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12/29/09: Sally: Christmas was good to Natalya. She got some great gifts and has played with them all. The got A LOT of toys that have multiple balls. We have balls everywhere. She's really good at pounding the balls through the holes and pegs. She's bonked her head a few times while pounding, but she doesn't seem to mind. Talya understands a lot. She knows what we're saying and asking. Her verbal isn't as good as Lulu's was at this time (Alexa had sounds for her blanket, bottle, balloon at this age), but she seems to understand more. She's been a bit of a fussy butt lately. She wants me to hold her when I'm around and she wants Jason to hold her when he's around (and I'm not). We have finally started putting her to bed with her bottle and no rocking. We were bad rocking her to sleep for this long, but she didn't start sleeping through the night until 10 months. But so far, she hasn't made a peep about up putting her in bed while she's awake ... I'm sure it will come though, it always does :-)
12/22/09: Sally: Natalya left my cell phone in the freezer overnight. She loves playing with it and then this morning someone called me and I'm searching all over trying to find this muffled phone ringing. Everything moved a little slow, but after the thaw, it seems fine. I was laughing so hard when I finally found it ... classic.
12/21/09: Sally: Favorite mode of transportation is now walking. She may look like a drunken sailor, but she's pretty good. She's got the pivot down to turn and is pretty good at catching herself so she won't fall. She's also waving bye-bye now.
12/17/09: Jason: I added a bunch of Alexa and Natalya Video from the last couple of months. It's amazing to see her evolving so much. The walking is definitely coming along. Enjoy!
12/14/09: Sally: A lot more walking happening these days, but crawling or being carried still rule the roost. She's also saying a lot of sounds that sound like "mama", "dada" and "baby", but until she points to me and says "mama" we'll have to wait to see what her official first word is going to be.
12/6/09: Sally: Pattycake, pattycake, baker's man ... someone was all about clapping last night. I was in the car with her and I hear this clapping coming from the back (Alexa wasn't with us). She was so excited. And of course, when I try to get it on video, all she wants to do is play with the video camera.
11/25/09: Sally: I just get every toy from under the couches and Natalya's sitting there putting stuff back under them. The kid loves putting things under them, she's got that down pretty good.
11/19/09: Sally: Natalya took her first steps by herself, three of them, Tuesday, November 17th (10 months). We got her walking on video last night or at least trying. Alexa wants to be a part of it so bad and in the video you can hear me telling Alexa to sit down, give her space (I'll be sure to have Jason edit that part out). Jason has been working with Natalya on going down the stairs. Once you get her flipped around so she's going feet first, she has no problem getting down.
11/14/09: Sally: Natalya loves the stairs. She'd likes climbing them, mostly to get up to her sister's bed to check out the Nemo light. She also loves her musical table. Love watching her dance to the music. She's starting to hand you things. She loves feeding herself, but she's messy. Alexa used her pinchers very well (thumb and pointer finger), but Natalya just mooshes it on to her face with her hand. I also love how much she giggles. You can make her giggle just about any time. Going from one kid who never giggled until she was 1, to a baby that giggles all time has been wonderful. She's starting to push back on Lulu. She loves to pull hair. My long her makes her light up. She's pulled many hairs off Lulu's head. She's also starting to actually push back with Alexa. Granted, it's more like a touch to Alexa's stomach, I'm sure one of these days she's going whack Lulu. I don't worry about the hair pulling yet ... I mean, it's her only defense against Alexa.
11/3/09: Sally: Lots of screaming last night ... lots and lots. She was up from about midnight to 4am. Did I mention all the screaming?
11/2/09: Sally: Natalya is getting so good at walking while pushing her little toy/car thing around. She's starting to figure out how to turn it when she runs it in to the wall. She just loves it. She'll walk around forever with it. She can even do it on the wood floor while wearing socks. When she falls, she just hops right back up. She also really likes banging on her musical table. She loves spinning everything and she dances to the music ... so damn cute.
10/26/09: Sally: For the last two weeks, Natalya has slept through the night pretty good. But the last two nights have been tough. I think she's getting more teeth ... need to check. She is really loving the tunnels we have set up. They were a present we got Alexa when she turned 1. We figured since she likes to crawl through small spots, she'd like the tunnels. She also likes her box ... the same box Alexa crawled on a lot as a baby. No walking yet. She's such a good crawler, I suspect she'll do it a little longer.
10/14/09: Sally: 9 month check-up. Everything went great. She's very tall. She's 2 inches taller and 1 pound heavier than Alexa was at nine months (see Stats page). Doctor would like her to weigh more considering her height, but she had the same issue with Alexa. She got the regular flu shot and barely cried. She was happy to be crawling around the doctors office (I'm sure she picked up H1N1 while there).
