Tonight, like many of you, we celebrated Halloween! Grandma and Grandpa came over to see me in my very cute outfit. In case you can't tell, I am a jack-o-lantern. Can't you see how excited I am? Happy Halloween!!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Natalie's Birth Story
I thought I would post the story of Natalie's birth, some of you have asked about it and I haven't had time to return all the phone calls. Please note that some of it might be too graphic, but if you wanted to know...here it is!
On Wednesday evening, October 17th, I was supposed to attend a book club meeting. I was feeling a little strange with some cramping and thought it would be in my best interest to stay home and spend some time with Jeff. We spent the evening watching TV and hanging out together. Little did we know that it would be our last evening with just the two of us.
At 4:00 am on Thursday, October 18th, I woke up after a restless sleep needing to use the restroom. I noticed blood and yelled for Jeff. I told him I thought today would be the day. We decided to go back to bed and try to get some sleep. I began to panic, wondering if there was anyway I could back out as I started to feel my first contractions in my lower back. I told Jeff I was too nervous and needed to get up. I got up and called my mom, she was very excited and the contractions kept coming. I walked around for an hour talking to mom and hoping the contractions would increase.
At about 5:00 am I woke Jeff up and told him to jump in the shower so we would be ready to go if we needed to. I showered after him and we got everything ready. Once we were ready we tried to time some of the contractions, but I just couldn't tell when they were coming since they were all in my back. We decided to take Riley for a walk outside to try and get things moving. We walked around the block and were almost hit by a school bus! It was too funny!
When we got back I jumped on my work computer and got some things wrapped up, changed my voice mail and turned on my out of office. Jeff couldn't believe I was in labor working. I told him hey, I have a couple of loose items I need to tie down!
We then decided to try and sleep a little more. It was so weird, when I laid down I could feel my stomach contract and lift off the bed, but I could only feel it in my back. I was so discouraged, I had heard that back labor was going to be the worst!
After about 2 hours of sleeping, I couldn't feel Natalie move and got scared. I told Jeff that we should head to the hospital, that I would rather be safe and have them send us home, than sorry. We loaded up the car and headed that way! It was really weird knowing that we might be returning with our little Natalie!
We got to the hospital and checked in. We had to wait in line at reception and when we got to the front we told the lady we thought we were in labor and she said, "Oh my God, I am so sorry!" It was pretty funny.
We were sent to the PSU (Prenatal Support Unit) to make sure we were really in labor. They checked us in, hooked us up to the monitors and a resident came in and checked us. I was at 3.5 and 90% effaced. They called our OB/GYN and he said to admit us and break my water!
We then moved from the PSU into our labor and delivery room. The room was great! It was nice and big. I was getting a little uncomfortable so Mom and I walked around the floor while Jeff brought up our 8 bags. When Jeff got back they broke my water and found really thick meconium (this is when a baby has a bowl movement in utero). After a call to my OB/GYN they started a lavage to help clean out the meconium. The also put an internal monitor on Natalie's head to watch her heart rate better and another internal monitor to watch my contractions closer. This all happened at around 1:00.
At around 2 I was really uncomfortable and because I had to stay in bed, I asked for the epidural. After I received it the resident checked me again and I was at 6. Everything seemed to be moving along.
At 5 the resident checked me again and told me I was at 9. I was still only 90% effaced.
Between 5 and 7 there was no change according to the resident.
At 7 my OB/GYN came in. He checked me and I could tell something was not right. He told me that I was only a 5, that the resident had been checking me incorrectly and that we needed to make some decisions. He said he had been monitoring me from his office and had noticed Natalie's heart rate was making a sawtooth pattern. It was not reacting to the contractions like it should. As you can imagine this was a shock to us, I mean they had already brought in all the stuff for us to get ready to start pushing.
The OB/GYN said he was thinking of doing one of two things, inducing me with Pitocin or performing a c-section. We talked for a while and the OB/GYN said he didn't feel like Natalie would tolerate the inducing so he wanted to do the c-section. He said he wanted to do the c-section based on the stress her heart was already showing, the meconium, her 2 vessel cord, the fact that she was "sunny side-up" and her one kidney. We of course wanted what was best for our baby. We headed to OR 1 at around 8:00.
