If we felt confident last week, we are bonafide baby experts this week. Ha, not really... but it is getting easier. We are getting into more of a routine and we catch glimpses of our former lives occasionally that help get us through the endless diaper changes and feedings!

On Memorial Day,  Hadley turned 3 weeks old! 

This makes me want to jump for joy and cry all at the same time. Exciting, because we are actually able to leave the house and rejoin the ranks of society. Sad, because her little cheeks are starting to fill out and that tummy of hers is getting rounder by the day which means she is leaving infancy and turning into a baby! :( 

I mean she's barely pushing 7 lbs and her newborn clothes are practically falling off of her, but still... Time slips by and before we know it she'll be sneaking out of the house and drinking Zimas with Jolly Ranchers. KIDDING! Drinking Zimas is soooo 1999! ;) Hadley, I hope you're whole lot classier than that! But I digress...

So what's new this week? 

Mainly that Mama started pumping, which means I've entered a thrilling new world where I am researching things like enhancing your milk supply and have learned about contraptions such as  phalanges and nipple shields. But you know what the most glorious thing about pumping is? 

FREEDOM!!! Ohhhh Freedom!!! I'm talking George Michael, scream it from the rooftops, sweet, sweet FREEDOM! 

Why? Because if you have a bottle filled with 2-3 oz of liquid gold, you can leave your house! Quite possibly for hours! *DING* You are now free to roam around the country! 

This weekend Mommy & Daddy had dinner at Mi Cocina. AND the next day we had brunch at Taverna. AND this morning I made it to Mecca (AKA TARGET)! Because when I have this little pink bottle with me... the world is my oyster! 

And after my trip to Target this morning, I went and got my oil changed, because why the HELL not!? When you've got this little trick up your sleeve, time is  NO. BIG. DEAL. :) 

My goal is to try and pump one bottle a day, so that I can get out of the house at least once. So far, so good. 

Other than that, we are just busy filling up our iPhones with pictures of our beauty! I'm already out of storage space and we're only 3 weeks in. I can't help that everything she does is the most adorable thing I've ever seen! :) 

We LOVE you Hadley! You have our permission to stop growing now... at least for a couple of months! XOXO!

On Monday, Miss Hadley turned 2 weeks old and we finally feel like we're starting to get the hang of this baby thing! Baby's crying?!  Try giving her the boob, changing her diaper, stuffing a paci in her mouth, or taking her on a little stroll for popsicles! Easy Peasy! ;) 

Mommy had to take Hadley to the doctor for her 2 week well baby checkup Monday morning. Daddy has already gone back to work and all of the grandparents are back home so this was a huge milestone for Mama! Transporting this itty bitty to the Doctor's office ALL. BY. MYSELF! 

Luckily, everything went just fine! I loaded her into her car seat, drove to the doctor's, and got her all checked in - ON TIME! I've found that to be on time we have to start getting ready for things 2 hours ahead of time... Babies are soooo high maintenance! :)

Hadley is one healthy baby girl and is growing and getting slightly bigger each day! Here are her most recent stats:

• Weight: 6 lbs 13.5 oz (10th percentile) 
  
• Height: 19 3/4 inches (25th percentile)
  
• Head circumference: 35 cm (25th percentile)
  

She's still pretty tiny, but she is doing well with nursing. In fact, we seem to have a very chill baby on our hands. She cries occasionally but it is pretty easy to figure out what she needs and she calms down quickly. She wakes up once or twice at night to nurse, but will go right back to bed when she's through, causing Mommy & Daddy to be on slightly sleep deprived! :)

We sure do love our little Hadley. Here's a little sneak peek at what life has been like for us these past two weeks...

We begin each morning hanging out with Mama while she drinks her coffee! This is usually our happiest and most alert time of the day! 

When the weather is nice, we go and hang out on the balcony for a little bit! We love being outside! :) 

We run errands! We've only made it as far as the local 7-11 and the grocery store for now, but baby steps...

We get a little grouchy around 5pm as we wait for Daddy to get home! 

Yay! Daddy's home! Time to eat dinner around the table as a family! 

Sometimes after dinner, we head to Steel City Pops for a little something sweet! 

Then we usually hang out and watch the NBA Finals with Daddy or take a nap...

Then it's time for Mom & Dad to swaddle me in my baby straight jacket so I can get ready for bed! 
And then we start it all over again the next day! 

Life sure is sweet! So happy to be sharing it with our precious little girl! 

Happy 2 Weeks Hadley! :) 

On Monday, May 4th I began my first day of maternity leave. With Hadley not scheduled to arrive until May 12th,  I had given myself a one week buffer in order to give myself a little time off to relax and mentally prepare myself for becoming a mommy! 

I began my day "off" working on an online assignment that I needed to get done for work to get credit for my 3 hours of GT update training that I had not yet finished. As soon as I finished and sent that in, I checked my email and chatted online with Adrian and Aunt Keisha who were both anxious to know if I had noticed any signs of labor yet. I had not and predicted to both of them that I thought Hadley would stay put until at least the weekend, even though I was already dilated to 3cm and was 80% effaced. I had heard that you could stay at that point for awhile, especially as a first timer. So I truly did not believe that I would be meeting our baby girl for several days at least. 

I told them both, however, that I was about to go for a little walk to see if I couldn't speed things up a little. I logged off of my computer and started getting dressed for my walk, when I felt a tiny bit of dampness. Could THIS be my water breaking? Surely not! I decided I couldn't chance it though, as my hair DESPERATELY needed washing! As I began running the shower water, I could tell that my water was definitely broken as more and more liquid started to trickle down my legs. I called Mason's cell phone and his office phone, both of which he did not answer.... OF. COURSE. So I sent him the following text:

Mason and I had discussed a thousand times what would happen if I went into labor while I was at work, or if he was at work. How would I get to the hospital? What if it was in the middle of rush hour traffic? Sometimes it can take him up to an hour and a half to get home when traffic is bad! Luckily, my water breaking in the middle of the day on a Monday allowed him to quickly get home in a little over 30 minutes, which gave me time to wash my hair, finish packing a few items, and put on some fresh makeup. I didn't want Hadley meeting her mama for the first time looking like a hot mess! You know what they say, first impressions and all...

