The Stuff Nobody Tells You....

I have decided that there are just certain things that nobody really tells you about or tells you enough about when it comes to the recovery after having a baby. Here are a few that I have recently discovered....

It will hurt afterwards. Just because the baby is out doesn't mean that the pain is over. It will hurt to stand, to sit, to lay, to pretty much do anything. Lortab will be your best friend. Your belly won't immediately go down and your bellybutton will look funny for a while. The thought of going poop is terrifying. You are going to lose a whole lot of blood, a whole lot. You will be swollen in places that you didn't even know could swell. The swelling in your feet and legs won't go down right after the baby comes, it will take weeks...maybe even 3 or 4.

That said, I would do it all over again. Madeline is a dream come true. She is such a good baby. She sleeps and eats and hardly ever cries. It amazes me how many messy diapers such a small little gal can make. Twice today I finished changing her and just as I fastened the last side of the diaper she messed it again....twice that happened. Sneaky little girl. I love to just stare at her all day long. She is smiling so much. I need to catch it on camera because she has the cutest smile ever.

Here are a few pictures we have taken the past few days...

Madeline 4 days old, she loves this swing.


Madeline 5 days old, first outting to the pediatrician


Madeline 5 days old, at the pediatrician's office


Boo and Ashes needing some extra TLC. Poor pups, they may feel a little neglected. This is their way of showing me that I need to give them some attention.


Jimmy & Madeline fast asleep

4 Days Old

We are so in love with our daughter. We are addicted to her, we love to just sit and watch her. She pulls some funny faces. We caught her smiling last night and it melted my heart. Jimmy says she inherited my ability to pull faces. Lucky girl. ha ha.

Here are some pictures of her at 4 days old. I love headbands! Thank you Mindy! It makes me laugh because her head is so tiny but it's just so stinkin' cute.

Our first night at home was great. She only woke up three times to be fed and one of those times I woke her up. Am I supposed to do that? Ha ha. She's such a good baby. We feel lucky!

Hanging out with Daddy

More Madeline

We brought Madeline home today. Yahoo! I just have to say I am so thankful. I am so thankful for a wonderful husband who has been waking up at all hours of the night to change dirty diapers or hold Maddy for me. I am so thankful that Madeline has Jimmy for a daddy. He loves her so much and it makes me so happy to know that she can always count on him. I am so thankful for a beautiful, healthy, perfect daughter. She has already blessed our home and our lives so much. I am so thankful for a wonderful doctor and nurses. Our experience at Flower's hospital was wonderful. Labor and delivery and recovery were as pleasant as they could have been thanks to all of them. I am thankful for wonderful family and friends who have called and visited and brought us dinner. We couldn't ask for better friends or a better support system. I am so thankful for family that will be traveling to come and stay with us to help us. I am so thankful that the swelling in my entire body will eventually go away. ha ha. I just feel so grateful. I feel so grateful and so blessed and I just want all of you to know how much we appreciate you. Madeline is doing wonderful. I'm recovering well and Jimmy is an amazing help and support.

Here are a few more pictures.


The last dinner meal at the hospital was a "fancy" steak dinner. It was so yummy. Jimmy really looked forward to this meal. All of the food at the hospital was great and I was so glad that they also took care of my sweet hubby.


Little Maddy


Isn't she adorable?


More Madeline


Madeline and Daddy


Madeline and Daddy at the hospital


Madeline at the hospital


Jimmy trying to catch up on a night of no sleep.


Getting ready to go home


Boo and Ashes meeting Madeline. We were pleasantly surprised with the pups. They love her. We think they are going to be protective. They panic when they can't see her and lick her when they can get close enough. We are so glad. We still have to watch them because at times they get so excited that they don't have great control...but overall yahoo!

Baby Madeline

Madeline Ava Isakson was born on May 23rd at 7:54 a.m. Here's the story...

