Introducing Natalie
She’s here! Our sweet Natalie arrived on April 4th, eleven days early!
To make a sort of long, boring story short, I ended up getting another induction. I was really hoping I wouldn’t need one this time around as I did with Madeline, but one can obviously not control such things. When the doctors told me they wanted to induce, I felt a lot more anxious. It’s like knowing what to expect made me more nervous than not knowing.
This induction went a lot faster than my first. With Maddie, it was a full 24 hours from start to finish. This one took about 9 hours so not too shabby! I have a pretty low pain tolerance so I knew I was going to get an epidural again, but I waited much longer this time until I was about 6 centimeters. In hindsight, I wouldn’t wait that long again. Although the pain was manageable, I was completely exhausted as I spent the night in the hospital the night before to be monitored and didn’t sleep at all. After getting the epidural, I was hoping I could get an hour or two of sleep before things progressed further, but that was not the case! I went from 6 to 10 so fast, in about 45 minutes so there was absolutely no time to rest. I think the nurses and doctor were a bit surprised at first and they stayed with me in the room during that time as I think they could sense I was going to be ready to push soon.
Although the epidural certainly helps the pain of contractions, that pressure to push is no joke! With both of my labors, my body also experienced the “shakes” once the contractions got really strong so that made resting difficult. I ended up pushing for only 10 minutes this time and she was out!
Natalie weighed just 5 pounds, 6 ounces. Yes, we have really small babies! I was pretty shocked to be honest because my stomach was so much bigger this time around and I just felt a lot more uncomfortable. I swore this baby was going to be a lot bigger than Madeline, but she ended up weighing 6 ounces less! I was supposed to get a growth check ultrasound a week later, but didn’t make it to that appointment so I had no idea what to expect with her size. When they put her on my chest, my husband and I couldn’t believe she was so teeny. So teeny, but also so perfect!
Adjusting to taking care of two kids has been interesting, but I’m going to save that conversation for another post which I promise to get up soon. I just wanted to share with you all that our sweet girl is here and we are so in love!
2 Comments on “Introducing Natalie”
Congrats on your newest, sweet baby daughter. The photos are beautiful. Thank you for sharing and I hope you’re getting the rest you need.
Thank you!