God is faithful. He got me through 21 hours of labor and natural childbirth and blessed us with this amazing little life! I find myself crying tears of joy and gratitude as I think about good He is to have chosen to give us this gift. I am overjoyed to spend my days as her mama and can't get enough snuggles and kisses from this precious little bundle. Praise the Lord, our daughter is here! Thank you, God for Natalie Grace!
We came home late Friday night and have been going, going, going ever since. Christmas Eve was spent going back to the hospital for a repeat bilirubin test, which came back with a good report. Then we went to my in-laws' to open gifts with Alex's side of the family. Natalie managed to sleep through the excited banter of her four older cousins and received an adorable rocking horse 1st Christmas ornament from her Memere and Pepere.
Christmas Day was spent at home with my parents, brother, sister, brother-in-law and niece. Bella was more than a little excited to hold her baby cousin!
We plan to stay home and relax tomorrow, which sounds amazing. I'm loving every minute of Alex being home on vacation and do not look forward to him returning to work in a few weeks. He took to being a daddy so naturally. He even sneaked Natalie out of her bassinet at the hospital (she stayed in the room with us, just to clarify. He didn't break her out of the nursery!) and cuddled with her in bed for a few hours the first night. He calms her down when she cries and has even succeeded at changing a couple dirty diapers. Nursing has been our greatest challenge, but Alex has been an amazing source of support. I wouldn't have survived the first three days of nursing without him. This has been the most fantastic adventure of my life thus far, but is already so rewarding. I can't imagine life without Natalie in it. Here's a couple more pictures for good measure! This is one of my favorites:
Layla has been really great with her. She lays at my feet when I feed the baby and looks for her when she comes in the nursery or when she's in her pack-n-play.
Ah, I've been waiting for this post! She is precious, Amanda- so, so cute! Her hair color is so unique and pretty too! Congratulations, and I can't wait to hear more about your new life as a mom! :-)
ReplyDeleteYay! Congratulations, Amanda and Alex! Natalie is adorable. Be blessed and encouraged as you begin this new season of life as parents, and enjoy every minute!
ReplyDeleteWhat a darlin' little doll baby! She is too precious. Twenty-one hours of labor, hoooweeee! You rock!
ReplyDeleteBreastfeeding is one of the greatest challenged I've ever faced. It took four weeks with a nipple shield for my 1st baby. That was four weeks of wrestling a silicone nipple on my boob with EVERY feeding, which was EVERY two hours round the clock. I wanted to throw in the towel so bad. I got so much advice from well meaning people my head hurt, and I cried every night. Then, at four weeks it was like it clicked with him and he figured it out. Then he self weaned at 9 months, little brat. ;)
For it being God's natural means for feeding our babies, it sure can be difficult! You know what else I never understood? Why I could nurse my babies round the clock for months on end and STILL get my cycles back (tmi? sorry...) after 3 or 4 months...but then I have friends who nursed when they felt like it and formula fed the rest of the time and they didn't get their cycles back until absolutely quit nursing. How is that even fair?
End rant. ;)