10/13/09: Jason: I added some new videos to the girls' videos page. Check them out here!
10/5/09: Sally: 4 days in a row. Natalya has slept all night 4 days in a row - WOO HOO!!!!!
We had a TV crew shoot at our house for a story about unemployment on Saturday. Check out our girls' first brush with fame.
9/30/09: Sally: Stairs. The kid loves, loves, loves climbing stairs. If the gate isn't in front of them, she's climbing them. She's starting to move between things while standing, but isn't yet walking around them (like side tables or the foot stool). I figure in the next month or so she'll be trying to walk by herself. She's "talking" more and more. When she really wants to do something she squeels like a raptor from Jurassic park.
9/28/09: Sally: Dear Natalya ... we would love it if you would sleep through the night. Much appreciated. - Mom and Dad
9/28/09: Jason: Yes, please do sleep through the night our precious one. =)
As promised, I have posted a blog, of sorts, tracking the events of Daddy Daycare. As I had started tracking with the first day of Daddy Daycare, two weeks ago, the blog is already a couple of weeks in. I'll be posting to it throughout the days of daycare. I'll have a link to it from the right side of both Alexa's and Natalya's pages. Enjoy!
9/26/09: Jason: Two weeks into Daddy Daycare and it's starting to come easy! ... (yeah, right). Keep an eye out for a Daddy Daycare blog I'll add to this site soon.
I finally did some catching up on videos for the girls. Be sure to check out the Natalya and Alexa Video Page for the latest. Look for the "NEW" next to the clips that I just posted.
9/21/09: Sally: Poor Natalya, she's the dog that Alexa has never had. Alexa is constantly rolling on her, hugging her, pushing her, pulling her, touching her, squeezing her, kissing her, licking her ... it never stops. Natalya is pretty good and rarely complains. This is why second kids tend to be loud ... it's because they're driven crazy by the older sibling.
9/14/09: Sally: While we were in Spain, Natalya learned to climb the stairs. She's also pretty good at getting herself up and standing against something. Now that she's pretty mobile, we have the gates up and are on the lookout for small toys/candy/coins that Alexa leaves around the house. Can't wait until she swallows a penny. Gammy didn't get her sleeping through the night though.
9/4/09: Jason: I added a few recent videos of our beautiful girls to the videos page. I'm a little behind, but I'll be getting some slightly older video clips up soon (stuff from July and August).
9/3/09: Sally: My mother made a boatload of baby food (yes, MADE baby food) for Natalya. So far, so good, Natalya isn't showing an ill side affects (but it didn't cure the not sleeping through the night issue we're still having).
9/1/09: Sally: This kid knows what she's doing. Last night we let her scream for a while. After about an hour or so of her screaming bloody murder, Jason grabs her and puts her in bed with us. She falls right to sleep. She's also getting good at not letting you sit her on her butt. If she doesn't want to go on the floor, she stiffens up and won't let you bend her to sit her down. Little stinker ... smarter than she looks. She's now standing up on everything (or giving it the old college try). We have to switch our brains in to remembering what can tip over if she tries to climb it and remove it from sight. She's a pretty good kid ... likes being outside, eats her food, takes good naps ... now if she would just sleep through the night!
8/31/09: Sally: Taly can crawl pretty good now. What she really wants to do is climb or stand-up. She can almost get standing. She has 6 teeth that are in and 2 more that are barely showing. All weekend she had a snotty nose because of the teeth. She was up a lot at night too. She doesn't seem to have a high tolerance for pain. With Alexa, we barely knew a tooth was coming in, she could have cared less. But not Natalya, she chews on everything and cries at night.
8/25/09: Sally: Natalya can crawl for a foot or so and she's back on her butt. A another week and she'll be all over the place. She now has 5 teeth and I think another is about to show itself.
8/21/09: Sally: Natalya has road rash on her face. I guess she fell at daycare and rubbed against the carpet (it's that ber-ber carpet). Poor thing ... looks like she was in a fight. She woke up around 4am this morning and I went in to her room and she was sitting up trying to poop. She was grunting so hard. Felt bad for her, so I put her on the changing table and removed her diaper. Took her a little bit, but she got it all out. She went right back to sleep afterwards.
8/18/09: Sally: Found Natalya sitting up in her crib this morning (just over 7 months - same for both girls). Too bad she's still not sleeping through the night.
