Introducing Madeline Beth Jensen - Her First Two Weeks!

It's about time I get some photos up of Baby Quatro, who now has a name and a face.  After looking at her for a few days, we finally came up with Madeline Beth.  We'll call her Maddie, but gave her the more formal name of Madeline so she can go by either as she gets older.  I just kept looking at her and trying to decide on a name, and all of a sudden, Maddie popped into my head.  I liked it, and Sean liked it, too, although he was kind of leaning towards Lynette and calling her Nettie, but then we decided we liked Maddie the best.  Beth is Sean's grandma's name on his mom's side.  She passed away before I ever knew Sean, but she sounds like she was a lot of fun.  When I went to my doctor's appointment the other day, I told her the name we had finally chosen and she loved it because her daughter's name is Madeline, and her mother's name is Beth!  Two good choices, according to Dr. Laine.  And here are a couple of photos of the good doctor right here!

Dr. Hannele Laine on the right, and I think that's Dr. Macy assisting her on the left.

Dr. Laine and Maddie

Maddie was born on February 10, 2014.  We got to Salt Lake Regional Medical Center just after six in the morning to get ready for what was supposed to be a 7:30 delivery.  However, my veins were not cooperating, and it took SIX attempts for the nurses to get an IV started, which delayed things quite a bit.  I'm pretty sure it took six attempts for an IV when I had Brooke, as well.  What is with me and six pokes to find a vein?  Ugh!  The first nurse tried in my arm with no luck, so she had another nurse try.  The second nurse, Jodi, missed in my other arm, so they called in the nurse anesthetist who was doing the anesthesia for the procedure.  He tried THREE TIMES in my hand and wrists and missed all three.  I didn't like him.  My wrist and hand both swelled up with the saline solution before he realized he missed.  I was nauseated and threw up a few times.  Then Jodi decided to try one more time and was able to get a vein in my arm.  Hooray for Jodi!  Finally, we were under way, I think I may have thrown up again in the operating room waiting for the anesthesia to kick in, but at 8:58am, we found out we had another little girl!  The numbers are even now with two boys and two girls.  Not a bad way to wrap up the child bearing years!  I had my tubes tied, so we know this is the last one, unless there is a medical miracle.  That would wear me out, though.  I am ready to just enjoy the kids we have and be done with pregnancies!

My last pregnancy photos, taken just before they tried to turn me into a pin cushion for the IV!

Maddie weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and measured 20 1/2 inches long.  However, at her two week checkup, she was already up to 8.65 lbs. (although on the printout they gave me, it said 8.45, so who knows exactly), and 21 3/4 inches long.  The doctor said the height is the least accurate measurement as it's so hard to stretch these babies out for measuring.  No way has she grown an inch and a quarter already, so there is some error there, but anyway, that's what they came up with at the appointment.  It puts her in the 54th percentile for weight, and 92nd percentile for height.  Her head circumference was about 14 inches, or 35cm, which is only the 37th percentile.  Brooke's head started out small, too, but quickly grew like the big noggins on our boys, so my guess is Maddie's will do the same.

The recovery from the c-section was a little bumpy as I was throwing up from the morphine and feeling dizzy for two or three hours, but eventually the anti-nausea meds kicked in, the morphine kicked out, and I was ok.  I don't like taking narcotics because they always make me sick, so all I wanted was Ibuprofen and Tylenol.  The doc and nurses thought I would need something stronger, but I told them this was how I survived all the other pregnancies and I'd be fine.  There were a few times I thought about asking for something stronger, but then the pains would mellow out and I was ok.  The worst part about my recovery this time was that I had a cold and sore throat and the coughing hurt my incision, and the stuffiness made it hard to breathe lying down, so I sat up in my bed a lot.  Not great for sleeping.  After two nights, I was ready to go home.  They said I could stay another, but I was getting antsy and wasn't sleeping anyway, so I figured I'd rather be home.  Now that I think about it, the nursing staff was so nice and took such good care of me, I should have stayed to be pampered for one more day!  But that's ok.  It just wasn't restful, and I kind of missed these wild little children of mine.  Thank goodness we are at my mom's house and she was able to watch them for us.  Sean took some of the time off, but worked part of the time while I was in the hospital.  He slept at home so he was here each night, which maybe allowed Mom an hour or two to herself to get her own stuff done.  Thanks again, Mom!

It was nice to have some hospital visitors.  Mom came over Monday afternoon, and Kathryn Anderson came on Monday, too.  That evening, Janell, Taco, Dallas and Lincoln came over, and Mom and Sean brought the boys and Brooke over.  Tuesday was pretty quiet, but Wednesday before I checked out, David and Karin dropped by on their way through town.  The Petersons wanted to come over, but they had been dealing with some stomach illness.  If I were to have more kids and if I could plan things, I would never have a baby during cold and flu season again!  It's been tough having the kids sick with colds, and I don't want to take the baby out much because I don't want her getting sick.  Fortunately, the breast milk helps to keep her from getting our colds, and she's done really well so far.  We'll just keep her away from the big crowds for now and try to keep her healthy.

Three generations.

Kathryn Anderson

Lincoln

The Haws Family

Dallas

Taco had to unwrap her to see her fingers and toes. :)

Aunt Janell

The oldest and the youngest!

A happy big sister!

Poor Gabe had a cold and didn't get to hold her in the hospital.

All six of us!

Aunt Karin and Uncle Dave

The boys came with Sean to eat lunch with us and take us home.

Packed up and ready to go home!

The family had two meals brought in while I was in the hospital, and several more after I came home.  This ward is so great.  People have been really good to us.  On Thursday, Aunt Hillery was in town and came to visit, and on Friday, Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came into town and brought Aunt Elena with them to visit.  Also, our friends, the Mitchells, were in town and they came to see us, too.  We knew them in Vegas but they moved to Colorado right after we had Brooke.  Funny that the last time we saw them we had just had a baby girl, and here we were again with a brand new baby girl.  It was fun to have them all visit!

Home from the hospital.  Soren wanted Mormor to show Maddie a picture of herself.

Home in her own bed.

Aunt Hillery

Gabe finally gets to hold her!

I took her next door to visit Marilyn Sharp.

Grandpa and Grandma Jensen

Great Aunt Elena

KC, Savannah, and Holly Mitchell

The Mitchells

We are adjusting to life with four children.  Maddie is a good little sleeper, at least during the day.  We've had several nights with not much sleep, but she's getting better and I'm able to sleep a little more each night as well.  The boys just love their new little sister and ask to hold her a lot.  Brooke keeps saying, "The baby!" or, "It's a baby!" and she's really doing well with Maddie around.  I was afraid she'd be jealous, but I guess she feels she's getting enough attention (she's into everything, so we can't NOT pay attention to her)!  All is well, and we are now a happy and complete family of six.  Welcome to our family, Baby Maddie!

Pat and Curt Peterson, Cath and Hattie Wolfgramm, and Rebecca Sykes after they brought in dinner.

One week old.

Wasn't long before Brooke grew out of this dress.  I'm glad Maddie can wear it for a bit.

Looks like she's scared or trying to scare someone. :)

Brooke didn't seem so big a couple of weeks ago!

Two weeks old!

She often has this concerned look on her face.

Two weeks old.

Caught her mid-sneeze!  She has lots of sneezes!