The best Christmas gift ever: Natalie Grace

Sorry I've been away from the blog for a while, but as you have probably guessed, it's because our little bundle has arrived!  Everything went well and everyone is well, but I thought I would share the details of little Natalie's arrival.  We are so happy she is here!

We had a doctor's appointment a few days after my due date, and at that appointment the baby passed her non-stress test and the doctor said we were progressing towards labor, though we weren't ready to go just yet.  The doctor said that typically they like to induce a week after the due date, but in our case that was going to be Christmas Eve, so she gave us a choice.  We could be induced Friday the 21st, Monday the 24th, or Wednesday the 26th.  As weird as it was to essentially choose our baby's due date, we decided we would shoot for Friday and work from there.  It turns out that the hospital was full for inductions on Friday, so they booked us for first thing on Monday morning.  I had a minor breakdown in the car afterwards, mostly from hormones but also because it was clear to me that we would be missing Christmas back home which I have never missed in my 29 years, including the year I lived in Hawaii.  Rick and I talked it over in the car and wondered why we would volunteer to be in the hospital on Christmas, so we called the doctor back to see if we could be induced on the day after Christmas instead.  It wasn't a big deal to reschedule, but she did want us to go in for a check up on Saturday to make sure everything was checking out well since we were going to be more than a week overdue, so we made our appointment.

Then a blizzard came through on Wednesday night and Thursday.  Over a foot of snow fell and the whole state was closed down on Thursday.  Neither Rick or I slept well those few nights nervous that this little girl would want to make her big debut in the blizzard and we wouldn't be able to get anywhere.  On Thursday, we lost power for 10 hours.  Luckily for us, she decided she was warm and happy where she was and we didn't have to venture out until our doctor's appointment on Saturday morning.  Even then the roads were questionable at best.  

Because it was a Saturday, my doctor's office wasn't open so we had to go down to the hospital for our check up.  We had our bags packed, just in case, hoping that they might keep us.  There we had another non-stress test which the little miss passed with flying colors, and then we had an ultrasound.  My doctor wanted the ultrasound to check the fluid levels, and while I was uncomfortable lying on my back on the table, the tech asked if we had bought a lot of newborn outfits.  She then said that we wouldn't like what she had to say--the estimated weight of our little nugget was 10 pounds 2 oz.  10 pounds!

The doctor came in to talk to us and "strongly recommended" a cesarean section due to the baby's size.  Apparently big babies have problems clearing the birth canal and can have shoulder dislocation or broken collar bones.  She said that even if the head and shoulders cleared, our baby had a nice layer of fat on her abdomen so she likely wouldn't fit.  Again, I was really emotional, even though I was completely fine with the c-section.  Really I was.  I just wanted everyone to be healthy and safe.  Some women want to go through child birth, but the more I thought about it the better I thought this option was.  And I was so happy that we found out her size before I went into labor or was induced so I didn't spend hours in labor to only have a c-section later.  We were asked again if we wanted to be scheduled for the 24th or the 26th, and we stuck with the 26th.  Then there was more waiting.

Sunday night (the 23rd) we went to my grandmother's house for an early Christmas dinner and visited with the out-of-town family.  They commented on how good I was looking for being overdue, and I proceeded to show them that I was still flexible enough to put my hands flat on the floor.  We left and snuggled in for the night.

Early Monday morning around 3:30 I woke up not feeling well, which was not abnormal.  Most nights for the past month or so I would start out in our bed upstairs and head down to the guest room shortly after midnight to toss and turn without bothering Rick.  I got up and moved to the rocking chair thinking that might settle my stomach, but that didn't seem to work either.  I cracked a ginger ale and went back downstairs to watch a little TV hoping that would put me back to sleep, but around 4:45 I realized that this stomach pain/cramping may actually be contractions.  I pulled up my little contraction timer app and started recording them, and after they seemed to have a pattern I decided to get up and move around.  I had had a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions for the past month, so I didn't get too excited.  I had always heard that if they were the real deal they would get more severe even if you change activity, so I piddled around the house for about an hour and decided to wake Rick up a little before 6.  The contractions were fairly regular but not the 5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for an hour that they suggest you have before heading to the hospital (though they were close), but with the big baby I didn't want the labor to get too far and cause problems.  

We were both remarkably calm on the drive to the hospital.  We tried not to get too worked up just in case this was a false alarm, but still brought our bags in when we checked in.  The same nurse was working the desk that was there on Saturday, and because we had scheduled the c-section on Saturday and we were checking in around 7 on Monday morning, we hadn't been moved to the operating schedule yet.  We told them our situation and they sent us straight to a c-section prep room.  We were seen by a nurse who monitored the contractions which were now 2-4 minutes apart and I was dilated to 5 cm.  The nurse said that it looked like labor to her and a call to the doctor confirmed that we were going to have a baby that morning.  We called our parents and everyone was on their way!

The surgery went pretty quickly.  After the doctor and anesthesiologist came to talk to us, I was walked to the operating room to prep me for surgery.  Unfortunately the medicine they gave me to aid in neutralizing my stomach acid in case I vomited came back up and I started to get really nervous and started asking for Rick. They brought him in quickly afterwards and he got in my face and held my hand to reassure me--he was great.  And then at 9:11 am on Christmas Eve, our little girl was born.  Everyone in the room was saying how big she was (I was hoping her size would be worth the hype), and then Rick brought her over to me.  I was so so happy, and so in love the moment I saw her.

Our first family photo

My first look at Natalie

And then they whisked her away.  Rick went with her to the nursery to get all of her newborn tests done.  Shortly after they left, they called up to the operating room and said they had a weight on our baby: 10 pounds 13 ounces!  What a big girl!  My nurse came around the curtain and asked me if I heard the weight and then asked me where I stored her.  Then they stapled me up, wheeled me back to my room, and then I waited for what seemed like forever.  My nurse was there with me, but Rick and the baby were still in the nursery and I hadn't heard anything about them.  My nurse reassured me that everything was probably fine, but it was so long to wait.  I asked if I could call my family, but the reception in the room was terrible so I didn't really get to talk to anyone.  After an hour and a half or so, Rick came in with our little girl who we named Natalie Grace, and she was beautiful and perfect.

 We thought it was funny that she never wanted to be told what to do.  She called the shots.  She wasn't going to come on her due date, and she wasn't going to wait until induction day.  We had liked the name Natalie before realizing that the meaning is "born on Christmas Day" and we were sure that she was going to hold us to that.  But she wanted her own day.

 We were in the hospital until the 27th.  Both sets of parents came to visit on her birthday, and the nurses brought her in on Christmas day with a little bow in her hair.  Our families came back to visit on Christmas day, and Rick's parents stayed through to the weekend.  Our nurses were great in the hospital, and recovery has been a little slow, but we're getting there.  We've been home for almost a week, and we are adjusting well.

Natalie's stats

 Natalie is a great baby.  She sleeps well at night, is a great eater, and is a generally happy baby.  We are so blessed to have her in our lives and are so in love with her!  Welcome to the family, Natalie!