8/17/09: Sally: I guess spitting in a toilet is super funny to Natalya. The girls and I were at Target and Lulu had to go potty. For whatever reason, she decides to spit in the toilet. Natalya thinks this is hysterical. She can't stop laughing. Lulu keeps doing it. This went on for a few minutes. Totally funny. Then as we're walking around the store, Alexa falls down. Again, this is very funny to Natalya. So Lulu keeps falling and Natalya keeps laughing. At this point, others at the store are now watching us and laughing. Natalya likes to laugh/giggle (especially if you're hurt or crying, she thinks that's funny) and Alexa likes to make her laugh. My girls ... they're just so damn funny. Natalya is really trying to crawl and climb. She can get up on both knees and can get one foot down before she falls over. When she's up on all fours, she rocks back and forth. She's trying to go somewhere ... time to move the crib down.
8/10/09: Sally: Natalya took her first family trip. We hit South Dakota this past weekend. She did pretty good. The car ride was an hour and a half longer than expected, so she was a bit crabby the last little bit. She did not like sleeping in the pac-n-play, so she slept in the bed with us. She was good while visiting both great-grandma's.
7/31/09: Sally: Gammy and RaRa found two new teeth. Center top two teeth have popped through. Natalya has been chomping on her fingers and sliding her tongue on them for the last couple of days.
7/20/09: Sally: Natalya is sitting really good these days. Little stinker would not go to sleep last night. Screamed her head off for over an hour. I finally had had enough around 10pm. I got her out, brought her to the living room and let her play with toys and the remote for a half hour. She sat there so quietly with her pacifier and played with her toys. Went right to bed after that.
7/9/09: Sally: I truly love my children. I love them more than anyone or anything. I almost never go to happy hour or do things without my kids because I want to be with them all the time. I don't want to miss anything. When I'm not with them, I feel this constant pull from my gut to be with them. I feel pain when I'm not with them and I always have since the day Alexa was born. When I'm not with them, I am thinking about them all the time. Are they happy? Are they sad? Are they sleeping ok? Did they eat? I am also constantly trying to figure out how quickly I can get back to them (if I leave now, I'll be able to see them before bedtime, etc.). The thought of missing something or not being there to help sooth them if they get hurt breaks my heart. Yes, we all need time alone and away from our children, but for me, there isn't any better place in the world than being with my children. The internal pull I feel to be with my kid far outweighs playing softball, going to happy hour, coaching basketball or anything else. I truly love my children.
7/9/09: Sally: Natalya's 6-month check-up went well (except that it took an hour for a 5 minute appointment ... and boy, was I pissed!). She had to get 3 shots and it sort of stunned her for the day ... a bit out of sorts. She's still very tall and surprisingly she was only 17 1/2 pounds. She's getting pretty good at using her walker. She even made it through a doorway the other day. She still doesn't like to play in her saucer or jumper or walker for very long. Alexa could stay in there for 30 minutes, but after about 5 minutes, Natalya is done. She wants to be held and held outside. She's still up a million times a night which is causing me to have terrible TMJ. Natalya definitely has her own personality
7/2/09: Sally: Natalya will now continuously roll, but only in one direction. She's still a bit of a whiner. She did not like being the front carrier while Jason was painting ... guess it was too much of standing in one place and looking at the wall - haha.
6/26/09: Sally: Why does Natalya feel the need to wake up at 5:30am every day? I want to sleep in! Also, the kid is in 12 month onesies and she's not 6 months old yet. Hopefully my girls will have a better outlook on being tall than I did/do. I liked being tall for sports, but felt it pretty much sucked for anything else (boys and clothes ... what else is there??).
6/22/09: Sally: Ok people ... The "tal" in her name is pronounced "tall", it should not rhyme with "pal". Got it?
Natalya's nicknames so far (in order of usage):
Taly (pronounced: Tall-e ... kind of like Wall-E)
Talya
Taly Bali (Alexa's favorite)
Taly Lollipop
Naly
Nala
My dad tried to get "Natty" going over the weekend ... I Don't Think So!
6/16/09: Sally: Natalya is getting pretty good at sitting up. Still a bit shaky, but getting better. So far she only rolls in one direction on her front and tummy. So, she just keeps going back and fourth, but doesn't roll across the room. She LOVES drinking from a water bottle. If you have a drink in your hand, she goes for it and tries to put it in her mouth. As for food, she eats banana's and carrots pretty well ... but she's really messy. If I give her apples or pears, she acts like it's too sour.
6/9/09: Sally: I'm not a huge advocate for pacifiers, but we found one that Natalya actually likes. With her teeth, I think she finally found some relief by using the pacifier. She also very much likes being outside. If you take her outside, she's much less squawky ... now if it would just get nice outside!
