Cubs Clinch NL Central

The Cubs will open the National League Division Series on Wednesday against the NL West winners, the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Carlos Zambrano (18-13, 3.95 ERA) will start Game 1 for the Cubs against Arizona's Brandon Webb (18-10, 3.01 ERA), with Ted Lilly (15-8, 3.86 ERA) going in Game 2 on Thursday. The best-of-five series will shift to Wrigley Field for Game 3 on Oct. 6 and Game 4, if necessary, on Oct. 7.
The Cubs entered Sunday's regular-season finale not knowing who they would be playing because of the complicated Wild Card scenarios. All they had to do was wait and see if the Phillies lost, or the Mets lost or the San Diego Padres won. If one of those three things happened, the Cubs were headed to Arizona. The Florida Marlins obliged, and beat the Mets, 8-1.
This is the Cubs' first trip to the postseason since they won the division in 2003. That team was five outs away from reaching the World Series, when the Marlins rallied to take the NL Championship Series.
This is a new team, with a new look and new manager Lou Piniella.
"We've got as good a chance as anybody else," Piniella said. "We're going to have to pitch well, and we're going to have to get some timely hitting. We're built for the short term as well as the long term.
"We've got a veteran team here, basically, and we've got some pitchers in the rotation who can keep you in ballgames, and we have a strong bullpen to close things out," he said. "Really, what it amounts to is how well we hit."
Carrie Muskat is a reporter for MLB.com

Rub a dub dub

Mattie Anne finally likes bath time! You would have thought I was hurting her with her first bath (the picture and video below are both from that tragic event). The highlight of that bath would have to be when she peed on Nana! With each bath she has started to like it better and better. Well, last night we did something a little different, the big tub with me. It was so much fun and she loved it (and no peeing on me)! I think she liked the water better when I was able to hold her. I used the Bedtime Bath soap. If you read the bottle it says to add it to the water, well I figured I should use a little more because we were in the big bath tub. We had bubbles everywhere! It was hilarious! That stuff is better than bubble bath.

Mattie Anne Out On the Town

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Matt and I completely ignored the rules about staying at home with our newborn. We felt as though Mattie Anne should experience the city! Mattie Anne went to Jack Stacks BBQ, The Cheesecake Factory, Olive Garden, and Bo Lings all by the time she was a week old!

Mattie Anne and Her Grandparents

Mimi and GP, Matt's parents, meeting Mattie Anne for the first time.













Three generations of Safley's




















Mattie Anne with Nana and Papa, Katie's parents.

Leaving the Hospital

We left the hospital the morning of August 29th.


The dress Nana, Katie's Mom, (Mimi is Matt's Mom) bought her for her to wear home was a little too big. Who knew she wouldn't fit in newborn outfits! She didn't like the band on her head, you will notice it is not in any of the other pictures!







She didn't like the car seat either. She screamed all the way out of the hospital, which is not a short trip.









Here we are about to get into the car for the very first time! She had finally stopped crying by now!









Matt got to chauffeur us home!

Labor and Delivery

So I figured out how to add videos to the page, so I have now added those...Sorry if there are some redundancies between the written part and the videos!











Here we are at the hospital. This was my labor and delivery suite. As you can see, everything at this point was pretty laid back. Momma came with Matt and me to the hospital, but went home for a good night rest.

After I settled in, they started an IV and the Prostaglandin treatments. The nurse gave the first one around 10 pm or so. After that, I couldn't get up for 2 hours. They put the monitors on me to monitor Mattie Anne's heart rate. Matt found the need to video tape everything...including my belly with monitors on it. The second Prostaglandin treatment was at 2:00 am. I got a little sleep before this treatment, but not much after it. My contractions/labor started around 3:00 am much to our surprise. My midwife didn't think that the Prostaglandin would induce labor, but just help prepare for labor. The contractions weren't painful; they just prevented me from sleeping.

Here Matt is on Monday morning... He got a pretty good night sleep. I didn't wake him, I figured one of us should at least be rested and it wasn't going to be me. He got up around 6:00 am when the nurse came in to start the Pitocin (IV medication to induce labor). I was already having contractions but they were very small so this was to help move along the process. My midwife came in at 7:30 am to check me, I was 1-2 cm dilated and my cervix was thinning... They got us up and walking at 8:00 am, Matt pushed my IV pole and we started making the U shaped walk down the Labor and Delivery hall and over to the Mother Baby Unit. We walked for around 30 mins and then had to get back on the monitor. By now, I was feeling my contractions pretty well, starting to get a little painful.

At 10:00 am, it was time for another walk. This walk was a little more eventful. We began our U walk and as we approached the complete other end of our U walk and are about to turn around and walk back, I get a funny feeling and then before I could get "I think my water just broke" out we here a huge splash! I have heard many stories about people's water breaking and most women who's actually broke on its own say that it was just a trickle of water, kind of felt as if you peed on yourself. Well, if I'm supposed to compare it to peeing, I would have to say that my completely full bladder, feel out and splashed like a water balloon. It wasn't a little fluid, it was a ton! Trying not to exaggerate I would say at least 2 liters. So now, we have a problem, a huge wet spot on the floor...total hazard. Matt goes to tell a nurse that my water just broke and there is a mess to clean up. Then we have to walk all the way back to our room. I am completely soaked! The front and back of my gown and my slippers are completely wet and I have to walk down a very full Mother Baby Unit, very embarrassing! But not as embarrassing as the pharmacy delivery guy that I had to yell at to not step in the huge puddle I left on the floor, it wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't the same guy that delivers to the Cath Lab... Where I work! I hope I looked bad enough that he didn't recognize me! The one thing that is helping me from being really embarrassed is keeping in mind that we are on a floor were many women walk during their labors, so this isn't the first time it has happened. Well, when we got back to our room, we let my nurse know about our excitement, she came in and said that this never happens! She has never had a patient that had her water break while walking. She said they always joke about it but it never happens. Well, I definitely don't want to fit into the typical mold! So for the rest of my hospital stay, I was the girl whose water broke in the Mother Baby Unit!

