Life with Natalie Jane

By Tiffany George

At last, I have a few free moments to elaborate on our lives with two kiddos. Where to begin? Let's see...labor! I went into labor on Saturday night around 7pm. We called Grammy around 10ish to come stay at the house with Andrew when I went to the hospital. We ended up leaving the house at 2am and got to the hospital at approximately 2:04am :o) My contractions were about 2 minutes apart, and the discomfort seemed comparable to when I went to the hospital for Andrew, though my water had not yet broken as it had for him. When I got to the hospital I was surprised and a bit disappointed to learn that upon initial "inspection" I was only 3-4cm, not the 8 that I had been with Andrew. Despite the seemingly slow start, everything progressed quickly from there, as Natalie graced us with her presence just after 6am. After my initial inspections, no one came to check me out again until I was already 8-9cm. I didn't expect to progress so quickly and was thrilled when they told me to let them know when I was ready to push. After a few warm-up pushes I probably only pushed through about 6-10 contractions and then Natalie was born.
Everyone, including the nurses, were shocked that she was 9lbs. The 22 inches didn't surprise me, as I knew that something large had been kicking me all of those months!!!

The doctor held her up right when she came out so I got to see that we were blessed with a girl. While we would have certainly been happy with another boy, we must admit that we feel quite lucky to get one of each. Natalie's sweet little face, her big eyes, her cute mouth were all overwhelming when we first met her. Everything with Natalie seems so much easier than it did with Andrew...the benefits of being a mom again. The cries don't seem to worry me as much, the nursing came so much easier, and we had a lot less questions!

After Natalie was born and Andrew finally finished eating his breakfast, he came over to visit. I had taken him to the hospital on two occasions for a "tour" to show him where Mommy and the baby would be, and it seemed to have worked. He was happy coming and going despite his previous fear of the elevator. He wanted to kiss his sister right off the bat, and loves to give her gentle rubbies on her legs, arms, hands, etc (as you can see in the photos below). He also loves to play with her feet and he thinks she is playing along when she pulls her feet up away from him, though in reality she is trying to escape! He loves to play with her toes and say this rhyme "icky pee, penny roo..." to name each toe. This is a little song that Pete's Nana did with him and we have done with Andrew. Andrew is just as happy to see Natalie every day as the first day that he saw her. We are so blessed that he has welcomed her into our home with open arms (and open mouth kisses) without even the slightest amount of jealousy.

As for the other cutie, she is adjusting quite well now. The days of quiet nursing and actually napping whenever she wants were luxuries that only Andrew will be afforded. Natalie doesn't mind when Andrew kisses her ears and plays with her feet, even if she'd rather be nursing! Despite my concerns about giving each child the individual attention that they deserve, I see that things will turn out just fine. Andrew's life seems happier with a little sister to admire, and clearly Natalie will be amused by Andrew...we all are!

For the first 24 hours when my milk came in, Natalie projectile vomited each time she fed. This was a lot of liquid gold coming up the wrong way! The vomiting has seemed to have subsided now, coming only once every few days, so have no worries! The doctors have no fear at all because our little turkey is putting on weight just fine. At her two week check-up they wanted her to be back to her 9lb birth weight and she was already over 10lbs. Like I said, my milk is liquid gold!

Natalie has clearly inherited some traits from me. As Auntie Donna can attest, I was quite the projectile vomiter myself! And Natalie was also tongue-tied. I had my cord cut when I was around 5 and my memories of the experience are not fond. For this reason, we had her cord cut when she was just over a week old. She didn't even react to the cut, and it only bled a single tiny drop, with no pain. Mommy certainly cried more than she did! So far I can tell that she will have a dimple in her left cheek just like Daddy, and she certainly inherited gas from him too!

Natalie seemed to have quite a bit of gas at the beginning which caused her to fuss, but that seems to be improving now that she is learning to burp better. Andrew rarely cried at all, so this has taken some getting used too, though I must admit the feeling of satisfaction when I am able to calm her down is phenomenal. Watching her sweet little mouth as her cry weakens and she drifts off into a peaceful sleep is priceless.

Basically Pete and I are just relishing this time with Natalie, as we expect this to be our last baby. Every cute little sound she makes, every gassy smile that crosses her lips, and every loud poop that escapes her body are all cherished. Babies grow up so fast and we just want to live in the moment and enjoy each day.

Enjoy these photos!