Natalie's Baby Blessing

Natalie was blessed at church last Sunday, August 23rd 2009, along with her cousin Sawyer. It was a beautiful blessing given by her daddy.
I didn't take any pictures that day because, let's be honest, after several weeks of sleep deprivation and a busy weekend with a family wedding, I wasn't up for it.
So here, exactly a week later, are pictures I took of Natalie in her white baby blessing dress! Marisa wore the same dress when she was blessed at two weeks old also. Pretty special!

Sara and Mike's Wedding

My beautiful sister-in-law Sara got married in the Los Angeles temple this past Saturday! It was a beautiful sealing, a beautiful reception, and a beautiful day! Congratulations Mike and Sara! We love you both!

Waiting outside the L.A. temple for Mike and Sara to come out!

Van and Marisa the two-year-old cousins being silly!

Van looking like a stud!

Marisa going up and down the steps!

Mr. and Mrs. Barnett!

The Wayne Hart Fam!

Sara and all the girl grandkids!

The candy stand! The grandkids' favorite!

The beautiful centerpieces!

The lemon slices actually looked really tasty to me!

A small portion of the massive fruit bar!

Tim and Carin with the cooks at the pasta bar!

Me and Leslie!

Mr. and Mrs. Hart!

Marisa and Mommy!

Enjoying the chocolate fountain treats! Another grandkid favorite!

Leslie and Natalie!

First dance as a married couple!

Daddy and his little girls dancing during the daddy/daughter dance!

Marisa ready to dance the night away...

...and dancing she did!

2 week check-up

Weight: 6 pounds 4.5 ounces 8 percentile
Height: 20" 40 percentile
Head: 13 3/4" 23 percentile

Update: Natalie and I finally have breastfeeding down and everything is going well in the feeding department. Now we just have to work on getting her to sleep and stay asleep without being held...Wish us luck!

Blood, Sweat, and LOTS of Tears

That is the best way to describe the first week of Natalie's life...

And the crying has been shared by both Natalie and I. Let me just say that breastfeeding is the absolute hardest thing ever. I had an AWFUL experience with nursing with Marisa and it doesn't help that that bad experience has always been lingering in the back of my mind before and after Natalie's birth. To this day I still feel guilty and extremely sad about not knowing she was starving and losing way too much weight for two weeks.
So because of that I have been extra sensitive with Natalie. Luckily, Natalie's lowest weight so far that we know of was 5 pounds 9 ounces. At her first week doctor's appointment today she weighed 5 pounds 13 ounces and the doctor said she is perfect and has no worries with my breastfeeding or her weight. So I'm crossing my fingers.
In addition to Natalie and I learning to nurse together, the lack of major sleep (I think I got 2 hours total in 2 days), not eating or drinking, and HIGH stress the past week definetly does not help in the breastfeeding department. Why is something so natural so seemingly impossible?
Also, Natalie WILL NOT stay sleep unless she is on my chest or I am nursing her until we both fall sleep. She WILL NOT take a pacifer (she uses me as a pacifer when she is done nursing), she HATES being wrapped up and never stays wrapped up either, she WILL NOT stay asleep on her back (she has to be held in order to sleep), AND she WILL NOT go to anyone else! STRESSFUL! I don't get a break. Ever. Can we say high maintanence?

But thanks to literally heaven sent angels, a blessing, and the Lord answering my pleadings, I feel much better that I have the strength to do this. To do this mommy job. It can only go up from the bottom, right? But despite this challenge, Natalie is the cutest, prettiest baby and I love her!

Our little angel!

Cutest little pink football!

Natalie's first bath!

As for Marisa, she has taken us by surprise. She has adjusted soo well to baby Natalie. She loves laying next to her and hugging her and touching her face, hands, arms, legs, feet, she just can't get enough! Whenever Marisa sees her, in her high pitched voice she says, "Hi Baby Natalie!" and then nuzzles her nose into her face and neck.
Marisa also loves to help with diaper changing. Whenever she hears Natalie crying the first thing she does is grab a diaper for me and says, "She's stinky!" One of Marisa's favorite things to do with her is to lie down on the floor and cuddle with her. She just giggles, wraps her arms around her, and talks in a very high pitched voice to her. Watching her reaction to little Natalie and watching my two girls together is probably the best time of the day for me.

