Madelyn Caroline

Well, it's been a few weeks since my last post and as all of you already know, a LOT has changed since then....

I gave birth to Madelyn Caroline Huling on June 11th at 3:03pm!!! She weighed 6 lbs, 8.6 oz and was 19 inches long. The labor and delivery went exceptionally well! I was a little scared going into everything, but it was actually a piece of cake (with the help of an epidural...of course!) We had lots of family and friends here to help welcome Madelyn into the world. It was so wonderful having so much love and support around us. Everyone left on the Sunday after Madelyn was born, except my mom. She stayed the entire week afterwards and Garrett and I could not have been more thankful! She cooked, cleaned, did laundry, helped with the baby and sooooo much more! I don't know what we would have done without her!

We took Madelyn in for her first doctors appointment on Tuesday, June 16th which was a day earlier than her normally scheduled appointment. We were concerned because she had a rash all over her body that looked like hives or mosquito bites. The doctor said it was just a "newborn rash" and we shouldn't be concerned. Luckily, the rash disappeared a few days later, but we do have a baby with sensitive skin!!! She has to be bathed in Dove Sensitive soap and has to wear Pampers Sensitive diapers. Garrett says she's "high maintenance" already :)

On Saturday, June 20th, we took Madelyn in to the doctor AGAIN because her umbilical cord was bleeding pretty bad. The doctor put some ointment on it and it fell off two days later :) While we were there, the doctor went ahead and weighed and measured her. She weighed 7 lbs and was already 21 inches long. Our little girl is growing fast!

On Sunday, June 21st my Mom and Dad left to go back to Waco. That evening we celebrated Garrett's first Father's Day! Madelyn and I took him out to eat at Olive Garden for dinner and then Madelyn gave him his father's day gift...a new iPod! This was something daddy had been wanting for a long time now! We made sure to put lots of good songs on it and loaded it with plenty of pictures of Madelyn so that he could show her off wherever he goes! It was such a special day, one that Garrett will definitely never forget!

We are so happy to be parents! Having a child is the most amazing feeling in the world. God has blessed us with a beautiful little girl and we can't wait for all of the memories to be made with our precious angel.

Getting Excited!

Well, I am almost scared to say it (don't want to jinx anything), but I think we finally have air conditioning! After 7 long days in the heat Garrett and I decided to take matters into our own hands and call someone we knew was reliable. The person our landlord thought was qualified to do the job was obviously NOT! You wouldn't believe what a horrible job he did....It would take me hours to explain it all. Just imagine what a newly installed a/c unit would look like if a little kid installed it. That's what ours looked like! Come to find out, the guy is not even licensed to work on air conditioners!!! It's really sad what people do to try to save money around here! Anyway, I think our guy got it fixed today....just in time.....because we go in tomorrow night at midnight to induce labor!!!! I can't believe it's finally here! All of our family will be coming into town throughout the day tomorrow. Garrett's Dad, Crystal, Grant, Missy, Ava, and Grayson should be here by 5 or 6pm and my parents, my sister and Garrett's Mom and Bill should be here sometime after midnight since they can't leave Waco and San Angelo until they get off of work. If all goes right, we will have the baby sometime late afternoon or early evening on Thursday, June 11th! YEA!!!!

I will try to post some pictures as soon as possible, but be patient with me.....I think I'll be a little busy :)

Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers, cards, and phone calls! WE ARE TRULY LOVED AND VERY BLESSED!!!

Just a few more days!

I just wanted to write a quick note to catch everyone up on where we are at this point....

I think the roofers FINALLY finished today....Woo Hoo!!! Now, we are just waiting on a new air conditioner to be installed tomorrow and we will be set! These past few days have been pretty miserable living without air conditioning while I'm 9 months pregnant, but Garrett has done everything he can to keep me comfortable. He is truly an amazing husband. Thank God for window units and lots of fans!!!

We are just a week away from our little baby girl arriving! We are so excited....these last few days just feel like they are creeping by so slowly. We still have some things to do to get completely ready, but once the AC is fixed we should be able to get it all done in no time :)

My last doctors appointment is Tuesday morning and then we are set to go to the hospital at midnight on Wednesday. Please keep us in your prayers!

