Maggie's story.......and a mass amount of pictures

You may not all want to know the details of my daughters birth, but I want to have them written down here because I update this better than my journal. Saturday, April 30 was exactly 1 week from my due date. My doctor will only induce at that point. I figured since it landed on a Saturday it wouldn't happen until Monday. well, at my last dr appointment he told me he was on call that day and we could induce. HOORAY!!!!! We went in at 7 a.m. to get started. The kids had spent the night with grandma & papa Head (thanks guys).

We got started with the IV and blood work. I am also group strep b positive and needed a couple doses of penicillin before our baby was born. When I got there I was already having contractions. Earlier in the week I was already at a 3 and when they checked me then I was a 4. I was already in labor when I got there. I knew I wanted an epidural so why mess around, they called him in at 8:00 and we got that started right away. The doctor came in at 8:30 and broke my water. From that point on it was a waiting game. We had to wait another 4 hours until my next dose of penicillin. Things were going great. Ryan and I just relaxed and got to enjoy time with each other. I even slipped in a nap. I could feel the pressure of the contractions but no real pain.

At 11:30 my mom and my sister-in-law Erin, who really wanted to be there, came. We all just sat around and chatted for a while waiting. I got the last dose of medicine done around noon. At 1:00 they checked me and I was an 8. At 1:30 I started to have real pain, but not even as bad as it could have been. They checked me again and said I was a 9 1/2, but I needed to wait because my doctor was delivering another baby down the hall. WHAT???? That was the hardest part. I was in pain from about 1:30 until she was born. The doctor came in at 1:45, got everything ready, I pushed about 3 times and at 1:51 p.m. we had our beautiful little baby Maggie.

In the middle of one of my pushes my doctor's pager went off. He stood up and asked if I could hang on cause he had to get that. I screamed at him to which he promptly sat down and said he was just kidding. Yeah, real funny!

She weighed 7 lb. 5 oz. and was 20 1/2 in. long. We named her Magdalene Lucia Head. (Pronounced Mag-da-lin). We really like the name Maggie but wanted a longer version for her official name. I don't really care for the name Margaret, so we decided on this. With Easter just ending Ryan and I really started to love the name Magdalene because of Mary Magdalene and her association with Jesus. I don't ever plan on calling her Magdalene (unless she is in BIG trouble) so she is our little Maggie. We already have about a hundred nick names for her already. We call her Mags, Mag-pie, Maggie Lu, Magoo, Magoodle and lots more that I can't even remember. We are so lucky to have our little Mags, she brings such peace to our crazy little house.

I decided to spare you all of the first pictures of Maggie when she is fresh and yucky. So here is our first family picture with her.

It was by far my easiest labor and delivery out of all of my children. I have had problems with my epidural not working in the past, but this one was great. Bringing a child into this world is such an amazing and Heavenly experience, I am so grateful for it.

grandma & papa Lines

uncle Toby and aunt Sandra got to come for a visit too!

And now, bring on the rest of the crew.....

Charlie, I think, is the most excited out of all the kids for his sister to come.

Oscar loves Maggie

Livy wanted a hundred turns to hold her little sister.

Ali was my patient one, just waiting for her turn. She is such an amazing helper already. I am so lucky.

And if this gives you any indication of what I am up against........well, lets just not talk about it, it scares me.

We might be done having kids, we can't fit on the hospital bed together anymore.

I can't believe I was here with this little girl over 8 years ago

Charlie didn't want to leave Maggie's side. Here is grandma Head with her newest grandchild

Lindsey & Gil came for a late night visit and brought us treats, yum!

my friend, Kate had her baby 8 days before me. here we are with our little babies.

miss maggie was taking a nap in my bed

she looks so tiny in that big bed

and I was brought a wheelchair that was built for a family, it was huge!

little Charlie is absolutely in love with his new little sister. He could hold her for hours and just look at her and talk to her, it is adorable.

She wants to hold her the second she walks in the door from school.

I let Charlie stay up by himself for an extra few minutes to help out with a feeding, he was so happy.

This is my favorite picture of papa with Maggie.

And there you have it, all FIVE of my children. I can't believe I have 5 kids!!!!!

I love the cheesy smile, Liv!

WE LOVE MAGGIE!!!!!!!