Natalie is a Saint. She was through the whole pregnancy, delivery and has continued to be one during her first week of life. We have been having a wonderful time with her since her birth! Hopefully my posts will continue to come and may come even more frequently in that Mommy and Daddy like to take a lot of pictures. We have been working on her newborn shots so we can send out her birth announcements. I believe we are almost done so check back soon to see them. Gary did an AMAZING job!!! I am slightly biased in that I think he had a rather cute subject to shoot though but his photography skills are exceptional as well.
I thought while I had some time (Natalie is sleeping on my lap) I would share Natalie's birth story (don't worry no gory or specific details). This shouldn't take long either, because again I was very fortunate and had a great, short labor. Those that know me well know that I was not excited about being on the "other side", being a patient that is. I really prefer to avoid hospitals (I know, how can one say that when they work there 5 days a week) so Gary and I wanted to get through most of the labor at home before going in. I was concerned that I wouldn't know when to go to the hospital since I was having such regular contractions all the time, but fortunately we figured it out. Travel back to last Tuesday (May 25th). I was at working assisting in an OR case when the contractions were coming a lot stronger and they were accompanied by a fair amount of back discomfort. This continued for about 2 hours, I was trying not to make a big deal about it cause I was not sure what it meant...was this the start of labor or was my back just sore? I decided to eat lunch and see how I felt after lunch. Unfortunately my healthy lunch of pizza made the contractions return to their previous level with no back pain. Apparently it wasn't time yet.
The next morning (Wednesday the 26th) I got up and noticed rather quickly that the contractions were stronger again and the back pain was back. I went to work, made rounds and realized that work was not going to happen that day. After an hour I had enough and headed home, again not sure if this was the real thing or if it was just going to stop again. Gary and I went for a few walks, went grocery shopping, cleaned the house and waited it out. If you had asked me late morning whether I was in labor, I would have said yes. By mid afternoon I had myself convinced nothing was going on. Then after dinner the contractions picked up and my back pain increased. Part of my back was even swelling. We went for a walk and mid walk I told Gary it was time to go to the hospital. We came home, got showered and ready and took off for the Medical Center (after calling Mom and Dad to meet us there).
Upon arrival I was fairly comfortable, especially in-between contractions. The resident checked me and I was 6 cm. She asked me if I was ready to have this baby soon. At first I didn't know what to say. I believe I said "Well I'm ready if I am supposed to have this baby tonight. I don't want to try to force it and end up sectioned." They reassured me that it was time, and they decided the best plan of action was to break my water. It was about 10:00 by the time we got admitted. At that point I asked my nurse what time I would have to deliver by to go home on Friday. She laughed politely and told me 2 am (just 4 hours away) and then informed me that it was unlikely that was going to happen cause my contractions had slowed down. I told her that I knew if I got up and walked around my contractions would increase so that is exactly what we did. We came back around 11:15 to get ready for them to break my water. I must say that was rather anti-climatic. I think even if my water would have broken at home I would not have known it cause Natalie was so low that she was blocking all the fluid. After being on the monitor for a short time they let me get up and walk again. I noticed the contractions were really getting strong but we kept walking until Mom and Dad got there around midnight. Around 12:30 I had to go back on the monitor. The contractions were getting very uncomfortable at this point. Shortly before 1am they allowed me to come off the monitor again and move around. Around this time mom and dad decided to go to the waiting room and let Gary and I see if we could get some rest. There was definitely no rest to be had. Maybe three or four contractions later I asked Gary if I could possible try some Tylenol to see if that could take the edge off. He went out to ask my nurse for Tylenol and another contraction started and it was bad. I was out of bed trying different positions but nothing was working. Gary came in and found me heading to the bathroom. He got me back in bed and went and told the nurse/resident that they better come in quick, I was ready to push. At this point it was around 1:15. They checked me and I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to go. There was some organized chaos as they tried to hook me up to the monitors, the doctors got ready and within minutes I started pushing. I pushed just a few times and they all told me I was doing great and that I was close. I thought it meant they could almost see the head, little did I know Natalie's head was almost all the way out. Fifteen to twenty minutes after I started pushing, at 1:36 am on May 27th (Gary and I's 3rd anniversary) Natalie was born. She was perfect, everything we were hoping and praying for. Gary stayed with her as they checked her out, got her under the warmer and all cleaned up while Mom stayed with me as we finished the delivery and stitches. A lot of right after the delivery is a blur because I was so excited and was trying to take everything in. I do remember looking over at my nurse and saying "You told me if I had her by 2 I could go home tomorrow, Can I go home tomorrow?" The doctors laughed and said they didn't think that would be a problem.
Our hospital stay was rather uneventful. Obviously we didn't get much sleep that morning till we went to our new room, got situated and came down off of our high. Mom and Dad went back to our place for some sleep and to take care of Sasha. Gary stayed with Natalie and I. She was such a happy and content baby. We were loving every minute. Gary just couldn't stop starring at her. He was wrapped around her finger the second she was born.
