Natalie

I cannot believe it has been almost a year since my last post. I have trouble getting this site to upload my photos and videos and end up frustrated with the whole process. So I am trying again.

Since last year we have been busy. Anna is now 3 1/2, Maddie just turned 6 and now we have baby Natalie. She is now almost 2 months old.

I have to say that my third pregnancy was considerably more difficult than the other 2. Not having any rest time all summer with the 2 big girls may have had something to do with it. Our delivery went really smoothly. I chose Joyce a midwife for my delivery. She was fantastic. I felt like she actually listened to me and asked me what I wanted out of the experience. And no I didn't deliver at home! I started contracting at around 3 am which wasn't unusual. I was cramping and contracting pretty much on and off for weeks. By 5am they hadn't stopped and were fairly regular. John decided to go ahead and work and told me to call him when I needed to. I got Maddie to school and Anna and I came back home and I began to time the contractions.

My mom go here at around 9 and sat and talked to me for a couple of hours. By 11 they were 3-4 minutes apart and beginning to hurt. Mom made me call John and tell him to come home at lunch. I think she wanted someone else here in case the baby fell out! We ate lunch and then I had John check me . There are benefits to being married to an OB. I was a 5. We finished getting our stuff together and my sister came over to watch Anna and by 2 I was ready to go in.

Joyce met us at the hospital and I got checked in and poked and prodded and hooked up. I was a 7 at this point. About 2 hours later I got my epidural. In another couple of hours they broke my water, 45 minutes later I pushed twice and Natalie was born. I got to reach down and pull her up to my chest. It was so great. No one told me the sex , they had me look to see that she was a girl. She didn't really cry much she just laid on my chest and looked around. She nursed really well right away and about and hour later they did all of her admit stuff where we found out she weighed 8 lbs 13 oz. I was fortunate to only have a small repair. This was a great experience for me. I loved everything about our delivery. It could not have gone smoother!