Natalie Lynn.....

She has arrived and we are in love!

Here's a quick version of our journey which began on Friday, August 19th at 6:00 a.m. as we headed to Allen Hospital for an induction.  We got checked in, IV started, which only took 4 tries - I'm a hard stick and I was also then hooked up to the monitors and waited for the doctor to come in and check me. 

When he got to my room it was around 7:45 a.m. and he noticed right away on the screen that I was having some contractions but when he checked me I was only dilated to 1, the same 1 that I had been for 3 weeks now, so my only option was to have the balloon inserted.  It's a catheter type balloon that they fill with water to help you get dilated to 4 and once you get to 4 it just falls out.  Well long story short they ended up taking the balloon out around 6:00 p.m. because it wasn't working for me.....typically a person has the balloon in for 4-5 hours but oh not me!  I was also on pitocin all day long which should help with the dilation process as well.  Well the nurse upped my pitocin levels by 2 all day long, every half an hour and nothing was helping, I asked what is the max level I can go too was and all she said was she couldn't go over level 20 without a doctor's order, but we don't ever get to 20 anyway so no need to worry.....again not me!  I was at a level 20 for most of the afternoon and nothing was working.  So once they took the balloon out the Dr went ahead and checked me again and I was at a 3, maybe 3 1/2 - what are you kidding me, was all I could say to myself.  The doctor then decided to go ahead and brake my water, once he did that I did seem to dilate much faster but also with that came a lot of pain so finally at 9:00 p.m. I asked for an epidural, that was after I tried the IV drug Newbane which made me a little dizzy and sick to my stomach.  Finally at 10:30 p.m. I was almost fully dilated so they had me start pushing, at this point both the nurse and the doctor thought we'd have a baby by midnight but oh no not our little girl she had other plans.  After 4 long hours of pushing at 2:35 a.m. Natalie Lynn finally entered the world and boy was I one happy Mama!  I was so tired, worn out from the day and the 4 hours of pushing plus I was starving, that 1 piece of toast I had on Friday morning at 4:30 a.m. before heading to the hospital wasn't doing much for me anymore! 

Natalie weighed 9 lbs & 1.5 ounces, what I just had a 9 lbs baby, I only gained 12 pounds with this pregnancy!  She was also 21 inches long, tall like her Daddy....she also got his long fingers and toes.  Lots of dark hair too, not sure where that comes from - I was bald till I was 2 years old and Nathan was born with blonde hair. 

We had lots of family visitors come and see us during our stay in the hospital, we loved having so many people come and meet our little princess.  First visitor was Frannie, she couldn't wait to meet Natalie!

Then Aunt Angie came.....

Here's nurse Sarah checking Natalie over....

Look at me.....wide eyed and comfy, almost naked....my Dad just loves it!

Getting her 1st bath, she didn't mind it too much.....loved getting her hair combed!

Then Grandpa Mike and Lanette came and visited....

And Grandpa Gary.....

And Grandpa & Grandma Rausch.....

Aunt Kasey.....

And Uncle Chris....

Suzanne, a gal I work with.....

Then come Sunday Uncle Carl came to meet Natalie....

Natalie's favorite nurse, Mary Jane that watched her in the nursery both night...

Us girls.....Me, Aunt Angie and Frannie with Miss Natalie.....

Daddy's Little Girl....

Sunday afternoon the Wauters kids came to meet Natalie....

Jessica and Zoey.....

Justin and Zoey......

Here is Miss Natalie on Monday morning dressed and ready to go home....

One last picture with Mommy outside our room #365

First Family Photo......

Here she is all buckled up and ready to go.....

What a fun surprise, we go home and this is what our house looked like, decorated with fun "It's a Girl" signs, banners and balloons which filled our front yard.  Thanks Frannie and Aunt Angie!

Right after we got home, our doorbell rang...it was the mail lady with Natalie's 1st package.  Her box of goodies was from Uncle Darren, Aunt Heather and cousins Braeden, Nolen and Emmalee from Milwaukee. 

And here is Natalie with all her gifts from the visitors that came to the hospital....it's Christmas in August at our house....do you think she is spoiled?

To end our afternoon Frannie came over and gave Natalie her 1st bath at home.....she smelled so good after her bath!

We ended our day with a quick road trip into Cedar Falls to Frannie and Grandpa Gary's house to eat supper and meet the neighbors, they just loved her up.

This ends our 1st day at home, onto the 1st night.....I hope she continues her good sleeping and eating habits that she had while we were in the hospital, we'll find out tonight!

Here's one last snapshot of our little cutie.....

I still can't believe we did it, we kept her name a secret till the very end!

We love you so much Natalie Lynn Rausch