Well the water breaking and the increasing of the Pitocin was getting my labor moving along. My contractions were getting painful. My midwife came in around 11:30 am and checked me I had progressed to 2-3 cm, and she said that I could start thinking about pain control. I thought I could handle it a little more before I got an epidural. As the contractions got stronger and stronger, it was obvious I was in back labor. I felt all of my pain in my lower back. They say that back labor is more painful than regular labor, I don't know, back labor is the only labor I've experienced. Around 1:30 pm, I met my favorite doctor of the day...my Anestiologist! I felt so much better after my epidural. I had instant pain relief! After that, I was good to go; I didn't care how much longer it took! Here is a picture of me with the socks that Jon got me from India. I could barely move my legs after the epidural, hence the weird positioning of my legs. Notice the smile on my face; this is probably the first smile since that morning! Labor progressed much faster after the epidural. My midwife came in at 5:00 and I was 5.5 cm! I was feeling much better because I was able to get some catnaps.

Around 7:00 pm, I started feeling allot of pressure, I had progressed to 9.5 cm. Finally at 8:00 pm, I was 10 cm and could finally start pushing! After 30 min of pushing, Mattie Anne arrived at 8:33 pm!



Matt's first time holding Mattie Anne!

Mattie Anne Safley weighed 5lbs 13oz and was 18 1/4 inches long.

Hospital, Here We Come

Last pregnant pictures, right before we left for the hospital.

About to go into the hospital. I asked Momma if it was normal to have this much luggage, and she said yes...

So, I guess one good thing about being induced is that I have good pics of our going to the hospital experience! We checked in at Saint Luke’s at 8:00 pm on Sunday, August 26th, 2007. My last meal was Taco Bell, which I started craving as soon as it was suggested. I ate it on the way to the hospital because, of course, I was running late.

We went to church Sunday morning, Matt went to help Rachel with some schoolwork and Momma and I went to Wendy's for lunch. We then went to get pedicures. I also got my eyebrows waxed...who knows when I would have time to do that after Mattie Anne arrived! That took most of the afternoon, the pedicure people really made sure our toes were dry before they let us leave. We waited 30 minutes! We met up with Matt and went to Sam’s for snacks for the two that could eat while I was in labor...totally unfair. Why we went to Sam's I don't know because we still have snacks galore! After Sam's, it was back home for a bath and getting everything else packed up. I guess that all took a little longer than I planned because of course we were still rushed for time leaving. Don't worry, we checked in on time!

Church Shower

Yes, I made Matt come!

My Diaper Genie!

I got some of the cutest clothes!

Little bloomers with Mattie Anne monogrammed on them!


The church shower was so much fun! Very special because these friends are like my family here!

Mattie Anne's Nursery

Mattie Anne's cribDaybed

Kinda of a tight spot for the rocking chair, but it actually works a lot better than you would think from the picture!Framed picture of the dress that my mom and all of her siblings wore home from the hospital, as well as, Jon and me. It wasn't in a condition for Mattie Anne to wear home but we are going to get a picture of her in it!
Shelf on the wall, with Mattie Anne's dedication dress hanging on it.

We haven't set a date for the dedication yet!

Mammaw Goldman's vanity from the bedroom set in the "back bedroom." Momma, Daddy, Jon and Matt all helped and refinished it! It looks absolutely beautiful. Momma and Daddy refinished the chest of drawers and the bed whenthey were here after Mattie Anne's birth.

(And yes that is me with the camera taking the picture in the mirror, Ha ha!)
Isn't it adorable!

Here are the pictures of Mattie Anne's Nursery! I think all that was missing in these photos was the rug...A green 4x4 round rug came in 4 days before Mattie Anne arrived! Just just in time! The daybed is in the nursery because we figured that with all the guests and only a 2-bed room house this would solve some housing issues. Matt and I could stay in the nursery with Mattie Anne (the day bed has a trundle) and our guests could stay in our bedroom. Well, in preparation for 2 sets of parents we put a bed up down stairs in Matt's study. Matt decided that the bed could stay because now that he is in clinical rotations he doesn't spend much time down there studying (it used to be 4-5 hours a day) and that it would be ok to boot the couch! It ended up that when my mom was here along with Matt's parents, the reason we needed another bed downstairs; they ended up staying in a hotel. We ended up staying in our room and Momma stayed downstairs. Then we stayed downstairs when daddy came into town and Momma and Daddy stayed upstairs (only a full bed downstairs!). So, needless to say, the daybed hasn't been used, except by Matt's brother and sister in law one weekend when Matt still thought that setting a bed up downstairs was a bad idea! Ha! Well, if nothing else the day bed has come in handy as a place to swaddle Mattie Anne and to fold clothes!