Big News since last entry

Madeline Grace McLean has arrived, happy and healthy, to the world. She was born on 1/6/09 at 4:42 am weighing in at 7lb 6oz and 20 3/4 inches. I won't give all the gory details of the birth here but lets just say once things started moving it was like a boulder rolling down hill. Its a good thing they give the job of timing contractions to the husband - Andrew was sufficiently distracted by the stop watch and by surfing the Internet to find out what famous people were born on 1/6. Turns out Maddy shares her birthday with with a McLean family favorite - Rowan Atkinson, aka Sir Edmund Blackadder. Maddy will, no doubt, be initiated into the joys of Blackadder ("stick two pencils up your nose and say bibble") as soon as she can see the TV. Labor started in earnest at about 11:30 and we decided to head to the hospital at about 3:00 and good thing we did. I think if we'd waited any longer we would have been calling an ambulance. We got there at about 3:30 and things started moving very fast. I was already 5cm dilated so they got me ready and by 4:00 I was 9cm and ready to push. Maddy entered the world at 4:42 healthy, crying and ready to eat. We had decided that I was going to try to do the birth without drugs and it is a good thing - I wouldn't have had time to do an epidural even if I'd wanted one so everything worked out for the best. The rest of my time in the hospital (2 days) was uneventful and we were anxious to get home and settle in.

The transition from hospital to home has been pretty smooth so far. Andrew is back at work and my mother has left so I am alone with Maddy during the day and we've managed to get into something like a routine. She is eating and sleeping at regular intervals during the day with some breaks for play and investigating her environment. The nights have been relatively easy as well. From Day 1 she was sleeping in 4-5 hour blocks which allows us to sleep as well. In fact, I'm getting more sleep now that I was when I was pregnant which is a relief! She really has been a good baby so far and the doctor reports that she is gaining weight really well and meeting her milestones so far. We'll go back in 3 weeks for another checkup and hopefully all will continue on this course.

We are blessed with a beautiful little girl and at first blush it seems like she is favoring the Cook side of the family. Of course, she has more hair than Andrew but she is still a bit of a cue ball for now. She has very pretty and sweet features and a delicate little sneeze and yawn - she is definitely a little girl. Of course, when she wants to exercise her lungs she can be very loud and un-delicate!

Madeline has been introduced to her brothers and they seem to be in awe of her. I understand that they haven't had much interaction with infants and I think they are stunned at how small and needy she is. They really took to her from the start and are anxious to see her, hold her and help out with whatever is needed to make everyone comfortable. They are going to be fantastic older brothers and I know they are excited to watch her grow and learn (and get interested in Star Wars and Ping Pong).

As you can imagine there hasn't been a lot of other news that we've been able to focus on in the last 2 weeks. We have a long holiday weekend here for Martin Luther King so we'll have 3 days with just the 3 of us as the boys are with their mother. Kieran is going skiing in the Poconos on Monday with some friends and it is supposed to be frigid temperatures so we've got him lined up with as many layers as we can find. Hopefully our next entry will not involve a report of a trip to the hospital for him!

Until next time take care and keep in touch!