Maggie week 1

Some pictures from Maggie's first week:

Her first spongebath...she was not a fan.

My little helper.

My superhero who didn't want to help.
She was very content as soon as I wrapped her up in her duck wrap.
Bright eyed after a feed.
The way I spent my New Years Eve...rocking my sweet baby girl at midnight.
Trying to get pictures of Uncle Toph before he left town. This is real life with 3 kids.
We did a little bribery and got Miller to cooperate.

All my loves in one place. Love this picture of my sweetheart holding our 3 little ones.
My precious kiddos.  Such mixed feelings when I see this picture.  So much happiness for these 3 beautiful, healthy children but my heart hurts so badly knowing we are missing 1 of our children and will always miss 1 child.

More pictures from the hospital

Some more pictures from the hospital...days 2-3 of Maggie's life:

Miller holding "baby Maggie". Both boys call her baby Maggie.
Uncle Toph holding Maggie. Uncle Toph was in charge of the boys the 2 days we were in the hospital. He did great as usual. The boys love him and he does such a great job taking care of them.
The boys enjoyed playing on games on every ones phones while we all oohed and aah ed over Maggie. This pic cracks me up that they are sitting the exact same way.
Some pics of our sweet girl.

Daddy admiring his little princess. Already in love with his little girl.
My mom bought some bloomers and had her name put on them just like I had on when I was little. They were a little big but we put them on her to bring her home from the hospital.
Superhero Austin came to pick us up from the hospital.
Miller holding his sister again before we headed home.
We then headed home as a family of 5.

It's a Winter Wonderland

The day after Christmas we woke up to our yard being covered by snow.  Austin came down the stairs and ran straight to my room to tell me it was snowing.  I was awake but hadn't opened the curtains so didn't know it had snowed.  He was so excited.  After breakfast we suited up and went outside to play for a little while.

Maggie's BIRTHday

Well for a few weeks I tried about everything to make Miss Maggie come on her own but she just wouldn't budge.  She was too content in my belly to come out.  I don't blame her...she was well aware of the noise and chaos my boys make so I think she decided the longer she stayed the better.  The crazy thing about her being delivered on December 27th is way back in August when I was only 21/22 weeks pregnant, I was at Le Bonheur mentoring a father when a lady I had never met came up to me in the hall of the PICU and told me that I was going to have a girl, she was going to be stubborn, and she would be born on December 27th.  We knew at that time Maggie was a girl and I was well aware that all my children would have the stubborn streak because of their momma but the December 27th threw me for a loop.  This woman knew nothing about me, the sex of my baby, or when I was due.  As the months ticked on and December made its appearance and I started to become very uncomfortable and in quite a bit of pain from the kidneys, I was really hoping the lady was wrong and Maggie would make her appearance before December 27th.  I really did try everything to make Maggie come before Christmas and she wasn't budging.  The week before Christmas my doctor checked at the hospital for an induction date for us and there were none left.  Everyone wanted to have their babies before the New Year so we were out of luck.  He told me to plan on coming in for my regular appointment on the morning of the 27th with bags packed and hope that I was in labor and he could send me over to be induced.  David and I showed up that morning at 9:00 (after he did 2 surgery cases at Le Bonheur...he is a good man and didn't want to let his patients down) and I was 5 cm and in labor.  So Miss Maggie was ready to be born on December 27th with or without an induction.  My doctor sent us over and we were hooked up ready to go by 10:45.  I unfortunately didn't progress for quite a while and was stuck at 5 cm.  My doctor came to break my water at 2:30, epidural at 3:30, stayed at 6 cm until 5:00 and then went from 6 cm to 10 cm in about 20 minutes.  Once I hit 10 cm I was more than ready to push and the nurses and OB hospitalist were having me hold her in so my doctor could make it.  My OB walked in the door at 5:45 and Maggie was born at 5:51.  It was fast and perfect.  Maggie did great and was truly perfect.

My OB...truly love this man...he has delivered all my babies and is a saint for putting up with this crazy momma.

Meeting my baby girl for the first time.
So much emotion after she was in my arms...truly praising His name that she was healthy and perfect!
Meeting the extended family for the first time.
Meeting her brothers for the first time.
Getting sweet kisses from her brothers.

She's here....

Marguerite Anne Spence was born yesterday, 12/27, at 5:51 pm. Maggie weighed 7 lbs 14 ozs and was 20 inches long. She is truly perfect in every way. Maggie was named after my paternal grandmother Marguerite Guy Miller and David's twin sister Anne. We are in love! We will post more when we get home from the hospital.

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow."