worn out. My mommy gave me
some lunch and the two of us curled up on the
couch together to take a nap. I really like laying
here on my mom's chest. It is my favorite place in
the whole world. I heard my daddy telling my mommy
is was because I spent so much time inside my mom's
belly that I prefer being with her. I love my daddy so
much too...but he does not smell as good to me as
mommy does!!!