Baby News & New House Update

The past week has been busy, busy, busy!!! We moved into our new home last weekend and got more done that we could have ever imagined thanks to great friends and our wonderful parents! Unfortunately, it rained last Saturday night and we quickly realized that we had a few leaks. Thankfully our landlord is very on top of things and she decided to just go ahead and replace the whole roof. While I am very happy we are getting a new roof, I never realized just how annoying it is to have one put on a house....especially when you are on bed rest and have NO WHERE to go!!! Our dog, Trooper is not happy about the situation either. We've had to give him Benadryl everyday to calm him down. He does not like all the banging, hammering and strange men in our yard! Oh well, I'm just happy this is all getting done before the baby arrives!

Speaking of baby, I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. Everything is still going great! My blood pressure was down and the doctor was very happy about that. We OFFICIALLY set a date for induction.....June 11th!!! It's so neat knowing exactly when our little girl will be here! I had to go back to the doctor this morning for a sonogram, bio-physical profile and a non-stress test just to make sure the baby is ready to come into this world. The sonographer said she weighs 6 pounds, 6 ounces and should gain about 1 more pound by the time the 11th rolls around, which is a perfectly healthy weight. Madelyn was blinking her eyes and sticking her tongue out for us during the sonogram today...it was absolutely adorable :) We are so excited for her to be here!!!


I've posted a few pictures of our new house. I will post more once the roof is complete and I finish the nursery! Until then, this is all I've got.....Enjoy!

This week...

Pregnancy update for the week:

Sunday night I was having very bad cramping and pain in my lower abdomen and in my back on the right side. I tried to just go to bed and sleep it off, but it just got worse and worse as the night went on. I had already told myself that I did not want to go to the ER again, so I tried to hold off until 8:00am so that I could just go to the doctors office 1st thing in the morning. Well, at 6:00am I started throwing up because the pain was so severe. Garrett rushed me to the hospital (again!). It turns out, I was having CONTRACTIONS!!!! They were horrible! The doctor in the ER immediately put me on an IV and gave me a shot of demerol for the pain and within minutes, my contractions stopped! If I ever had any doubt about wanting pain meds during labor, I definitely don't have an doubts anymore. Give me the drugs!!! They sent me home about 10:30am and I've felt great ever since.

Today (Wednesday) was my regular check up appointment. Everything is still right on track. The doctor said that I will probably still have episodes with the contractions, but she just instructed me to take Tylenol, lay down , and try to get through them as well as possible. I do have to start timing them now, just incase they are the real deal and not false labor like the ones on Sunday. Also, my blood pressure was still a little high so I'm supposed to continue resting as much as possible to keep it down.

We are moving into our new house on Saturday (yes, I know we are crazy) and I think things will start slowing down for us once we get settled in. I can't wait to get the nursery set up....FINALLY!!! I'll post pictures of the new house and the nursery as soon as we get settled.

That's all for now....

Bed Rest

I had my regular check up on Wednesday and the doctor decided to put me on bed rest for the remainder of the pregnancy. She said that my blood pressure has been way too high the past few times she's seen me and she felt that I needed to rest and relax to get it back down to normal levels. I also still have the bladder infection that sent me to the ER last week after a week of taking antibiotics. The doctor put me on a stronger antibiotic which should get rid of the infection this time around.
Thankfully, the baby is doing fine! I think I have just been overwhelmed with moving, baby things that need to be done and end of the year activities at school and it took it's toll on my body. I just couldn't keep up! I think bed rest will be very good for me, but there is still so much that needs to be done. I know that things will fall into place the way they should, but it's just so hard for me to sit back and let things happen. I'm the kind of person who wanted it done yesterday!!!
Thank you to everyone for the thoughts and prayers. We will keep you updated in the weeks to come!

1st Mother's Day

I had an absolutely wonderful first Mother's Day! Even though Madelyn isn't technically here yet, I still feel like a Mom already and it was such a special feeling to be able to celebrate Mother's Day this year.

I woke up on Sunday morning to find flowers and a card from "Madelyn" waiting for me on the kitchen table. I absolutely cried like a baby when I read the card. Garrett had written the sweetest note from Madelyn inside. I will definitely save my first Mother's Day card for the rest of my life!

Thank you to everyone for all of the cards, calls and text messages on my first Mother's Day! You are all so wonderful!!!