The delivery part of the c-section went really well. I got to hear Natalie cry and Jeff headed over to see her for the first time. After Natalie was born and they began sewing me up, I suddenly felt everything. My epidural had worn off. The next 1.5 hours were filled with me freaking out, getting dosed with morphine and the operation being put on hold because of the pain I was going through. The OB/GYN also found out that my uterus was thin, we think due to Natalie's weight, and because of her size, I never could have delivered her vaginally. I also hemorrhaged during the c-section and lost a lot of blood. I was thankful Natalie and I made it out alive.
We finally got to recovery at 10:00. I would like to say that I remember everything and it went just like I had seen 100 times on TV, but I don't remember seeing Natalie for the first time or holding her, I only know I did because Jeff took lots of photos. We got out of recovery at midnight and were settled into our postpartum room by 1:00 am on the 19th.
On Friday we started the healing process and began enjoying our little Natalie.
We are so blessed that it ended the way it did, no one ended up in ICU or NICU and we all got to go home together.
Anyway, there it is, the story of how our precious little Natalie came into the world.
On Wednesday evening, October 17th, I was supposed to attend a book club meeting. I was feeling a little strange with some cramping and thought it would be in my best interest to stay home and spend some time with Jeff. We spent the evening watching TV and hanging out together. Little did we know that it would be our last evening with just the two of us.
At 4:00 am on Thursday, October 18th, I woke up after a restless sleep needing to use the restroom. I noticed blood and yelled for Jeff. I told him I thought today would be the day. We decided to go back to bed and try to get some sleep. I began to panic, wondering if there was anyway I could back out as I started to feel my first contractions in my lower back. I told Jeff I was too nervous and needed to get up. I got up and called my mom, she was very excited and the contractions kept coming. I walked around for an hour talking to mom and hoping the contractions would increase.
At about 5:00 am I woke Jeff up and told him to jump in the shower so we would be ready to go if we needed to. I showered after him and we got everything ready. Once we were ready we tried to time some of the contractions, but I just couldn't tell when they were coming since they were all in my back. We decided to take Riley for a walk outside to try and get things moving. We walked around the block and were almost hit by a school bus! It was too funny!
When we got back I jumped on my work computer and got some things wrapped up, changed my voice mail and turned on my out of office. Jeff couldn't believe I was in labor working. I told him hey, I have a couple of loose items I need to tie down!
We then decided to try and sleep a little more. It was so weird, when I laid down I could feel my stomach contract and lift off the bed, but I could only feel it in my back. I was so discouraged, I had heard that back labor was going to be the worst!
After about 2 hours of sleeping, I couldn't feel Natalie move and got scared. I told Jeff that we should head to the hospital, that I would rather be safe and have them send us home, than sorry. We loaded up the car and headed that way! It was really weird knowing that we might be returning with our little Natalie!
We got to the hospital and checked in. We had to wait in line at reception and when we got to the front we told the lady we thought we were in labor and she said, "Oh my God, I am so sorry!" It was pretty funny.
We were sent to the PSU (Prenatal Support Unit) to make sure we were really in labor. They checked us in, hooked us up to the monitors and a resident came in and checked us. I was at 3.5 and 90% effaced. They called our OB/GYN and he said to admit us and break my water!
We then moved from the PSU into our labor and delivery room. The room was great! It was nice and big. I was getting a little uncomfortable so Mom and I walked around the floor while Jeff brought up our 8 bags. When Jeff got back they broke my water and found really thick meconium (this is when a baby has a bowl movement in utero). After a call to my OB/GYN they started a lavage to help clean out the meconium. The also put an internal monitor on Natalie's head to watch her heart rate better and another internal monitor to watch my contractions closer. This all happened at around 1:00.
At around 2 I was really uncomfortable and because I had to stay in bed, I asked for the epidural. After I received it the resident checked me again and I was at 6. Everything seemed to be moving along.
At 5 the resident checked me again and told me I was at 9. I was still only 90% effaced.
Between 5 and 7 there was no change according to the resident.
At 7 my OB/GYN came in. He checked me and I could tell something was not right. He told me that I was only a 5, that the resident had been checking me incorrectly and that we needed to make some decisions. He said he had been monitoring me from his office and had noticed Natalie's heart rate was making a sawtooth pattern. It was not reacting to the contractions like it should. As you can imagine this was a shock to us, I mean they had already brought in all the stuff for us to get ready to start pushing.
