natalie's birthday

WOW---how is it Saturday evening already?!?! Our precious little angel has joined us at home and we are so thrilled! Here are a few photos of her at two days old!


And for those of you interested, here is Natalie's birth story...

Over the last two weeks I had been having contractions that came and went, so on Tuesday I was trying not to get my hopes up all day when I was having irregular, more intense, but not promising contractions all day. Dan and I were at the studio with Sammi all day, and at 5:30 I headed home with her to make dinner and Dan went into a meeting before coming home. When I got home I started having more intense cramping and felt as though we might be headed into the real deal--but was still trying not to get my hopes up! :) I made Sam dinner and kept my eye on the clock... contractions were every 15 minutes, but still not painful. It wasn't the same as with Sam (which were very intense contractions as soon as they started), so I just went about cleaning, reading to Samantha before putting her to bed, and then welcoming Dan home who showed up with food so we wouldn't have to cook, yea!

The contractions were coming every 15 minutes over the next few hours, but nothing more intense....until we went to bed around 11:00. As soon as I laid down they started coming. Much more intense, closer together, and I started having to do breathing techniques through them. I told Dan to get as much sleep as he could while I sat up in bed and timed them. Every 4-7 minutes for 50 seconds each for an hour. I got up and walked around, took a shower, drank water, packed the rest of my things in a bag, timed my contractions again to be sure they were still consistent, and then I called the doctor on call at 2:15am. I told her it would take us about an hour to get to the hospital and she said to come on in as soon as possible. I woke up Dan and called my parents, who rushed over to our house at 2:45am to stay with Sam all night and take her to their house the next day. (Thank God for them!!! I don't know what we would have done!!! Thanks, mom and dad!!!)

This was us arriving at the hospital (just hours before the snow started!)

When I went into labor with Samantha, I had to walk the halls of the hospital for hours before I was admitted because I wasn't dilating, so I was praying that this time would be a little faster. I was so thankful to be admitted right away at 2cm! I was even told I could have my epidural as soon as I wanted, which was awesome news, but weird to me because although the contractions were intense, I felt as though I was handling them much better than my first labor and wasn't quite ready for the epidural yet.

Dan and I walked the halls a couple of times on our own thoughts that we might speed things up. This did make my contractions much more intense and I was ready to go back to my room after a short time. I opted to get nubane (pain reliever) first, just to ensure I wouldn't risk slowing things down with the epidural yet. This took the edge off for a few hours and they checked me again. 4cm. At this point, I was ready for the epidural with a plan for the doctor to break my water and start some petocin (drug to induce). Breaking my water and pitocin made things go REALLY fast with Sam, so all of us were really surprised that after several hours of pitocin and my water breaking, I was still 4-5cm with Natalie.

We had been at it for 15 hours now.

My recovery from Samantha's birth was really, really hard physically. I was in so much pain for weeks and weeks and weeks. Because I wasn't dilating any more with Natalie after getting the pitocin and breaking my water, the doctor examined me and asked if I had had any major surgeries on my cervix because there was so much scar tissue there. Because I had not, he immediately determined that my recovery had been so hard with Sam because I had so much interior damage during the birth in addition to my exterior stitches. The scar tissue was preventing my baby #2 from being able to come down. As soon as Dr. Meltzer broke up my scar tissue, things happened, and they happened FAST.

I went from 5-10 cm in the matter of about an hour. The pressure, even with the epidural, was intense and I was ready to get that baby out! :) On my first push the baby's head was visible and they actually had me stop pushing so they could scramble to get the bed ready for delivery! Literally, 2 pushes and 5 minutes later she was completely out!!!!!

Her cord was wrapped around her neck so it had to be cut right away but there were no complications at all from this, and she was still put right on my belly when she came out. Dan was able to cut the cord again and both were just in awe at this tiny baby that just joined our family!!!!! I don't know exactly what Dan's first words were, but I just remember him saying "She looks just like Samantha!" and when I looked down at her I couldn't believe it! It was like we had gone back in time. She was perfect. We called our parents to share the news and the name. Natalie Paige Brand. 6 lbs, 14 oz, 19.75in, born at 3:10pm. As excited as everyone was, no one could get to the hospital to see us because it was -14 outside with blizzard-like snow!!!! :) We had a snowbaby!!!! :)

She had swallowed a lot of fluid at delivery which has made her spit up a lot over the next few days. They pumped her tiny little stomach out during our recovery stay because they felt like she was just gagging too much to let her cough it up all on her own. She's still been spitting up a lot and we're going to ask about it at her first doctor's appointment on Monday.


