We're delighted to introduce you to
Madison Elizabeth Fairweather
Our precious baby girl Madison entered the world just shy of 42 weeks on May 5, 2015 at 2:27 AM. She is our little Cinco de Mayo baby! We're now calling the holiday Cinco de Madison, thanks to the suggestion of our sweet friend Amanda. And yes, there will **definitely** be some Mexican themed birthday parties in her future! Who doesn't love piñatas?! And baby sombreros! Which I began searching for the day we left the hospital. They **do** exist :) Party City for the win!
I went into labor in the early morning on Monday, May 4 & after about 18 hours of labor at home, Dean packed up the car & we drove the 15 minutes (which, at the time, seemed **much** longer) to the hospital. Madison was born about 3 hours later on Tuesday morning, healthy & pink & with adorable newborn wrinkly fingers & toes. (It didn't occur to me until we realized the date that we had delivered on a holiday. Truly a reason to fiesta!) She weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces & measured 21.5 inches long, & we love her to pieces.
As my mother-in-law later asked, "Can you imagine life without her??" No we can't. At all :)
We are beyond blessed that the Lord would entrust us with this sweet baby girl & bring this diapered bundle into our lives!!! After she was born, I kept adding "She's so cute!" to everything she did - like "Ohh, she did a tiny sneeze - she's so cute!" & "Look, she's asleep. She's so cute!"
And that is still my consensus. I know, I know, I'm her mama so I'm supposed to say things like that buuut truth is I can't help it.
I am SO thankful for my incredible husband who was supportive & encouraging the whole time! Dean pushed on my back over & over ... & over & over during my hours of back labor, made sure I stayed hydrated, kept me calm, prayed for us & read the Scripture verses we had printed (Val Marie's labor verses). He was such a wonderful coach & I cannot imagine having gone through labor & delivery without him beside me :)
And we are really grateful for the wonderful Bradley Birth classes we took for 12 weeks beforehand (if you're in the Columbia area, look up Ruth Glowacki. She is a fantastic teacher!). They focused on preparing us for what to expect throughout a natural labor & delivery as well as teaching Dean how to be my labor coach. We joked during my pregnancy that he would have to wear a referee jersey, carry a clipboard & blow his whistle at the hospital to make sure everything went OK. He ended up leaving the ref gear behind but I still think it would have been fun...
One verse I had been mediating & reflecting on during my pregnancy that really brought me comfort was John 16:21, which says:
"A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born
she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world."
That is the best way I can describe the feelings I experienced after birth. Good-bye, painful contractions. Hello, beautiful little daughter!