The OB/GYN said he was thinking of doing one of two things, inducing me with Pitocin or performing a c-section. We talked for a while and the OB/GYN said he didn't feel like Natalie would tolerate the inducing so he wanted to do the c-section. He said he wanted to do the c-section based on the stress her heart was already showing, the meconium, her 2 vessel cord, the fact that she was "sunny side-up" and her one kidney. We of course wanted what was best for our baby. We headed to OR 1 at around 8:00.
The delivery part of the c-section went really well. I got to hear Natalie cry and Jeff headed over to see her for the first time. After Natalie was born and they began sewing me up, I suddenly felt everything. My epidural had worn off. The next 1.5 hours were filled with me freaking out, getting dosed with morphine and the operation being put on hold because of the pain I was going through. The OB/GYN also found out that my uterus was thin, we think due to Natalie's weight, and because of her size, I never could have delivered her vaginally. I also hemorrhaged during the c-section and lost a lot of blood. I was thankful Natalie and I made it out alive.
We finally got to recovery at 10:00. I would like to say that I remember everything and it went just like I had seen 100 times on TV, but I don't remember seeing Natalie for the first time or holding her, I only know I did because Jeff took lots of photos. We got out of recovery at midnight and were settled into our postpartum room by 1:00 am on the 19th.
On Friday we started the healing process and began enjoying our little Natalie.
We are so blessed that it ended the way it did, no one ended up in ICU or NICU and we all got to go home together.
Anyway, there it is, the story of how our precious little Natalie came into the world.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
One week old
It's amazing that Natalie has been here one week and at this time last week we were still in the hospital. We can't imagine our lives without her. Happy one week birthday Natalie!
Natalie saw her doctor today and everything checked out great. She weighs 7 lbs 8 oz and is 20" long. We are going in again next week to keep an eye on her weight gain. Also, we are happy to point out that we made it on time to her 8:50 appointment.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Hospital Photos are Up (and they are too cute!!)
Just wanted to let you know that Natalie's hospital photos have posted to the hospital website. If you can't find them send Jeff an e-mail and we will send you the link!
First days home
Natalie looking excited to go home
Mom and baby ready to go homeHey everyone! We made it home late Sunday night and have been trying to adjust and get into the swing of things. It was been so much fun getting to know Natalie. We just can't believe she is finally here! We went back to the hospital yesterday to meet with the lactation specialist and finally think we have breastfeeding established. They weighed her and she weighed 7.9 - which is great - not far from her birth weight of 8.09. Natalie has her one week check up tomorrow. I can't believe she is almost a week old! Jeff and I were talking today that a week ago we were praying she would come soon - and she did!! We will try and post after her appointment tomorrow - it is at 8:30 - it will be interesting to see if we can make it there that early!
Saturday, October 20, 2007
All systems are go!
The doctor came in this morning and reported that the sonogram was good and her kidney is functioning fine. There is no need to put her on antibiotics since she does not have the problem with her kidney that I can not spell. Everything else is looking good.
Natalie also had her hearing test and PKU this morning, and passed the hearing test with flying colors. We have to wait on the PKU.
Mommy is still uncomfortable due to the c-section but is making progress with walking. Mommy and baby are making slow, steady progress at breast feeding, and things are looking up.
Daddy is standing by to help where he can; swaddling, holding or diaper changing. We all get sleep where we can.
Natalie also had her hearing test and PKU this morning, and passed the hearing test with flying colors. We have to wait on the PKU.
Mommy is still uncomfortable due to the c-section but is making progress with walking. Mommy and baby are making slow, steady progress at breast feeding, and things are looking up.
Daddy is standing by to help where he can; swaddling, holding or diaper changing. We all get sleep where we can.
One Day Old
Well it has been a full day now since Natalie Ann was born on Oct. 18th at 8:30 pm. We celebrated her one day birthday by sleeping. Natalie is doing a great job at her three duties; sleeping, pottying and eating. We are still working on the breastfeeding, and making steady progress. She had her sonogram yesterday and we are waiting on our doctor to stop by to tell us how that went. We also had our professional photos done yesterday and those will be available on the hospital website in 4-5 days.