Otherwise, she has been perfect. Relatively speaking, this recovery has been a piece of cake compared to my first. I cannot believe the difference. I have come to realize that my first recovery was truly much more difficult than most and is pretty rare in talking to the nurses at the hospital, and I am starting to think that my recovery this time is actually better than usual. I haven't even taken anything stonger than Alieve!!! The nurses kept saying to me, "You know, you have lots of stronger drugs prescribed for you that you're allowed to take! Stop moving around the room so much....just sit down and rest!" :) :) :) The entire staff at Clarian North is so amazing and we have had such awesome experiences there through 2 deliveries and a kidney stone. I wouldn't ever go anywhere else!!!!! The entire staff, from the doctors, to the nurses, the lactation specialists, the food service....even the housekeeping! They are all incredibly awesome!!!!!

24 hours old (just before we left the hospital)

I feel so fortunate and soooo lucky. Truly, all my prayers have been answered with Natalie. I not only got a beautiful healthy baby, but I have been given the opportunity to have a recovery that allows me to spend good time with my toddler and feel somewhat on top of things at the house while taking care of a newborn. (Of course, this is all relative...I did just have a baby...I am exhausted...and I do have my recovery pains...I don't want you to think that I'm just miraculously 100%!)

Since we've been home, Natalie has been a good sleeper. She gets up about every 3-4 hours to eat and doesn't have much awake time yet. We have decided, after some trials, much consideration, reviewing my experiences with breastfeeding Samantha for two agonizing months, and meeting with the lactation specialist, to exclusively bottle feed this time. I am pumping my milk to feed her in the bottles, at least for the first several weeks because it is important to me she gets the benefits. Although it's sort of twice the work to pump every 3 hours (minus overnight) and also feed her a bottle every 3 hours, it is a decision that I am thrilled with for many reasons I won't bore you with! :)


As for Miss Samantha...boy, she is having a hard, hard time. She stayed with my parents for two nights: one while we were in the hospital and one on our first night home. My parents said Sammi did awesome with them, but was pretty clingy and wanted to be held a lot. My parents brought her to the hospital Thursday to meet Natalie (who gave her a Dora sticker book as a present for becoming a big sister), and she did okay but didn't show too much interest.

At home it's been really hard on her. I don't feel as though she's been deprived of the attention she needs because Natalie has been such a good baby so far...but she has almost no interest in the baby until the baby is "taking" something from her. Tonight we got out Sammi's old baby swing, which she was initially really excited about, but then cried and cried when we told her Natalie was going to swing in it. If either Dan or I leave the room (even without the baby), she cries and yells for us to come back. It's been a lot harder than I thought. She doesn't go to bed easily, which is completely unlike her.

And then.....it's sooooooo hard because the couple of times she has shown interest in the baby, it almost backfires on her. For example, when we finally got Natalie in the swing tonight and Sammi at the dinner table (with a bowl of M&Ms I might add), Sammi walked over to the swing and said "Baby go fast!" and pushed the swing hard and said "Weeeeee!" Well, of course, Dan and I immediately calmly walked over and said "Sammi, you have to be gentle with the baby...the baby can't swing fast because she's so little." The look on her face----you would have thought she just lost her best friend. It was horrible, and I just kept thinking "Oh great, she finally shows interest in playing with the baby and she feels like she got into trouble." ANY advice or suggestions is greatly welcomed and appreciated!!!!!! :( Poor little girl! It's really hard to find a balance between giving her enough attention and not letting her manipulate us to get things because we feel guilty. Ah, the joys of parenthood! It is overwhelming but I know in the long run they will love each other. :)

Family of Four :)

DAN, BROOKE, SAMANTHA, AND NATALIE :)