6/7/09: Jason: I posted new Alexa and Natalya Videos from May. Natalya is developing her own personality, with lots of giggles and smiles. Today happens to be Natalya's 5 month birthday. Congrats baby girl!
6/2/09: Sally: Figured it out, Naly sounds like Darryl Hanna in "Splash" when she says her mermaid name w/ that high pitched squeal.
6/1/09: Sally: Nala has got such a high pitched squeal. She does it all the time. I think she's going to be a soprano. I swear to god that her pitch is so high, that it causes dogs down the street to bark. She loves being outside more than anything (well, maybe not as much as getting her diaper changed). Now that she has found her feet, they're always in her hands or mouth. She just loves chewing on them. My hips hurt just watching her bend that far. Even with her two teeth fully in, nursing is going well. She only wants to nurse at night and once first thing in the morning. Any other time, she wants the bottle. She is still getting up 2-3 times at night. I am basically a zombie during the night. At this point, I don't think she'll ever sleep through the night. I think I have slept through the night less than 5 times in the last 10 months.
5/22/09: Sally: Got Natalya to roll over back-to-front, front-to-back this morning. She's pretty good at the front-to-back roll. She's still very squeeky ... she sounds like a velociraptor. She's always squeeking and squawking. She still very much likes having mommy hold her and she will let you know when she's tired. Her poops have been very runny lately ... guessing more teeth are coming.
5/19/09: Sally: We took Natalya to a pediatric Ophthalmologist today (baby eye doctor). She has always had this little purple-ish bulge next to her nose and eye on her left eye. Some people thought it was a blocked tear duct. Our pediatrician did not think that's what it was. Well ... it wasn't. It's a capillary hemangioma. It's not red like normal hemangioma's because Natalya's is below the skin. When you look at photos of her, you can tell her left eye looks smaller and it's because of the bulge. The doctor dilated her eyes so he could look to see if there were any others in the back of her eye and thankfully there weren't any others. We'll just monitor it for about a year or so and hopefully it will go away on its own. Back to the doctor in 3 months to make sure it's not blocking her visions or pushing on her eye. On a lighter note, the kid smiles and laughs all the time. She loves to get her diaper changed ... smiles and laughs the whole time.
5/15/09: Sally: Natalya is so cute in the car in the morning. She squeel's and laughs on the drive to daycare ... it's so cute and refreshing to hear. She's still up a few times a night. She only likes to nurse at night, no bottle! She is very much our early to bed, early to rise child.
5/12/09: Sally: Took the girls to the doctor today. Natalya is 4 months old and progressing very well. She's still bigger and taller than Alexa at this point. The pediatrician said that she isn't fat, but very solid (yeah, yeah, that's what the parents of fat kids say - hehe). She doesn't have any rolls on her body, but the girl has thick thighs and a bubble butt -- haha (I promise not to make her feel bad about her body when she's older ... a terrible thing for parents to do). She's just so damn cute! Naly gets to start on rice cereal and fruits and veggies and we think the girl is ready. See her stats page for her updated stats.
5/11/09: Jason: I just posted a bunch of new Alexa and Natalya Videos, so check them out! I wondered if we would give Natalya as much photo and video time as we did Alexa and I think we may actually be giving her more face time. Certainly it's equal. As you'll see in the clips, I think Natalya, even in just 4 months, has come such a long way. From her birth to those scary couple of weeks before she even turned 1-month to our little smiley baby girl that she is today. Of course, she has her times of non-smiliness, but we tend to remember the good times. I think you'll also see just how much her big sister loves her. My favorite clip of this round is probably the "Lexi Feeding Talya" video from March 10. I love it! Of course, there are plenty others that bring a smile to my face or a tear to my eye. Enjoy!
5/8/09: Sally: Nala is a little stuffed up ... poor thing. She's doing well at daycare except for rolling off the couch and getting a small bruise on her head. She's still a fussy butt. From 5-7, she doesn't really stop whinning. Lots of drooling still, but we're not seeing more teeth (just the two).
5/1/09: Sally: Two nights in a row that Nala has only woken up once during the nice ... crossing my fingers that this trends keeps going (and then turns in to sleeping all night). Now that she has two teeth, she's always sticking out her tongue. She has also started blowing air between her lips with her tongue out to make a funny noise and if you do it, she'll copy you ... it's so cute how she does that.
4/27/09: Sally: Guess we should have guessed with all the drooling and her fingers constantly in her mouth, but it's just so early. Alexa didn't get her first one until 6 months. She was pretty crabby this weekend with those teeth coming up. Now I know why she was liking the bottle more than nursing ... she could chew on the bottle nipple (but she definitely does NOT want the bottle during night feedings).
4/24/09: Sally: 15 weeks old and guess what we found ... a tooth. Yep, that's right, her first tooth at 14 weeks. Bottom front left side. We couldn't believe it when we saw it last night. It's pushed through already. Front right is there too.
4/9/09: Sally: So, we were all wrong. Why do we even try to compare Natalya to Alexa. Natalya had a good day at daycare. She was not exhausted or tired at all. She was asleep when we picked her up and then woke up once we got home. She didn't have purple bags under her eyes and she wasn't crabby or in a bad mood ... she was just her normal self. She was happy as a clam (until it WAS time to go to bed, then she had a bit of a screaming fit). Yesterday before we dropped them off, Alexa was asking about Natalya, "Are you going to leave her in the car?" and "Are you going to leave her at home." I guess it was a bit strange for her to hear we were taking Natalya to daycare and leaving her there with her since it had never happened before. So today she asked if Natalya was staying at Jayne's (daycare) and she was happy.
4/8/09: Sally: First day of daycare for Naly. Jason and I just dropped them both off. Alexa was SO happy to show everyone her baby sister. All the kids yelled "Talya is here, Talya is here." They huddled around her and began to poke and prod her ... poor thing. They all looked for her dimple in her cheek. It will be interesting to see how Alexa does. When Naly started crying, Alexa went to get a bottle of milk, she also gave Naly her blanket. I know that Natalya will probably cry a lot today and will be whiped out when we pick her up, but I hope there are happy moments too.
4/3/09: Sally: The girl is trying to roll. She can almost get her body to her side from her back. Also, I think she wants to play and eat like a big kid. She watches us when we eat. I know she's thinking she wants some of that. I think she'll like the exersaucer when she can start using it.
4/1/09: Sally: I miss Nala. I have been at work all day and I miss her ... even her crying. I can't wait to get home. I hope Jason had a good day with her.
3/31/09: Sally: I am going to miss the happiness in the morning. Naly is so happy, smiley ... I'm gonna miss that when I go back to work. I will not miss the fussy baby who won't go down for a nap :-) But her being fussy also makes me nervous/anxious to leave her. As a mother I feel that I best calm her and want to always be there for her, but with Jason watching her and then her going to daycare soon, I feel like they won't do it like I do it. I know she'll be very well cared for, but it's tough to leave your child after being there 24-7 for 12 weeks. The other day I found her in her crib not where I put her. She had turned 90-degrees and made it to the other end by pushing with her legs. She's done this a couple of times. She's also starting to make little squeeks and squeals when she laughs/smiles. She's also noticing her hands more. She will lean forward when in something (car seat, bouncer, swing), so we now have to make sure she's always strapped in.
3/20/09: Sally: It's funny how something goes from not being funny or fun to being funny and fun. For example, when you throw your kid in to the air, when they're really little it scares the shit out of them, but a couple months later they think it's the most fun game. Also, cutting finger nails on a baby SUCKS!!! I hate that job.
3/16/09: Sally: Natalya is so smiley.
3/11/09: Sally: Two month appointment today. Everything looks good. She weighs 2 pounds more than Alexandra at two months. She had to get 3 shots and one oral vaccine, but she didn't cry for every long after the shots. Poor kid had a stuffy nose. Kid can barely breath.
3/10/09: Sally: So I told Jason another nickname for Natalya could be Nala ... I really like it. Then this morning I'm watching Jon and Kate Plus 8 and notice that they named one of their dogs Nala ... coincidence? I think not ... haha. Natalya smiles so much. She also makes little noises and squeeks when she smiles/laughs. I am pretty sure she'll giggle and/or laugh before she's one (unlike someone else we all know).
2/27/09: Sally: Natalya took a bath last night without crying ... yeah! Her and Alexa took a bath together and Alexa loved washing her and splashing her.
2/23/09: Sally: The only problem we're having with Talz is that she likes, wait let me take that back, loves to sleep on someone. If I nurse her, she wants to just sleep there for 3 hours after she's done. I would say that whenever I try to move her to her bed about 90% of the time she wakes up. She's a very light sleeper, so the nights have been tough. We try to let her cry it out sometimes, but for example, last night she cried for over 30 minutes while Jason and I tried to get to sleep in her crib ... she never did fall asleep. I don't really believe in letting her cry it out completely because she's only 7 weeks old, but I miss sleeping in my bed :-)
2/16/09: Sally: Natalya is sleeping in her bouncer ... it's just so damn cute!
2/12/09: Sally: Talya is now grabbing my hair or shirt. I can get her to smile some and she's making cooing sounds. She's still a bit fussy. There are times throughout the day (usually the evening) where she's just unhappy. It's so hard to see and hear your baby crying and not truly know what is wrong. I see those things where people say they can tell what a baby is "saying" by the type of cry ... not sure I believe in that. I like taking Talya out because she gets a nice long sleep in her car seat. We did our first family outing last night ... we hit up our favorite Mexican restaurant (Teresa's). Talya and Alexa did great. Taly slept and Alexa kept trying to kiss her and poke her eyes out (haha).
2/6/09: Jason: Wow! ... tomorrow is already Natalya's one month birthday. Party time! It sure has been an eventful first month. It's nice to be back to "normal". Alexa has been such a great big sister. You can really tell how much she admires her little sis'.
I created a combined videos page for both Natalya and Alexandra. I figured it's the best thing to do, because they are sure to share a lot of camera time together. Check out the first four clips of Alexa and Natalya Video here.
2/5/09: Sally: Natalya had her final check-up for her hospitalization. She looks good. No more ear infections, no more pneumonia ... YEAH! Of course our pediatrician thinks she should weigh more (she's at 50%), but she thought that with Alexa too. We're not too concerned as long as she keeps gaining weight. It kind of bugs me she's always talking about them gaining more weight because, I mean, have you seen all the fat little kids out there these days! She's holding her head up really good and starting to smile at us. She doesn't sleep as well as she did when we first brought her home. I'm sure she slept better because she was sick. At first she would sleep 3 hours each time, but now it's about 2 hours.
1/30/09: Sally: Talya is doing great. Saw the doctor today because she has a bit of a rash on her body. He said it was fine and probably from the drugs she's taking, but not to worry, it wasn't hives or something worse. She's done with the medication tomorrow and then we have one last follow-up on Tuesday. Her ears are looking good and she's still gaining weight. It's so nice to be home.
1/26/09: Sally: We're going home today ... YEAH!!!! We can't wait to be home as a family again. Last night they had to change her IV to her other arm. During the day, Natalya would start crying in pain when they would give her the antibiotics through her IV. They tried to fix it, but they figured the needle was no longer in the vein, so they swapped it around 2am this morning. Poor thing would cry when the fluid was going in. They could have given her a shot for one of her antibiotics, but the other one had to be administered through the IV, so they switched arms. One last poke. We will meet with the pediatrician one last time today and then do one last IV antibiotic around 3pm and then we get to go home! I'm so happy to be leaving. I don't want to come back again!
1/25/09: Jason: Well, I took one for the team and had my night stay at the hospital. I figured Sally was in for a well-deserved night at home with Alexa and a full night's sleep in our own bed, so I stayed with Natalya in the hospital last night. I can't say I'm a big fan of the single bed I "slept" in (which comes out of a chair), but it was nice to feel like I was making a sacrifice for the better of our child. She was actually pretty good last night. Slept from about 7:30pm until 11:30pm, then was on and off from 11:30 until around 4:00am, then she slept again until about 8:00. We had some good bonding time. =)
We met with the doctor this morning and she says things are looking good. We're still on schedule to get out of here tomorrow (Monday) afternoon. It will sure be nice to all be home again as a family!
Follow-up: The hospital staff just said we were "very independent" ... we're not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing :-) We're really the only parents down here who stay with their baby. It's probably a little weird for the staff to have us here all the time, but oh well, we wouldn't think of leaving our little girl here all alone for hours and hours.
1/24/09: Sally: So we won't really know if the first blood test for the bacteria in the blood was wrong or the drugs are working, there isn't a way of knowing. But if the daily blood tests keep coming back negative, we might get to leave the hospital Sunday or Monday ... so our fingers are crossed! I was telling Jason yesterday that I feel like I am on the TV show Mystery Diagnosis. Every day it's something new and they don't always have the answers (see first sentence). I do feel like we're getting very good care. We get to talk to a doctor every day and they stick around for all our questions (Very different from when Jason's dad was in the hospital ... the doctors never talked to us and when they did, they barely said anything). I still feel like I have no control over anything (Even the small things ... one nurse wanted to put a nightie on Natalya and I said she didn't need one and when I woke up from my nap, she had a nightie on ... oh well.). But I'm also feeling better, not as upset as when we first got here.
Follow-up: Looks like we're going to get to go home on Monday morning. Everything is looking good. She does have a small murmur (ventricular septum defect -- VSD), but it should fix itself. She's being weened off her IV today.