Mom and Dad came back in the morning, but unfortunately they both were getting over colds, so we decided it was best if they wait to hold Natalie till they were feeling better. It was hard on all of us, but the last thing we wanted was for her to get sick. Kim and Beth also came to visit us on Thursday while in the hospital. Friday was pretty much just getting ready to go home and right around 1pm we had Natalie strapped in her car seat and headed back to our house.
I won't give a day by day or play by play of the last week, just a summary. Natalie had a doctors appointment on Saturday morning and unfortunately she had lost a fair amount of weight. This is not uncommon with breast fed babies until the mom's milk comes in. Also, Natalie was sleeping all the time and we were having trouble waking her to get her to feed. The pediatrician told us we had to wake her to feed her every two hours and to supplement her with formula until my milk came in. We started walking our sleeping child every two hours to feed her. She only took the formula once, but she was really not interested in it. Fortunately Saturday evening my milk came in and since then she has been gaining weight like a champ. We are now letting her go at max 3 hours during the day between feeding and 4 hours a night. Last night was the first time Natalie woke us up at night. And that was 3 hours after her last feeding, just 30 minutes before my alarm was set to wake her up.
Otherwise the three of us are doing great. Sasha loves Natalie and has to be laying right near her all the time. We were able to get out and go for a walk today, all four of us. Natalie has been enjoying all the guests that have visited her and she is looking forward to meeting more of Mommy and Daddy's relatives and friends. We have truly been in heaven the past 8 days. I am already worried about how I am going to handle going back to work, and even how Gary is going to handle starting residency but we will cross that bridge when the time comes. For now we just spend every waking minute holding and starring at our beautiful daughter. And yes in case you are wondering, she looks more like Gary. She has Gary's chubby cheeks and chin, Gary's complexion and hair color. She has my nose, ears and eye color. We just sit and wonder what she will look like and whose personality she will have. Gary and my Dad were joking that she will have my personality and then they will have three identical women to deal with (they seem to think I am a little similar to my mother; who would have guessed it!)
I will leave you with one of the many parenting lessons we have learned already. Gary was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner while I was changing Natalie. (I picked the wrong night to trade jobs!) Apparently, mid change she had to go to the bathroom and I was not quick enough. Here is the end result. Let me just tell you that the wall in the picture is approximately 6 feet away from Natalie's changing table. And yes that is poop running down the wall, all over the carpet, the light, the blind strings, crib, dresser, window sill, and all over Mom's hand!! There was an audible Splat when it hit the wall!! I couldn't stop laughing and had to call Gary for assistance. I am sure there will be many more similar lessons in our future.
I won't give a day by day or play by play of the last week, just a summary. Natalie had a doctors appointment on Saturday morning and unfortunately she had lost a fair amount of weight. This is not uncommon with breast fed babies until the mom's milk comes in. Also, Natalie was sleeping all the time and we were having trouble waking her to get her to feed. The pediatrician told us we had to wake her to feed her every two hours and to supplement her with formula until my milk came in. We started walking our sleeping child every two hours to feed her. She only took the formula once, but she was really not interested in it. Fortunately Saturday evening my milk came in and since then she has been gaining weight like a champ. We are now letting her go at max 3 hours during the day between feeding and 4 hours a night. Last night was the first time Natalie woke us up at night. And that was 3 hours after her last feeding, just 30 minutes before my alarm was set to wake her up.
Otherwise the three of us are doing great. Sasha loves Natalie and has to be laying right near her all the time. We were able to get out and go for a walk today, all four of us. Natalie has been enjoying all the guests that have visited her and she is looking forward to meeting more of Mommy and Daddy's relatives and friends. We have truly been in heaven the past 8 days. I am already worried about how I am going to handle going back to work, and even how Gary is going to handle starting residency but we will cross that bridge when the time comes. For now we just spend every waking minute holding and starring at our beautiful daughter. And yes in case you are wondering, she looks more like Gary. She has Gary's chubby cheeks and chin, Gary's complexion and hair color. She has my nose, ears and eye color. We just sit and wonder what she will look like and whose personality she will have. Gary and my Dad were joking that she will have my personality and then they will have three identical women to deal with (they seem to think I am a little similar to my mother; who would have guessed it!)
I will leave you with one of the many parenting lessons we have learned already. Gary was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner while I was changing Natalie. (I picked the wrong night to trade jobs!) Apparently, mid change she had to go to the bathroom and I was not quick enough. Here is the end result. Let me just tell you that the wall in the picture is approximately 6 feet away from Natalie's changing table. And yes that is poop running down the wall, all over the carpet, the light, the blind strings, crib, dresser, window sill, and all over Mom's hand!! There was an audible Splat when it hit the wall!! I couldn't stop laughing and had to call Gary for assistance. I am sure there will be many more similar lessons in our future.
This shot gives some perspective on the distance. Sorry, I look terrible in the picture because I am doubled over laughing at the time.
Hope everyone is doing well. Sorry for the longer than anticipated post. Natalie slept the whole time on my lap but I should probably wake her and feed her now. Hope everyone is staying cool in this heat. And please check back soon for Natalie's newborn photos. I promise you will not be disappointed.
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