Surprisingly, I was pretty relaxed on the way to the hospital. Mason was nervous, but was happy that everything had gone smoothly and that he was able to get me to the hospital quickly and safely. We pulled into the Presbyterian Hospital Labor & Delivery parking garage knowing that the next time we would leave this building it would likely be as a family of three! 

We checked in with the L&D admissions desk and were made to wait about 10-15 minutes before they called us back. At that point my contractions were in the beginning stages, not terrible just yet, but definitely noticeable. Because I was a first time mom and being only 38 weeks and 6 days pregnant, they made us go into the triage area first so that they could confirm that my water had actually broken and also to check mine and baby girl's heart rates. I guess they get a lot of false alarms so they have to be sure before sending you to an actual L&D room. 

We had a very sweet nurse who checked to make sure that I was actually in labor and she confirmed and told us that we would indeed be having our baby today. I cried. 

You can never be fully prepared to meet your baby, even though you have over 9 months to try and wrap your mind around it. I was excited, nervous, and scared all at once. A complete flood of emotions! Mason got on the phone and told both of our families that we would be meeting our sweet Hadley that day. Our families are spread out all over the great state of Texas - Tyler, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Carthage... so as they had been eagerly awaiting our phone call they piled into their cars and headed our way with great anticipation! 

Meanwhile, I was moved into a delivery room and suited up in the very loveliest of hospital gowns. 

One of the main things I had been dreading about labor was getting an IV. I know it seems silly, but I'm not a big fan of needles, much less ones that hang out of your hand for hours at a time. I had never had any surgeries (other than removing my wisdom teeth), broken any bones, or had even one stitch in my entire life, so I definitely lacked any experience with such things. The IV, although slightly painful going in, wasn't as bad as I had imagined, thankfully. By this time I was at about 4 cm and 100% effaced. I wanted to hold off on an epidural for as long as possible. I didn't want my contractions or dilation to slow down any as a result of the epidural and I wanted to do anything possible to avoid a c-section. So I decided to endure the pain for as long as I could stand it! 

Here I am having a contraction. Good times... Just trying to smile through the pain. 

Our parents made it in plenty of time and they were all able to come in and visit with us for a little bit before things got too intense. Although, I will say, making small talk and joking around is pretty difficult when you are interrupted every 5 minutes with blinding pain. After I had reached 6 cm, and the contractions started coming more quickly, I went ahead and opted for the epidural. My nurse assured me that since I was progressing so quickly, I might as well go ahead and get it if I planned to have it during the delivery to give myself some relief and Hadley was already low enough in the birth canal that a c-section would be highly unlikely. 

Mason was asked to leave the room while they gave me the epidural, since apparently one too many a daddy had fainted while watching the procedure being done. It wasn't pleasant, but again, nothing I couldn't handle. And within about 20 minutes I was numbed up and feeling much more pleasant. My only pain at this point was extreme hunger, because by now it was about 7pm and I hadn't eaten anything since breakfast. And I'm sorry to say... ice chips just don't cut it...

The epidural did slow down my contractions slightly, so they decided to give me a very small dose of pitocin to kick things up a notch. It worked and once my contractions were approximately 2-3 minutes apart it was go time. 

At around 8:30pm, it was decided that I was far enough along to start pushing. My nurse, Kelly, assured me that the average first time mother pushes for around an hour and a half, but that mine would likely go much more quickly than that because my contractions were so close together and I was fully dilated.  

Let's just make a long story short and say that Miss Hadley was VERY content in the birth canal and didn't decide to make her grand appearance until 10:59 that evening. Almost 2.5 hours of pushing. The longest, most frustrating two and a half hours of my life. It was exhausting and I was running on empty at a near starvation level. We could see the top of her head crowning for nearly the entire time, but she was in no hurry to meet the world. I think she secretly wanted to be a Cinco de Mayo baby! I won't lie, I had initially secretly been hoping for that as well, but there is NO WAY that I could have continued pushing for another hour. 

My doctor made a tiny cut to give the baby a little more room to come out and to put me out of my misery and before we knew it we had a crying baby in the room! I exploded into tears of happiness and relief as Mason, a very proud Daddy, cut the cord and officially welcomed our dear girl to the world. 

Hadley Mae was finally here and all of the frustration I felt in that very long 2.5 hours immediately disappeared! I have never been so more relieved of anything in my entire life. We had a healthy baby girl and I finally got to eat! :) 

Quite possibly the most delicious meal of my entire life! :) And that's it folks. 

I must say that although I had to really suck it up and be strong to get through this day. I could not have gotten by without my loving and overly supportive husband by my side. He held my hand, dried my tears, and encouraged me throughout every second of this process. I truly felt this was a team effort the entire time and I have never loved him more! 

We are so happy to be back home now! And though we are operating on far less sleep these days, our hearts have never been so full! 

We already love this sweet girl so very much and we look forward to all of the love and adventure that Hadley will bring into our world. Our lives were forever changed on May 4, 2015. 

Our darling girl, Hadley Mae Guinn,  arrived at 10:59PM on May 4, 2015!

She weighed 6 lbs 10 oz and was 19.5 inches long!

And in only one weeks time she has completely stolen our hearts... 

We love you Miss Hadley! 

Here is a video slideshow of your precious first week: