Look Out Below!

A few days ago we had an insane ice storm.  Read: our power went out for over an hour during the middle of the night (don't worry...I didn't miss it...I was up feeding Natalie...stranded in the dark!) and everything, and I mean everything, was covered in ice. 

During the night, I even heard a tree in our backyard fall down.  The ice on the trees made them so heavy and with the wind it was just a disaster.  In the morning, this is what I found:

That is not zoomed in at all people.  This is right outside our morning room.  It could not have been any closer to hitting our house if someone had laid it there on purpose.

Then I noticed this:

 

An entire tree uprooted on the other side of our yard.  Luckily it fell backwards and not toward the house or we would've been in serious trouble.

So now I'm all worried and insistent that Matt build some sort of contraption to go over Natalie's crib which will protect her from falling trees.  Because, you know, if one is strong enough to go through our roof, it needs to be able to keep it from falling on her.

He said no.

Clearly he does not love our child the way I do.

What We Did For Valentine's Day

Our Valentine's Day was no longer about the two of us.  It was about the three of us.

 

A visit to see Daddy at work made our day complete!

1 Month

Natalie, you are 1 month old!!

I cannot believe how quickly time has flown.  You are growing so quickly right before Mama's eyes it is simply astounding.  At your one month appointment you were 9 lbs. 8 oz. and 22 inches long.  You are in the 75th percentile in both categories...completely proportional and perfect.  You're going to be tall, just like your Mama and Papa!

You had to get a shot at your appointment and it just broke my heart.  It was a cry I had never heard before...like you were saying, "Mama, that hurt!"  I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this every visit!  I hate seeing you in pain...

Every week we go to a breastfeeding support group and you are doing such a fabulous job.  Even though you eat constantly, Mama feels so lucky that you are feeding so well and really having no problems.  And the nurses there have been such a fabulous resource!  What a blessing it is to have them!

So Miss Natalie.  What have you been up to this month?

• You've been to the mall and Costco with your mama.  You don't seem to be a huge fan of being out for a long time so our trips are kept short.  You're having mixed feelings about your car seat.  Sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it.  And you let me know.  Loudly.

 

 

• We had our first baby lunch date with a few friends and had a blast!  Of course you had to eat twice while we were there.  Did I mention you were a pig?

• Speaking of pig, you make these snorting noises all over Mama's chest when you're hungry.  It is HILARIOUS.  I hope I can catch it on video sometime because it makes Daddy and I laugh so much!

• You're pooping like a champ.  Always have been.  You've even given us a few blowouts at night which are oh so fun.  Not.

• You hate the cold and everything about it.  I don't know how you are going to survive in Northeast Ohio.  

• Other things you hate:  the bath, changing clothes, getting your diaper changed.  Hm.  What things do you actually like?  Oh yeah.  My boobs.

• Daddy and I give you tummy time every day and you totally rock at it.  You don't always have the best time but you are scooting so well.  You're also holding your head up for really long stretches...and believe it or not...you even rolled over!  Three times!   Genius...

• Sleep.  Sleep has been a challenge.  You would only sleep on Mommy for about two weeks at night which made me really nervous.  But you have transitioned to your pack n play quite nicely and give us an average of 2-3 hour stretches at night.  I usually feed you about three times a night.  Last night, though, you rocked out at 4 hours! 

• You don't let Mommy get a lot done during the day as you love to be held.  Your bouncer can entertain you the longest but you are more of the snuggling type. You are best right after your first feeding in the morning and you usually let Mommy shower and even get dressed before you scream.  Usually.

Well little one...we did it!  We survived our first month together!  And your daddy and I are looking forward to so many more.  Love you!

Natalie's Birth Story....the Conclusion

Get caught up on Natalie's birth here and here!

After Natalie was born, I got to spend several hours with my sweet girl doing Kangaroo Kare.  It was such a precious time for me and I'm so glad my little family had the chance to do that.  What a great opportunity to bond right from the beginning! 

Plus, it kind of distracted me from the fact that I was bleeding.  A lot.  I remember telling the doctor after she was born that I felt something coming out of me.  I was pretty sure it was blood gushing...but what did I know?  I mean, I just gave birth!  So instead of worrying I just paid attention to Natalie and they fixed me right up.  My blood pressure did drop significantly and I had to be put on fluids.  I also almost passed out the first time I tried to get out of bed.  But after about a day or two I was feeling more like myself.  I am still taking iron pills because of my excessive blood loss, but other than that, I'm back to normal!

We had Natalie early Saturday morning and went home Monday afternoon.  The hospital sends a nurse out to your house to see how you are doing the first week you're home which was incredibly helpful.  She was so reassuring about everything we were doing.  She was also able to make sure I was healing and made me feel like the pain I was having was normal.  I had a lot of trouble sitting and walking around for the first week and a half to two weeks.  But again, feeling great these days!

My mom was kind enough to stay and help out for a whole week which was a God send.  She had a special touch that put Natalie right to sleep and believe me...I am missing her these days!  Having someone take her as soon as you get up for the day so you can get ready and eat!  What a treat!

But we are adjusting to being just the two of us just fine.  We definitely have our bad days, and the girl eats like a pig so I feel as if I'm constantly nursing.  But the snuggles are totally worth it.  She's just so beautiful!  But she's already growing so fast!  I swear, the girl will be off to college before I know it!

