She's here!

After Amy's labor didn't progress as consistently and quickly as the doctors had hoped, we got suited up for surgery.

Madeline Grace arrived last night (May 23) at 6:07pm via c-section. She weighed in at 7 lbs 9 oz and measured 21.5 in long.

Amy is doing great, all things considered. Madeline spent a good portion of today figuring out what feeding is all about. Josh has been busy playing proud papa and getting the Bartel grandparents settled in (they flew in this morning -- great timing!). We're hoping to head home sometime in the next couple of days.

Baby update

We'll be heading to the hospital around 6pm tonight for a scheduled induction. The actual contraction-inducing drugs most likely won't be administered until early tomorrow morning, but hopefully things will progress quickly once that is underway and we'll have more news to share with you tomorrow afternoon/evening.

In the remaining few hours of pre-baby time, we're continuing to work on projects around the house. Amy finished her sewing projects yesterday and Josh helped rehang the newly-painted doors, so the baby's room is finally "finished". Here's the evidence...

Still waiting...

The womb must be a pretty fantastic and comfortable place because our little one has yet to attempt to join the outside world. In the meantime, lots of overdue (no pun intended) projects have been getting done around the house so at least we're keeping busy while we wait. Our next doctor's appointment will be on Tuesday where we'll get another ultrasound, a measurement to see how big she's gotten over the past 41 weeks, and a non-stress test. Stay tuned!

5 years down, 5 days to go...

Happy 5th Anniversary to us! We celebrated at Four Square Restaurant here in Durham. We dined on the romaine and strawberry salad with crispy country ham, peanut brittle and white balsamic dressing; semolina gnocchi with braised beef short ribs; grilled beef tenderloin with Yukon gold tater tots and roasted broccoli; pork tenderloin stuffed with braised pork rib and wrapped in smoked bacon with basil mashed potatoes, White Cross turnips and a balsamic-thyme glaze; and glazed chocolate cake with a brandy-cherry cream, pistachios and port-orange sauce. As you can see from the picture, we had no problem cleaning our plates!

We're also celebrating that Baby Watch 2007 is now into its final stretches. With 5 days left until the due date, Amy's feeling great and was described today by one of Josh's colleagues as "surprisingly nimble". Pickles has been getting more noticeably annoyed at sharing Amy's lap with the growing belly. And while it's annoying to our dear kitty, it's entertaining for us to watch her try to find a comfortable place to curl up against the bump.