1/23/09: Sally: Her latest blood results have come back negative for bacteria growth. So either the first test was a false positive or the drugs are killing it off. We'll talk to the doctor in the morning. They are going to do an ultrasound like thing (ECHO??) to see if she has a small heart murmur later this evening. The doctor thinks it's just a small one that a lot of newborns get that shows up in the first couple of weeks and then it fixes itself. He wasn't worried about it at all. She has been off her oxygen for the last couple of hours which has been really nice. One less tube to deal with and it was shooting water in to her nose every so often because of the humidity in the tube. It would wake her up from naps, so it's nice that it's gone. There are two things to watch - blood oxygen and respiratory rate -- if those stay good, the oxygen stays off. So far she's doing well without the extra oxygen.
1/22/09: Sally: Now we're down in the NICU because she's on a different type of oxygen machine and the people in pediatrics don't really know how to use it since it's mainly used on newborns in the NICU. She's getting oxygen with humidity to help her breathing. Like the doctor said this morning, you wouldn't even know she was sick by just looking at her (and if you removed all the tubes) because her color is good, her breathing is basically good and she's eating like a horse ... all the reasons why we didn't really think she was sick in the first place. We did find out that the bacteria in her blood is strep. Not sure what type yet, will know later today. Because of that we'll probably be here another 5-7 days while she gets more antibiotics. I don't really care for the set-up in the NICU (no bed for me or bathroom to shower). We will now be down in NICU for the rest of the time. This whole process has been very upsetting for me (and of course Jason too). I never thought I would be in this position of having to have my child in the hospital at such a young age. I know it will all turn out ok and she's where she needs to be but it's hard. I feel like I have no control over anything. This is also a tough time for Alexa. I haven't been home in days. She keeps asking to see mommy and her baby sister. My parents brought her over the hospital last night (we hung out in the waiting room) and it was so wonderful to see her and play with her if only for a short time. She did not want to leave. She's still very much a mommy's girl and the last couple of weeks have been very strange for her. We have been trying to keep her schedule the same so that there isn't so much disruption in her life. Jason takes her to daycare in the morning. I might try to pick her up today and hang out with her for a while.
Follow-up: Natalya has Strep-A in her blood. It's not as common as Strep-B.
1/21/09: Sally: Natalya is doing well. She basically shows no signs of being sick other than the small cough. We found out that she has bacteria in her blood, but we won't know what type of bacteria until tomorrow. We think the issues are due to her being a meconium baby and Alexa was sick for a few days and probably gave Natalya her cold (we're sure Alexa picked up the bug at the hospital). She has been sleeping good and eating good. I was up for a good portion of the night because she wanted me to hold her and when I would put her in the crib, she would wake up. I had them reconfigure the room so that I could sit on the bed with her instead of the crappy wooden rocking chair. She had blood tests done twice today, so that sucked, but those tests came back fine. We're hoping to leave on Friday, but won't really know until tomorrow ... we have to find out what type of bacteria is in her blood first.
1/20/09: Sally: So, Natalya has had a small cough for the last couple of days. We noticed it, but it she wasn't coughing all the time and she was breathing fine and eating fine (except for Saturday, she didn't really eat much that day). So we decided to take her in the doctor just for the hell of it (my parents kept saying that newborns don't get colds). Her pediatrician found 2 ear infections and then she tells me that because she's only 2 weeks old, she needs to be checked in to the hospital for tests to see if something else is causing the ear infections. Needless to say I was very upset. She said that more than likely she only has 2 normal run of the mill ear infections, but because Natalya is so young, she can't fight infection very well, so she needs to go the hospital. At this point, I called Jason and I could barely speak. He came right down from work and we were off to the hospital. We felt so helpless watching our 8 pound daughter get poked and prodded. She had blood tests, swabs, x-rays and finally a spinal tap. Jason held her for most of them as I was a total wreck. In the end Natalya was so exhausted and so were we. They did another blood test in her foot and she barely moved because she was so tired (normally she'd be screaming her head off). The x-rays revealed that she also has a little bit of pneumonia. All the tests so far have come back negative, so that's good. We're going to be at the hospital for 48-72 hours as a precaution. She is getting antibiotics every 6-8 hours for the ears. The pneumonia is viral, so it just needs to run its course. She also has a little oxygen thing on her nose to help her get a little bit more air. It's so hard for us to see her like this. I said to Jason that it was so hard for me to watch her go through all these tests and more than likely they'll come back negative and he said that he will be happy they did come back negative. She's sleeping now and she'll probably sleep for a while after having to go through all those tests.
