Welcome to the World Natalie!

Well as most of you know I was induced after getting my final sonogram. The on call doctor decided that we should go ahead with it since I was a week overdue and the placenta was starting to deteriorate. Long story short, I was induced at 11:30 am on Wed and after 26 hours Natalie Marie was born! The labor went fairly well, although the contractions started getting really bad around 7 am on Thursday and it took 2 hours before I was able to get the epidural. Oh sweet relief, I admire any woman that decides to go drug free, but that wasn't for me! My water broke at 8:30 and after that things progressed fairly quickly. I was dialated 2 cm and was at 10 cm in less that 4 hours. Natalie's official birth time was 1:21 pm, she weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19.5 inches long. We were in the hospital until Saturday and are now comfortably settled at home.

I am feeling pretty good, better every day. Thanks to all the help from Matt, I am able to rest and Matt's parents visited us for a week which was also helpful. Natalie had her first doctor visit on Friday and everything came back great. She has gained 4 oz. since being born and grown a little too! Dr. Olivo says she's very healthy and a beautiful baby. We are thankful for everyone's thoughts and prayers throughout my pregnancy and labor. Our little family is a happy one and we feel so blessed and thankful for such a miracle! We'll try and update this blog with pictures and the latest news. Love you all, Matt, Ann & Natalie

40 Weeks, 5 days

This baby hasn't even been born yet and already is trying my patience! :-) Well, yesterday I got a phone call from a nurse at Dr. Mark's office asking if I was having contractions or if anything had happened yet. I said, no not really but I was feeling some abdominal pressure. So she decided that we should go into the hospital for our non-stress test just to see how things were coming along and to get a pelvic exam. The NST came back really good, the RN said baby is happy as can be and the heartrate was strong and steady. I had a few contractions while on the monitor, but nothing regular. She said I'm not dialated yet, but am softening and then they sent us home.

Today was our appointment at Dr. Mark's office, even though he's still on vacation. My blood pressure was good today and baby's heartrate was good too. The sonogram technician was in the office so they decided to do one at that time. The tech said baby looks really good and is moving around great. The only thing she was concerned about was the placenta was getting old. She said after 40 weeks it starts to deteriorate and on a scale of 1-4 (4 being the oldest) she graded it a 4. I guess once it starts to get too old baby doesn't get as much oxygen, so we had to go back to the hospital for another non stress test. Again, everything looked good with baby as far as moving around and heartrate. So, again we got sent home but are scheduled for another sonogram at 9 in the morning tomorrow at the hospital. The on call doctor will then make a decision if we are going to stay and have me induced or if the placenta doesn't look that bad. Personally, I'm hoping to just be induced because I wouldn't want to put the baby in any danger, but I'm reassured to hear that so far baby is looking healthy and happy.

While doing the sonogram, the tech turned off the big screen while checking the lower half of baby, so we wouldn't see what we're having. But once she was done with that we got to see the baby's head and upper half of the body. His/her little nose was squished against my uterus and looked really cute, well kinda funny actually. We also saw that baby barely has any hair. It was cool to see the sonogram but kind of just made me more anxious to meet this little person that has been growing inside me for so long!

We're sorry to everyone that has been waiting (patiently or impatiently) and hope to have some more news very, very soon! If we do get sent home tomorrow, I'll post again to let everyone know what the next plan of action will be! Otherwise, maybe we'll have pictures of baby on here next! Love to all, Matt & Ann

Week 40

It's D Day! We wanted to take another picture since today is baby's official due date. Unfortunately, no action has happened. We had an appointment this morning and Dr. Mark was there to do the exam. We thought he'd be on vacation but actually wasn't leaving until this afternoon-for Paris! The news was pretty much the same, no dialating yet, but my blood pressure was good-124/80 and baby's heartrate was 148. The plan is that if I don't go into labor by Tuesday I will go in for another appointment, then I will be scheduled a non-stress test for baby. This is to monitor the baby's heartrate and stuff, and we will also have to do a biophysical profile, an ultrasound to watch baby's movements, muscle contractions and amniotic fluid. If there is anything of concern we will have to go to the hospital and probably be induced, but if baby looks fine and healthy we will just have to wait until I go into labor or Dr. Mark gets back from vacation on the 20th. So, we're just waiting to see what happens. Matt and I have been relaxing, going to the pool and gym and staying out of the heat. I'm still feeling good, I just get tired and sore sometimes and have to rest, but nothing I can complain too much about. I know everyone's getting anxious and so are we!! We'll keep you posted with all the exciting details! Love, Matt & Ann

Week 39

Ahhh, another week has come and gone and I am still pregnant. :-) Our appointment today went well. My blood pressure was lower- 130/80 so I was happy about that, no bed rest for me! Baby's heartbeat was good, 138 although baby was squirming around and trying to get away from Melanie when she was trying to check it. Dr. Mark informed us today that he will be on vacation starting Tuesday and he'll be gone for 10 days, so if we want him to deliver this baby we had better get a move on! Otherwise one of his colleagues will be doing the delivery. During my pelvic exam Dr. Mark said I haven't started to dialate yet but am 50% effaced, so at least something is happening down there! And baby's head is still down, so I was happy to hear about that....

This week we've kinda wrapped up everything we needed to do, I finished washing all the baby laundry, we purchased a bassinette and bouncer, the last couple of things we wanted to get, so now we're just waiting. With Matt being off work it's really nice to have him around, he's been cooking for me and just making life easier. It's also nice to have someone to go to the gym and pool with and someone to talk to if I'm worrying or freaking out about something.

So, that's about it for now. We're hoping for a 4th of July baby, but not so sure that'll happen! We'll keep everyone updated, maybe we'll have good news soon! Love, Matt & Ann