Natalie's Birth Story Part Dos

Miss Part Uno? Catch up here!

So...where did I leave off??

Oh yes.  When we got to the hospital that evening I was already 7 cm!  I was so nervous I would not have progressed very much since my contractions were not terribly difficult for too long so I was extremely excited.  But also really nervous.  I mean, I didn't really have that much time to prepare for the fact that I was going to have to push this little bundle out in a matter of hours!

After being monitored, the nurse concluded my contractions were already 2-3 minutes apart.  Time to get me to my own room!  Matt and I got ridiculously lucky and scored the one big room on the floor.  It's the suite and was probably five times bigger than the rest of the rooms.  So lucky!!  After some preparation from the nurse, I got into my bed and continued to work through my contractions.  They were getting more difficult and I was going back and forth about whether or not I should get an epidural.

When I first became pregnant, I thought immediately that I would have the drugs, no question.  I didn't even want to try to have Natalie naturally.  It's just never been something I felt strongly about.  But after thinking about it more, I wanted to go into labor with more of an open mind.  I wasn't that girl with the birth plan who had rule after rule and knew exactly how she wanted her labor to go down.  I just wanted to go, see what the doctors said, and make my decisions based on how I was feeling at that time.  So I left myself open to the thought of going naturally.

But when the time came, I decided that the epidural was for me.  I got it at about 1:30 am when I was between 8 and 9 cm.  It gave me a chance to rest for about an hour before I had to start pushing.  And really, it was completely heavenly.  After being in pain for that long, the relief was much appreciated.  It was weird to know I was having contractions and not be able to feel them though.  Weird in a really awesome way :)

When it came time to push, I was able to lift one of my legs on my own and had Matt hold up the other one.  The epidural was so perfect because I was still able to feel what was happening when I was pushing but it wasn't ridiculously painful.  I pushed through maybe three contractions before the doctor came in.  Natalie's head was already right there so I didn't have too much more to go.  It was around 3:00 am and I remember asking Matt what time he thought Natalie would be born.  He said, "Well, by the way things are going, I'm going to say in the next five minutes!"  Well, try two minutes.  After about 20 total minutes of pushing, Natalie June was born at 3:02 am.

 

How did I handle the labor after wards??

Natalie's Birth Story...Part Uno!

First, I so appreciate all of you dear friends giving me the time to adjust to being a new mommy and forgiving my lack of blogging.  I have found it incredibly difficult to fit in between the constant nursing, diaper changing, and snuggling with my little girl.  Hopefully we'll develop more of a routine soon, but until then, my days are determined by a 4 week old...


So...January 14th.  Seems like so long ago!  I had a doctor's appointment in the morning and was finally able to get my membranes stripped.  I was 39 weeks so I thought LET'S GO FOR IT!  Plus, I was sick of putting it off. 

And you know what?  It didn't hurt me one bit.  I was actually still waiting for her to do it when she was done!  She commented that she thought my pain tolerance was incredibly high as most of her patients were in tears during the procedure.  Go me!

After that, I stayed for my non-stress test and I was already having contractions!  I wasn't really feeling anything other than a little cramping so I headed home.  I tried to get some rest but around 11:30 the contractions started to feel more like, "Okay, I'm really in labor" contractions.  Not super painful, but enough to make napping impossible.  The couch became too uncomfortable for me so I headed upstairs to rest in bed.  I spent the rest of the day battling inconsistent contractions and wondering if this was really it.  I had read so many posts of people having contractions after getting their membranes stripped...only for them to stop.  So part of me didn't believe I was really in labor.  Little did I know...

Matt came home around 8 p.m.  I hadn't called him and told him I was having contractions because they weren't super consistent.  But by the time he got home, they were definitely painful and definitely coming more frequently.  After we ate, we headed upstairs to get the rest of our things together for the hospital.  He began timing my contractions for the next hour.  My doctor had instructed me to call when they were five minutes apart for one hour.  Well, after one hour of checking...they were four minute apart.  Whoops!

Matt called the hospital and let them know that we were on our way.  We arrived just before 11:30 p.m.  As you may recall, I was already 4 cm two weeks prior.  Well, when we got to the hospital, I was already...

To be continued....

What We've Been Up To...

Hi friends!  Sorry I've been away so long.  I'm slowly getting used to having a newborn in my home and it has been quite the adjustment.  Matt and I have spent many a sleepless nights reminiscing about the days of it being just the two of us...only to look in our sweet little girl's eyes and realize God's perfect timing.  Plus, she's just so darn cute it's hard not to instantly love every single piece of her.

So in order to stall in writing her birth story, I thought I would give you a few pictures of Natalie.  We've had many visitors over the first two weeks of her life.  Really, yesterday was our first day alone, mother and daughter.  Here is a little taste of what we've been up to.

 

We've done a little bit of sleeping...

Followed by a little bit of awake time...usually spent sucking on her hands.

We've spent some tummy time on the activity mat and our scooting skills are really improving!

We've taught Mama what the "poop face" looks like.

And charmed everyone with her big beautiful eyes.

But mostly, we've been doing this.

So now do you understand why I've been gone?