Mommy is recovering slowly from her c-section and can't wait until she is fully herself again. Daddy has had a crash course in baby care 101, but after some mishaps with swaddling and diaper changing he is starting to pick it up pretty well (to the surprise of his sister).
We will all be in the hospital until Sunday and then trying to figure things out at home with our whole family (Riley included).
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
OB/GYN Appointment Week 40
Today's appointment was uneventful! I wish the doc would have said she is so close to coming, but there really wasn't much change since last week. Here are the details:
I gained 4 pounds - but I just had a huge lunch at Panara :)
My blood pressure was 110/60
Natalie's heart rate was 152
I am dilated to 2.5 centimeters (you deliver at 10)
I am 90% effaced and "soft" (you are fully effaced at 100%)
I measured at 40 weeks (I will be 40 weeks on Saturday)
Natalie is at station -2. She moved back up a little bit - what a stinker! (Babies start at station -4 and are ready to be born at +4).
I gained 4 pounds - but I just had a huge lunch at Panara :)
My blood pressure was 110/60
Natalie's heart rate was 152
I am dilated to 2.5 centimeters (you deliver at 10)
I am 90% effaced and "soft" (you are fully effaced at 100%)
I measured at 40 weeks (I will be 40 weeks on Saturday)
Natalie is at station -2. She moved back up a little bit - what a stinker! (Babies start at station -4 and are ready to be born at +4).
Saturday, October 13, 2007
A Father's Intuition?
It is ten minutes before October 14 - the day Jeff thinks Natalie is going to be born. I have to admit that it is a strange feeling, sitting here just waiting to meet her. I know we are not even to our due date yet, but we are just so excited. If you don't know, I was born on Jan 14 and Jeff was born on Nov. 14, so an Oct. 14 baby would be perfect! Here's to another day of waiting.....
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
OB/GYN Appointment Week 39
Today's appointment went great! Here are the details:
I gained 2 pounds. Ugg.
Even with a super stressful morning my blood pressure was 100/64
Natalie's heart rate was 156
I am dilated to 2.5 centimeters (you deliver at 10)
I am 90% effaced and "soft" (you are fully effaced at 100%)
I measured at 39 weeks (I will be 39 weeks on Saturday)
Natalie is at station -1 (Babies start at station -4 and are ready to be born at +4)
The doctor said things looked good and he still expected me to have her a little early. His prediction now is the 16th. Jeff is predicting the 14th, can that really be THIS Sunday?!? It is so amazing how the time flies and crawls at the same time. Soon we will be holding our little Natalie!
I gained 2 pounds. Ugg.
Even with a super stressful morning my blood pressure was 100/64
Natalie's heart rate was 156
I am dilated to 2.5 centimeters (you deliver at 10)
I am 90% effaced and "soft" (you are fully effaced at 100%)
I measured at 39 weeks (I will be 39 weeks on Saturday)
Natalie is at station -1 (Babies start at station -4 and are ready to be born at +4)
The doctor said things looked good and he still expected me to have her a little early. His prediction now is the 16th. Jeff is predicting the 14th, can that really be THIS Sunday?!? It is so amazing how the time flies and crawls at the same time. Soon we will be holding our little Natalie!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
10/4/2007 Perinatologist 38 Week Appointment
Good news...Natalie is doing just great!
Today she weighed in at 6.7lbs
Her amniotic fluid was at 15 (it has to be between 5 and 25)
Her kidney looked like it was functioning. Yea!
Her heart rate was 141
That was our last appointment with the Perinatologist, she said we looked like we were doing just great. She thinks Natalie will come on the 18th. I love to hear every one's predictions...it is so much fun!
Today she weighed in at 6.7lbs
Her amniotic fluid was at 15 (it has to be between 5 and 25)
Her kidney looked like it was functioning. Yea!
Her heart rate was 141
That was our last appointment with the Perinatologist, she said we looked like we were doing just great. She thinks Natalie will come on the 18th. I love to hear every one's predictions...it is so much fun!
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Natalie's huge 6th grade project was a Mission to Space . They simulated a launch and landing. Natalie got to be an astronaut and was r...
