Her arrival into the world....

Well Nathalie is sleeping right now and I just woke up so I'm feeling pretty good. I'm going to write down her story for my sake and post it on here because some of you have asked for it!

April 27, 2009

6am-- Matt and I go to the hospital. We had decided to be induced with Nathalie because Matt has state exams this weekend which he cannot miss or be late for and my doctor will be out of town this weekend too. I am 39 weeks, and had a strong hunch that if I waited, I would be having the baby while my doctor was out of town and Matt was in a final. I was not happy about being induced because I have strong feelings about labor being natural, but I also wanted Matt to do well on his exams and I wanted him to be there!

6:45am--Dr. checks me one more time-- I'm 3cm, 85% effaced, she's at -1 station. Good candidate for induction. He breaks my water and starts me on a low pitocin drip.

9:00am-- I am finally starting to feel contractions. They're not painful, and I can barely even feel my stomach tightening.

11:00am-- The contractions are getting noticeable and a little painful. I can still talk through them easily though, so with a little relaxing I'm doing fine. Contractions every 2 minutes.

12:00pm-- Contractions are painful and I feel like I'm starting to lose control. The nurse and I discuss some pain options, and I opt for a half dose of Nubain. Nubain is a mild narcotic, but I didn't like the effect the narcotic Stadol (a stronger narcotic) had on me with Emily's birth, so we decide to go with nubain and only a half dose.
She slipped the dose into my IV and a few minutes later I start feeling a little loopy. I walk around a little bit with Matt and then get back into bed. The Nubain takes the edge off the pain so I can control my reaction to the contractions a little better. It is also amazingly relaxing and I am able to doze/relax a little bit. While it did make me a little loopy, I attribute my success to the nubain because I was able to really relax through the contractions and learn how to be calm as the pain got worse.
I have dilated to 5-6cm and am 100% effaced. Nathalie is at 0 now.

1:20pm-- The nubain has worn off around 1, so the nurse gives me another half dose. Again, just to take the edge off and keep me relaxed. Contractions are now coming every 90 seconds and lasting about a minute each, but with the nubain I'm able to still relax through the contraction.

2:00pm-- The nubain is no longer effective. Contractions are much stronger. I ask Matt to tell the nurse I would like an epidural. Nurse checks me and I'm 8cm. The anesthesiologist comes down and starts preparing things. She has me sit up to swab my back and I know that there's not going to be enough time!

2:15pm-- The anesthesiologist gets the needle in but doesn't start the epidural. Instead she gives me a quick shot of anesthetic, hoping it will take effect. I've been feeling like I need to push for 15 min, but the nurse told me hold on.
Finally she tells me to lay down. My doctor comes in, gets everything ready. By this point, the nubain has completely worn off and the anesthetic hasn't taken any effect. I am feeling everything, which is mostly just an urge to push.
They tell me I can push! Hooray! 2 contractions and 6 pushes later she is born! She came out with her hand up by her face so I have a tiny tear.

Although I wasn't happy about the induction, I am really glad that I was able to labor with very little pain medication. It made pushing much more relieving and I felt so involved. Because we'd gone easy on the meds, Nathalie has been very alert since she was born. Recovery has been a breeze for me. I was up and walking around an hour after birth. I'm grateful too that the nubain's effect was very relaxing, because I don't think I could have handled it as well if I hadn't been so relaxed.

Anyway, Nathalie is waking up again. I'm so grateful that she is healthy and beautiful. Emily was cute with her yesterday. She was crying a lot and Emily would go over to her and say, "Baby sad. Baby sad." She'd stroke Nathalie's cheek, trying to get her to stop crying. She even kissed Nathalie's cheek because it would make her feel better. Yay for big sisters!

P.S. The anesthetic took effect approximately 15 minutes after I had Nathalie. I had nice tingly legs for an hour or two.

Nathalie is here!

Born April 27, 2009 at 2:26pm

8 lbs 1 oz

20 inches

Will write more tomorrow!

Abby Cadabby and Emily Cadabby!

Emily loves Abby Cadabby from Sesame Street. She has an Abby stuffed animal (which she sleeps with) and she calls it her baby, or "Baby Abby". So when Aunt Amy sent a fairy costume to Emily, she was so excited to be like her baby!

I've tried to arrange them in order, but I can't. The top picture is the whole ensemble which she only likes to wear for a short while, because the headband and wings bother her. The bottom picture is what she usually wears while carrying around her "fowsher" or "flower" (that's what she calls the wand. And the middle is her baby, Abby Cadabby!

Thanks Aunt Amy!

Emily

As I was going through and getting out Emily's summer clothes, I found this apron! Now she can help me when I'm cooking and maybe I won't have to change her when she's done!


How beautiful!

We went to feed the ducks and she loved it. There were also a bunch of a fish and a bumblebee so it was very exciting for Emily.

Emily and Daddy feeding the ducks. They actually ate out of Matt's hand!

Emily's newest thing is puzzles! She has three others (a monkey, an elephant and a lion) and we do them at least 10 times EACH a day. Today she actually did the monkey one all by herself! This one is the easiest because where the pieces go, there are actually indents, but the other ones are just like normal puzzles. I was impressed!

Emily

Here are some pictures of Emily because she's beautiful!

Great video!

Saw this on YouTube and it's great!

If it's not showing the whole side, here's the link for the video on YouTube.

Spring, spring, spring!

Every morning I wake up to this. Matt's allergic to dogwoods, but I can heartily appreciate them and breathe it all in.

This is how Emily eats "piggies-in-the-blanket". Here I cut up the piggies and she removed all the hot dogs from the middle.

My beautiful daughter! 20 months old.

She loves to "heppe mommy" or help mommy. She "heppe push" and "heppe disses" (dishes) and "heppe keen" (clean). The wagon is a little heavy for her though so it usually takes a little bit for her to get started and then she can move easily.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I love spring! I especially love spring in the Midwest. Sure, it's been rainy for most of this week but now everything is GREEN! The dogwoods have bloomed and are now almost all green, the tulips and daffodils are up and other things are starting to bud.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I was able to finish spring cleaning today (YAY!) because it was nice enough to clean the windows. Ironically, I finished spring cleaning just in time to clean my house for it's usual cleaning. Woohoo. A mother's work is never done.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'm officially FULL TERM (as of the 13th). It looks like the baby is going to hang out in there for a few more weeks, but I'm a little worried because my Dr. will be out of town the last few days of April.......and Matt has two big finals while my Dr. is out of town. Knock on wood.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------P.S. Does anyone know how to format the pictures so I can write above them instead of below them?