Marisa giving kisses after feeding Natalie a bottle!

Daddy's little girls!

Sister love!

Natalie's Story

It was around 12:45am when Marisa comes into our room and wants to sleep with us. She has done this several times before so as usual, too tired to put her back into her own bed, we let her climb on in and sleep in between us. Then around 2am I suddenly woke up. I noticed that Natalie was moving a ton and that I was hungry. So of course, like any almost 40 week preggo lady I decided to get up and eat. But as I'm getting up I realized that Marisa was not in bed with us. Where did she go? There is no way she put herself back to her own bed. Is she in the living room doing who knows what? Did Tim put her back to bed once she fell asleep with us and I just didn't notice?
Well, on my way to the bathroom I saw my answer. She was on the floor on her stomach, her chin resting in her hands, her legs just casually swinging back and forth in the air, and just peacefully hanging out! haha I started laughing and noticed that she was staring at a blue blinking light on Tim's laptop. Quite entertaining in the middle of the night I guess? Then I said, "Marisa, what are...", but I had to stop mid sentence because right then I felt a small amount of liquid come out of me. I IMMEDIATELY froze in place. I obviously couldn't have peed on myself because I would have been able to control it. Right then I knew what it was, but I couldn't believe it. I quickly turned in place and walked into the bathroom before it went all over the carpet. I made it just in time when suddenly a warm small gush comes running out of me. My whole body began shaking as I froze in place yet again. I was even still shaking as I managed to sit on the toilet trying to get my brain to register what just happened. I couldn't believe it was time! After a few seconds of numbness I quickly got up, still shaking, and said, "Tim, my water broke!" He immediately woke up, smiled, and started to gather his things.
As we are franticly gathering all the last minute things we didn't have already packed in our hospital bag, Marisa thought it was a party! Everybody was now awake! haha On our way to the hospital Tim and I thought it was odd that Marisa woke up and stayed awake right when Natalie decided to come into this world. Did Marisa know that she was coming? I'd like to think so.

Now the reason why we were hurrying to get to the hospital (which is very close to us so it's not like we needed to travel far) was because my labor with Marisa was only 4 1/2 hours. From start to finish. My doctor said that usually with your first child you're in labor for a long time and then with the second child the time is usually cut in half. So that meant that I could be as quick as 2 hours! He told me at my final doctor's appointment the week before that he has his patients come in when their contractions are 3-5 minutes apart, but he wanted me to come in when they were 7-8 minutes apart because I would be so fast. So I knew that once my water broke it wouldn't be long before Natalie came out. And my absolute #1 concern at the moment was to get to the hospital in time for my epidural!!!

Once we got to the hospital and checked in at the desk I started to feel mild contractions. It wasn't even 30 minutes after my water broke when they became regular. Once I was in my room my nurse checked me and I was already dilated to a 4. (I was a 2 at my last doctor's appointment.) I told the nurses that I go pretty fast and that I wanted an epidural. Once I was in bed everything felt like I was in fast forward. While the nurses were hooking me up to everything and asking me a bizillion questions my pain level was increasing rapidly. They told me that once my lab work was processed I could get my epidural. For whatever reason that was taking way too long.
My contractions were KILLER! I was already a 6-7 cm dilated be then and my contractions were every 2 1/2 minutes apart. On top of that I felt like I wasn't getting much of a break in between them. With each contraction I would shut my eyes and just squeeze the life out of Tim's hands. With Marisa, since I was induced, I never felt more than just mild contractions before getting my epidural. So feeling these intense strong contractions reconfirmed to me that I love epidurals and that I never want to have a natural birth. =o)
My nurse called the lab to see how much longer it would take and they said 5-10 more minutes and my nurse said, "She doesn't have 5-10 minutes!" Luckily they let me get my epidural anyway. Why it matters to begin with is stupid to me. I'm in pain people I want my drugs!!!
FINALLY, I got my epidural, everything else was done, and it was now just waiting time. It was about 5am and the nurse told us to try and get some sleep before it was time to push. I think Tim was able to sleep a little, but I absolutely could not. It was hard to fall asleep when I knew Natalie would be here any moment.
I was sooo close to falling asleep when I felt pressure and the urge to push. Here we go! I called the nurse and of course I was at a 10 and ready! I only pushed through 2 contractions and Natalie was out. I was so fast that the doctor didn't even have time to take my catheter out and during the second contraction while I was pushing they said, "Ok stop, stop!" The doctor wasn't even ready yet! So just like with Marisa my labor was only 4 1/2 hours long!

