Madalyn Jean Swanson

She's finally here and is so beautiful!

It was a rough couple of days... starting with going in at midnight on April 7th to start my induction. I was given Cervadil to prep my cervix for delivery and I almost immediately started having contractions. At about 10 the next morning they started me on Pitocin and we expected a fairly quick delivery. Madalyn on the other hand had other plans. I got as far as 8cm and felt like I needed to push, but she wasnt low enough. That went on for about 5 or 6 hours and just before midnight on Easter Sunday my doctor decided to do a C section because I had started running a fever and her heartrate had started going up above 200 bpm, a sign of a possible infection. She was born at 1:04 am and weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 1/4 inches. It sounds like a big baby but she is actually quite the little peanut! She was the first baby born on Easter and got a special little Easter basket from the volunteer staff at North Florida.

They immediately took Madalyn to the Special Needs nursery for evaluation, and it wasnt until 4 am that I knew if she was okay or not. It was a horrible feeling, not knowing if she was okay... especially after they whisked her away so quickly. When I finally could go see her she had an IV and a cardiac monitor hooked up to her... scary for a new mom! Because her heartrate had been so high and she had been a little pale at birth they had kept her under the oxygen hood and were treating her for a possible infection. But the Nurse Practitioner told me that if she could nurse and keep food down they could take out the IV and she could stay with us in our room. So Madalyn and I got a crash course in breastfeeding (she is a champ at that!) and later that afternoon she was able to come into our room.

All of her bloodwork came back great and she actually was able to be discharged from North Florida before I was. My doctor let me go home yesterday because my mom was here to take care of me, so we made it home earlier than anticipated. We have been home since noon yesterday and have been settling in... I have been exhausted trying to recover from both a day of labor AND a C Section... so I havent felt up to doing much. I apologize for not returning phone calls and promise I will be calling shortly as baby and I settle into our routine.

Right now we are the luckiest people in the world. Our daughter is absolutely gorgeous and healthy and has the greatest temperment we could have asked for. All of our friends and family have been so supportive and have been taking wonderful care of us.

We will be posting more pictures as the days go on I promise!