Welcome, Madelynn Grace!

KaraLee and I are pleased to announce the birth of our brand new baby girl, Madelynn Grace Anderson! She was born at 3:12 pm on Friday, October 30, weighing in at a very healthy 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 19.5 inches long. If you've been following along with us through this pregnancy, you know what a blessing it is for us to have this beautiful, healthy, strong little girl arrive in a relatively uneventful manner. We'll pleased to report that KaraLee and Maddie are doing great tonight!

Here are a couple pictures of our little beauty taken shortly after her birth. As many of you probably are aware, KaraLee has been battling kidney stones for the past few weeks. We'll post some family pictures, as well as a report on the kidney stones, after the stones have been resolved. Welcome Baby Maddie!!

Pre-delivery KaraLee (this is actually the room she labored and delivered in - I know, it's historic)

Our beautiful little lady. :) I'm just now realizing that most of the pictures I took of her today are probably not "blog appropriate". We'll provide more pictures in our next post. Hooray for baby girls!

Update and Gratitude!

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and thoughts and for keeping me in your prayers! I really appreciate it! For those of you interested, the procedure in my back was called Nephrostomy Drainage. I won't explain it anymore, but if you're really interested you can google it :). Also, in case any of you are wondering... bladder and kidney related infections/problems can lead to pre-term labor, so twice while I was in the hospital I started contracting more than what was ideal, so I was given two separate shots in the arm (of something that started with a T ) to stop the labor contractions. I was only 33 weeks and a few days when I started having early contractions. so I'm grateful the baby decided to hold off coming.

I also wanted to give a big thanks post for my sweet husband Chris! Chris is my everything- he is perfect for me and I am so grateful everyday that he's mine forever. He has been so supportive during this whole ordeal and really made me feel so loved- especially when I felt my worse. He was a single dad for 1 week and I know how hard it can be to watch a busy boy without another spouse (also, thank you again to Kathy and Craig for watching Grant and feeding Chris and Grant, so that I didn't have to worry as much.) He arranged babysitting to come visit me in the hospital, even when I was just dozing in and out and he also brought Grant in a couple of times, which can be challenging- but I was grateful because I missed them both so much!

I love you Chris, Thank you, Thank you!

Health Update

Hello Everyone,

So for the past couple of weeks I've been feeling a little yucky and I've had some back pain. So on Friday, Spet 18 I saw my midwives and they said there wasn't anything serious going on.

Then on Sat, 19th, I was at Super Saturday making some fun crafts and I got a super sharp pain in my right side. I tried walking it off, I asked some other ladies who were there for some Tylenol, but nothing seemed to work. So finally, I called the midwife and she said the baby probably just kicked me and I had strained ligament. Then I started throwing up and the pain was unbearable. So I called again and they told me to come into triage. Chris and I went in around 9pm and I was admitted. After some tests we found out that I have kidney stones! AHHHH! This has to be one of the most painful things I have ever experienced. So they gave me a shot of morphine and I felt a lot better.

However, since I'm pregnant, it's too dangerous to expedite the stone passing process, I have to pass them on my own. So I was admitted to the hospital where I was hooked up to an IV (pain medicine and fluids) to help pass the stone. But after a couple of days of no stone, they realized the stone in my kidney wasn't going to come out because it is 9mm (almost 1 cm big!) so it is way to big to pass naturally. So after being in the hospital for 4 days I had a procedure done where they put a tube in my kidney to drain the fluid that can't pass to the ureter (I know this way too much info, but I'm going to share it anyway). So I have to carry a little bag of draining fluid around with me until I have the baby and then we can blast the stone out. I won't be discharged until Friday morning. I hope that I will be able to handle being home and make the best of this situation.

This has been one of the most trying experiences of my life, but I am so grateful for the loving people in my life who have supported me and showed me how much they care! Chris's parents have been heaven sent- they have watched Grant everyday so that Chris can come visit me or go to work. They have also had Chris over to dinner so that he doesn't have to worry about cooking. I am so grateful for my family and friends who have prayed for me and called to check up on me! I have come closer to my Heavenly Father through this experience because I have needed the prayers to get me through the pain and feeling of being stuck in a bed for days. I now have more empathy for others who have experienced pain like this or have had to be hospitalized for several days. I hope that when I am feeling better that I can give the love and support to those around me who are experiencing a trying medical situation.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, emails, phone calls, and love!

Thank you, Thank you!

KaraLee

And He's Only 2 years Old!

Grant has started talking so much! I can't believe some of the things he says- they crack me up!
The other day we were at Target in the make-up section and Grant was sitting in the cart. There was a girl about 20 years old also looking at make-up. All of the sudden Grant says with a big grin...

"Hi girl. Grant like Clifford, big red dog."

She smiled at him and said, "Oh I like Clifford too."

Grant smiled at her and then said, "Name Grant."

She grins, we walk away, and he says, "Bye, bye!"

What a flirt. He's cute, but he doesn't realize that he won't get any phone numbers because he still wears diapers and doesn't have a job.

I love my funny little boy!