August 3rd 2010

I'm finally getting a second to post about the new addition to our family. Miss Natalie Mae was born Tuesday, August 3rd at 8:14am.. She was 9lbs 2oz and 20 1/4 inches long. This baby girl has given me a CRAZY experience and I still can't believe how everything happened.

On Tuesday morning I woke up as usual at 3:20am when Stephens alarm went off for work. I fell right back to sleep as I usually do but work up again around 4:15. I was beyond irritated.. My feet were HORRIBLY swollen and to make matters even worse I got a bug bite on one of my feet so on top of it being sore it was beyond itchy.. I tried to fall back asleep but then heard Evelyne wake up in her room. Not sure what her deal was but I decided to just go in and get her knowing she would go right back to sleep. Plus I wanted to snuggle with my little cuddle bug. :) After bringing her to bed I started to notice some weird pains.. I wasn't quite sure what it was. It felt as if I needed to go to the bathroom. Each time I got the pain I got up to go to the bathroom.. LOL Poor Evelyne was so confused "bed?" "bed?" I'd tell her 'Mommy's going potty' and then she would just lay there and wait for me. Poor thing just wanted to go back to sleep! I then noticed that the pain was at the point where I noticed a beginning and an end. What??? Could these seriously be CONTRACTIONS!!!?? I text Stephen around 5:30 and said I didn't feel well.. He wanted to know what that meant. I said I didn't know but don't get excited yet. Heh. I decided to try and 'time' the what i thought were contractions.. there were about 9 minutes apart or so... I didn't even know what was close together and what wasn't! I then text my mom, she called me and said I should probably call the hospital and see what they have to say. My BIGGEST concern was going to the hospital and having it be false labor.. I didn't want to make a big deal out of nothing.. (Boy was i WRONG..) I talked to a nurse, she said take a bath, blah blah. I said I'd wait it out another 30 minutes and call back if I needed to.. I got Evelyne back to her own bed and decided well since I can't sleep I might as well fold the laundry on the couch! About another hour of the pain which had now increased and had gotten closer together, and going back and forth from the bathroom just to sit on the toilet (lol how embarrassing..) I decided to call the hospital again, told them I was coming in and then I called Stephen and told him to call his Mom and see if she can come to our house so we didn't have to wake Evelyne up. (WHAT WAS I THINKING???!) ..that was at about 6:15; and by the time Stephen got home I was in even more pain, pacing the living room, dropping to my knees in pain from the contractions. It was only getting worse and worse.. I finally told Stephen to go get our neighbor so we could leave but then he felt back that there were no lights on so we decided to just wait for Karen. Stephen got everything loaded into the Jeep and then we literally got in and waited for Karen to pull in so we could pull out. (I'm so thankful she got there as quick as she did...) Why in the world did I think it was so important for us to not wake up Evelyne and just head to the hospital I have no clue but that's what I wanted to do. LOL With i-14 traffic I was in a panic. This pain was BAD. I told Stephen 'babe.. you gotta do something, we need to get there' Swerving in and out of traffic being flipped off by several, and passing two staters, we got to the hospital and checked in at 7:59. The nurse in triage wanted a urine sample. ARE YOU SERIOUS?? So I tried.. but I couldn't.. As I went to stand up I heard a big POP. I screamed for Stephen "Babe! Babe!" I had no idea what had happened. My water broke! The nurse then took me to a triage room, I was asking for my epidural. LOL While I was attempting to get on the bed I begged the nurse for my epidural "This baby is coming!!" I said. "Ok Honey, well let me check you"... "She's COMPLETE!!!" Suddenly three other nurses were in the room, and I again asked for my epidural and she said "Honey the baby is going to be here by then". I looked at Stephen and started to cry. Well I tried to cry... LOL but there weren't any tears. Ha. The nurse asked for a room and when one was said she said it wasn't close enough... As we got into a room I was pushing.. In between contractions they made me get on my hands and knees and switch to A DIFFERENT BED. I'm thinkin' "these people are nuts!" LOL The bed was literally not even set up.. the midwife walked in just in time to catch Natalie.. With about 4 or 5 pushes, little tiny friend was finally here!!! The mid wife laid Natalie on my chest for about 2 seconds but then got her back real quick because I guess she hadn't cried or breathed or something... I kinda wasn't paying attention but trying to catch my breath! They got her all sucked out and we heard cries and everything was great! The only problem Natalie had was she wasn't moving her right arm.. Nothing was wrong so they assumed she was just laying on it wrong or there was stress on it during the delivery. Today, a week and a half later she is moving it just fine. :) We had a great experience.. Left to go home the next afternoon.

I still can't believe I delivered natural with NO meds.. Not that I wanted it that way, but it makes me proud knowing that I COULD do it. I was the most scared I have EVER EVER been but everything couldn't have been more perfect. Little Natalie is such a precious baby girl. She looks exactly like Evelyne when she was a newborn. She sleeps great, nursing is going great and she gets lots of love from Mommy, Daddy and Big Sister. :) Evelyne is doing wonderfully with her.. she's improved a lot even in just this week- loves giving Natalie kisses and hugs.. just tonight she went over to Natalie where she was sleeping, kissed her on the head and said 'la you' (Love you) before i took her up for bedtime.. Pretty precious..

I'm so thankful for the healthy delivery of Natalie and I'm so thankful I have the privilege of being her Mommy. I'm so grateful to be a Mother..

Here are some pictures of the little tiny friend. :)