Jason: We're fighting through this and Natalya is proving she's a champ. Thanks to all for their thoughts.
1/15/09: Sally: Natalya has a dimple in her right cheek when she smiles ... just like her mom. She does not have the dimples in her shoulders though.
1/13/09: Sally: Natalya had her first doctor's appointment today ... it was only 13 below zero outside. So, warmed up the car and put about 5 layers of clothes on her and we were off. She's doing great. She did pee on me while we were there. I had taken her diaper off to get her weighed and didn't one a new one back on because the doctor was coming right in. She didn't have a diaper on for 1 minute and she peed all over my shirt. Now, I brought a change a clothes for her, but not for me - haha. She's a bit jaundice, so they did a blood test. I hate when they get poked ... they cry so much and it just pains me to hear that even though I know it's being done for good ... it makes me sad. So far, she's been a good sleeper. She sleeps about 3 hours between feedings. We gave her her first bath yesterday and that went as expected ... cried the entire time :-)
So, what about those names?
People have asked us why we chose that name ... but they're not talking about her first name. For some reason the middle name of "Karsen" has caused the most questions from people (I was SURE that people would question the name Natalya more). Well, basically, we had a really hard time deciding what to name her. Up until about 3 months left in my pregnancy, she was going to be "Peyton ... something" and then it just sort of fell out of favor with us. We finally decided on Natalya. We liked that it went well with Alexandra and it was different. The only thing that was a bit of a negative for us on the name Natalya was that there wasn't a logical shorter version or nickname, but we figured oh well. As for "Karsen", I liked that name for a first name, but Jason didn't. Since Natalya was very girly, Jason was ok with Karsen for the middle name. We decided to go with a K spelling since Alexa had a K middle name.
Birth Story: Around 7:15am on Wednesday, I woke Jason up and told him I felt a lot of pressure. I wasn't really feeling any sort of contractions, but I knew something was different. Jason went to take a shower and when he was done, my contractions were 3 minutes apart. This was it ... time for baby. Called my dad to come over and watch Alexa and we left. Driving on bumpy roads while having contractions sort of sucks. We checked in around 8:30am. My contractions were going pretty good. Around 10am, I asked for drugs. This time around getting the drugs hurt a lot more. He had to keep sticking me ... trust me, it hurt! The drugs finally kicked in. I could still feel pressure, but the pain was much better. Then around 11am, I was at 4 centimeters and they decided to break my water. They said I would go pretty quick after that and I did. Around 12:15 I called in the nurse to say that I was feeling a ton of pressure. I could also feel a lot of pain. I was at 10 centimeters and it was time to push. Started pushing around 12:30pm. She got stuck under my pelvic bone, so it took a bit longer to push her out. She had the cord around her neck, so the doctor cut it (Jason got to cut it shorter later). When they broke my water, they did see some meconium (baby poop) in it. So, they told us that they wouldn't be putting the baby on my stomach right after, that a group of specialized nurses would take her and suction her lungs and stomach. It was a much different experience to not have the baby put on my stomach. I didn't really get to see her for about 15 minutes ... seemed like even longer. She was fine and has all her correct parts. She was pretty squishy, so we couldn't really tell if she looked like Alexa or either one of us. She cried, but didn't cry the whole time. The other different part was that the drugs made my left leg go totally numb. I could not move it an inch. It was such a strange feeling to not have feeling or movement in a leg. Jason and the nurses had to constantly move it for me.
My mother and Myra brought over Alexa a little bit later. They told her that we had a "present" for her, so when she came in to the room, she asked, "You got a present for me?" ... not sure why they didn't just tell her that she was going to see her baby sister. She was very happy to see her baby sister. She wanted to hold her immediately. She was a bit concerned when the baby would cry. If the baby started to cry, Alexa would say, "RaRa can't hold her" or whomever depending on who was holding her ... it was cute. She did ask me once why the baby was crying. Then Alexa wanted an apple, so she had to go get an Apple with Jason. She liked kissing the baby and when it was sleeping, she would say, "Boo!" to it to try and wake her up. Natalya was pretty quiet during the day. My left leg stayed numb for most of the day. Jason had to carry me to the bathroom at one point because I could still not walk many hours later.
1/7/09: Jason: Welcome Natalya Karsen Singer to our world! She was born on January 7, 2009 at 12:50 pm. She was 8lbs. 4oz. and 21 inches long at birth. Baby and mom are doing great, as you'll see by the photos. Alexa and dad are very happy as well! =)
Pregnancy Story
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