We went in to the hospital on the 22nd at 7 p.m. to start the inducing process. They were going to give me some medication to get things started so that they could induce me. Well, thanks to the contractions I had all day long they didn't need to do anything on Thursday night so we just hung out and were told that we would most likely be in for a boring night. Yeah right! I went into labor naturally so there was no inducing going on. I started to have lots and lots of owie contractions and around 10 p.m. or so they gave me some pain medication through an IV. It made me loopy. I thought my tounge was swelling up and that I was going to die because I couldn't swallow. Jimmy was very entertained.

Around 4 a.m. the contractions hurt so bad and I mean bad! The nurse came in to check me and told me that we could get the epidural started because I was at a 7. Let me just say that epidurals are heavenly. I really probably would have died without it. After the epidural it was smooth sailing. I dilated pretty fast and soon it was delivery time. Dr. Cleveland had to use forcepts to get her out because everytime I had a contraction her heartrate would drop drastically. They were worried that the umbilical cord might be wrapped around her neck. Thankfully she came out quickly and the cord wasn't around her neck.

Madeline weighs 6 lbs 11 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. She has lots of thick dark hair and a dimple when she cries. She is absolutely beautiful. She loves to be held and touched and talked to. She is definitely an eater. We have been feeding her just about every 2 hours or so and even that doesn't seem to be enough. She is beautiful, we can't wait to show her off.

Here are a few pictures of her right after delivery. She looks a little different now because her nose isn't quite as swollen. We'll post some more pictures later.


Before I knew what I was getting into


Right after Madeline was born






Visitors! Katie Webb, Katie Whipple, Mindy Salisbury


Daddy & Madeline






Proud Daddy

The Waiting Game....

I want to remember all of the funny and not so funny details of my labor and delivery and everything else experience so I'm going to record it here for now. So...if you don't want to know this is your warning...don't worry nothing graphic will be included. ha ha

I woke up early early this morning around 3 or so with a terrible stomach ache. Well, I thought it was a stomach ache. It hurt so bad that I could never go back to sleep. I felt like I had to run to the bathroom every five seconds. It wasn't until Jimmy was up and getting ready to go to work that I realized I was having contractions...I'm a little slow. Ha ha. They were coming every five minutes and lasting about 50 seconds for over two hours. We got out the stop watch and timed them until we both fell asleep. My sweet husband went all the way to work and then turned around and came home because he didn't want to leave me at home alone in pain. I sure love him. I figured out that if I could get myself to relax through the contractions that they didn't hurt nearly as bad....I got so good at it that I managed to sleep a bit.

The contractions went on for a while and we called the hospital to make sure we should wait until 7 tonight to come in and they told us yes. So we've been playing the waiting game. We went to Walmart and got some last minute supplies and now we're just waiting for 2:35.....we have decided to go to Indiana Jones and then out to dinner before hitting the hospital. Hee hee. Don't worry, we'll bring the stop watch to the movie...if the contractions get too bad we'll go early. It's opening day for Indiana Jones and if we don't go see it now we probably won't for a while. So that's our plan.

I think everything is packed and ready to go. I'm still having contractions, which is good because maybe I will go into labor naturally....which I would much rather do. Sara don't be disappointed but I don't know if I can do this without an epidural. The contractions are painful and if they are just going to get worse I may not make it. Seriously, they hurt! Seriously. ha ha.

We are so excited and at the same time I am insanely nervous. I know that women do this everyday but somehow it seems so impossible. I'm just glad Jimmy will be by my side through it all. We really can't wait to hold her and bring her home. I'm so excited to see who she looks like and if she has hair and chubby little cheeks. It's all so exciting and it's finally here! Yahoo! OOOOh, contraction!

Baby News

I just got back from my doctor's appointment and here's the latest....

Because I have had a headache for a week now and my feet, hands, and face are super swollen and my blood pressure has been elevated, Dr. Cleveland sent me over to the hospital for some tests and observation. They observed my blood pressure, baby's heartbeat, contractions and did some blood work. After all of that everything looks fine except for some elevated something that I can't remember but it could indicate the early signs of preclampsia. So...to be on the safe side my doctor wants to get this baby out. So the plan is that tomorrow night at 7 we will go back to the hospital and have a sleepover, then early Friday morning they will induce me.