Welcome Natalie!

Drama queen already?

Right when I saw Natalie I couldn't help but think of Marisa. She looked so much like her at birth. Natalie has long eyelashes, lots of hair, big eyes, and long feet just like Marisa did. The doctor and every nurse that would see her would all say those same things. They would also say how feminine or girly she already looked. The only difference between Marisa and Natalie is that Marisa had fuller lashes, thicker and longer hair, and Marisa had dark brown hair and Natalie has black hair. But other than those small differences Natalie looks just like her big sister did.

Our beautiful baby girl!

I cried way more seeing Natalie for the first time than I did with Marisa. The birth process is such a miracle and you can't help but feel closer to heaven when looking at the precious gift that the Lord has trusted you with. What a blessing it is to be a mommy again.

Mommy and Natalie!

6 pounds 19 inches 6:33am!

Marisa was SO excited to see her new baby sister when she walked into the hospital room for the first time. She just smiled from ear to ear when she first saw her and got to hold her for the first time. She wanted to touch her eyes, her nose, her hands, her head, anything!

Sisters meeting for the first time!



Marisa being curious!

Giving baby Natalie kisses!

Sleeping beauty!

Natalie and Daddy Tim in the background sleeping!

Marisa eager to help in changing Natalie's diaper!

We are so glad she made it here safely into our family. We all love her so much and look forward to the many adventures of being a family of four!

08.04.09

Introducing...

Natalie Marie Hart
6 pounds 19 inches 6:33 am

The story and more pictures to come...

Playing the Waiting Game

Still, no Natalie...

I had a doctor's appointment Wednesday and I had only progressed to 2 cm and still remained 60% effaced. So not much change from my previous visit. I decided to postpone my induction date until August 9th which is the day after her due date (August 8th). My main reason for doing so is that I want to give Natalie time to come on her own. I want to know what it is like to go through the natural process of water breaking, contractions, going into labor, etc. But once I am in labor you better believe I am getting an epidural. I'm not that natural. =o)

But for sure, for sure, if she doesn't come by her due date I'm making her come out the next day! So I'm crossing my fingers that it happens any day now.

As for me, I feel so massive and just plain yuck. Physically it's obviously challenging but emotionally it has been different for me this time around than with Marisa. I've had a lot of up and down emotions lately about this baby girl entering our lives because of the big change that it is. It's hard to believe that in a week or less we will have another little girl, a second child, and become a family of four. I'm super excited and super ready, yet super nervous and super worried. The main concern I have occupying my every day thoughts has to do with Marisa. Sometimes I get sad that it won't be just us 2 at home anymore. Marisa has been my world, my everything, my center of attention and suddenly that will change. It's a weird thing to grasp for me. It's also weird that it won't be just us 3 anymore either. I feel like it has always been Daddy, Mommy, and Marisa and nothing else. Now we have to make room for one more. It's hard to imagine that there could be enough room to love another just as much as we love our little Marisa. Dont't get me wrong I'm extremely excited for Natalie to come and I know I'll love her just the same, but it's just weird to think about the change.

Some of my other thoughts at random: How is Marisa going to react to a new baby? Will Marisa know I still love her? Will Marisa still love me? Can I handle two kids? Will I love Natalie as much as I love Marisa? Will I be a good mom? A good mom to both?

I know this is all part of the hormonal roller coaster ride all pregnant women ride. I'm personally excited to get off it for awhile, haha. I seriously can't wait to see Natalie's face and to get to know her. I can't wait to see my sweet husband with another one of God's precious angels. And I can't wait for Marisa to see her, hold her, kiss her, and watch them grow together. Yay for two baby girls!