Looks like we are having a baby this weekend! Yahoo! I am suddenly really nervous. You would think that nine months would be enough time for it all to sink in...well...it wasn't. ha ha.

We are so excited and can't wait to see her cute little face. We'll keep you all updated and post pictures as soon as we can.

Ahh Bunko

I love Bunko! Before we moved to Alabama I would play bunko once a month with my college roommates and it was always so much fun! It's the cheapest most fun girls night out that you can count on once a month. Anyway, we finally have a group going in Alabamie and it has been a blast. We love getting together to eat and laugh lots...not to mention the prizes are always fun. Here are a few shots from last nights fun. (Thank you Katie Webb for the pictures)


Jennie Taylor, Katie Whipple, Julia Collins, Sara Allen

Nikki Grandy, Kylee Kunzler, Missy, Mindy Salisbury


Megan Beyler, Missy, Mindy Salisbury, Kylee Kunzler

Seriously Now....

You know it's time to get the baby out when....

Your friend's three year old daughter runs up to a complete stranger with a big pregnant belly and calls her Missy and gives her a hug....(hee hee, still makes me laugh)

or...

You go into the grocery store and the clerk says, "Wow! You look like you are about to pop! Is it twins? Make sure you breastfeed, you're going to need help getting rid of that belly!" Gee thanks. ha ha.

Yes, it is time. We are down to 12 days and I won't be one bit sad if she comes a tad bit early...really, I tell her everyday.

Ah, the joys of pregnancy.

Blue Springs State Park

We went camping at Blue Springs State Park this weekend and it was way FUN! I think there were at least 20 0f us. I was hoping that something about the great outdoors would put me into labor....no success. Thanks to Katie's air mattress I even had a good nights sleep.

We took the puppies with us. Boo was good, he even licked the children rather than bite them. This was Ashes first time camping and she did pretty well. There were lots of big dogs and she thought she was bigger than them all and tried to herd them and make them do what she wanted using her "big" voice. She sure had a good time though, just look at how happy she is.


We made dutch oven chicken, peach cobbler and eggs and sausage...we even had pancakes! Yum! We sat around the fire until at least 10:00...ha ha and they call me old...(Nate and Mindy went to bed at like 7:30...well maybe a little later)


(Shelley & Ambria Call, Clint Webb, Jimmy, Nate & Mindy Salisbury, Porter & Paysen Grandy)


(Jimmy striking a very strange pose)


(Katie Webb, she's the only one we really need to focus on in this picture)


(Nate & Mindy Salisbury)


(Katie Whipple)

On Saturday everyone went to the springs and went swimming in the freezing cold water...just look at their faces and you can imagine how cold it was. I chose to be a bystander...afterall, there were small children and the sight of a whale might traumatize them. Then it was off to play volleyball. We had such a great time, we love camping! Thanks everyone, we'll have to do it again sometime soon!


(Nikki Grandy)


(Jimmy)


(Katie & Clint Webb, Nate & Mindy Salisbury, Curtis & Rusty Howell, Paysen & Caleb Grandy, Katie & Ryan Whipple, Jimmy)




(Jimmy & Nate)


(Nikki, Paysen, Katie, Porter, Ryan)


(Morgan Webb)


(Porter Grandy)

Madeline's Room

I have finally finished Madeline's room. (I think) Here are a few pictures. I am so happy with how everything turned out. Thanks again to my friend Nikki for teaching me how to make the bedding and showing me how to do it and helping me do it and for the oh so cute wall hangings. I definitely couldn't have pulled this off without your help. Now we're just waiting for the little one to come. Can you believe it, only 17 more days! Yahoo! Still no sign of her wanting to come early so we'll see how the next few days go.