Trick or Treating

We took Natalie down to the Village in AG and walked around looking at all of the Trick or Treaters. (well, David and I looked, Natalie just slept in her stroller). Then we stopped by Grandma & Grandpa's for a few minutes...we got a quick photo with Anna (she's Max from Where the Wild Things Are) before Natalie started fussing about the costume. Third try and she still doesn't like it...maybe next year!

Our Pumpkin

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday, I dressed Natalie up in her Halloween outfit from her Great Gramma Linda, and I couldn't pick my favorite picture, so here's a few:

Cute socks & hat from Uncle Kevin & Aunt Shannah:


And a picture of her Halloween costume. We've tried twice now to take pictures of her as a Ladybug and she cries everytime. The only way to get one was if I held her, so we'll try again after her nap...

Visitors!

Natalie had a nice visit with her Aunt Shannah & Uncle Kevin last night. She was nice and alert for them.

Aunt Shannah got to feed her a bottle:

Natalie modeling her new Halloween hair bow:

Thanks for the visit and the Halloween treats!

David has been working part-time this week, so I've had night-duty. It's been sort of hit and miss. Natalie will have a good sleeping night, and then the following night she wants to be up, be held, and look around for a few hours (mom's idea of activity time is not from 1 - 3 am!) Yesterday I fed Natalie more often; she stayed awake most of the day and slept great last night! We both needed that. Hopefully we can have two in a row!

My 2 week appointment

I went for my 2 week check-up today. The incision is healing well and the Dr. gave me the "all clear". He says I can do anything I feel up to - exercise, driving, lifting baby & carrier, etc. Even though I'm allowed, I don't think I'll be running to the gym right away. I think I'll start with some walking and see how things go! The standard 6 week check-up appointment is scheduled for Dec. 2nd.


We had a nice visit with both sets of grandparents, my grandma, and some of the neighbors yesterday. Here's a few pictures (I need to remember to take more next time we have visitors!)

With Grandma Remillard (this was last weekend, Oct 18)

With Grammy Fagundes

With GiGi (Great Grandma Linda)

Like her mom...

Sitting with Dad:

About to sleep:

How she spends 2/3 of her day:

So far, Natalie really takes after her mom. Her favorite activity is still sleeping - she would sleep the day away if we let her. Her doctor has us keeping her up as much as possible during the day. We try to let her wake up on her own, but if she doesn't wake up within 3 hrs of the last feeding, we wake her up. Then at night, she gets to set the schedule. Last night, she let us sleep for 4.5 hours - twice! (who would have thought I would be excited about such little sleep?).

She also is not terribly excited about eating. If she's hungry, food is good and she can't get enough. But, if she's not hungry and we wake her to eat, she could take it or leave it.

She also hates when we expose her feet. She loves to have socks on or to wear the p.j.s with feet in them. We have to uncover her feet for diaper changes and she usually cries until the instant we cover them back up - then she is happy as can be.

She had her 2 week appointment this afternoon. She is right on target - she weighed in at 7lbs 10oz. The Dr. checked her out and said she couldn't be doing better! She goes back in 6 weeks for her 2 month appointment (and her first shots).

One Week Old

Things are pretty quiet around here. Natalie is sticking to her 3 hour routine for the most part and is a little more alert after she eats. Mainly we are just eating and sleeping!

She got to meet her Great Aunt Diane & Great Uncle Louie this weekend. She also had a good visit with her Aunt Tania, Uncle Matt and cousin Anna. Anna liked hugging and kissing her cousin - I'm sure she's going to be a great big sister (soon!).

(Tania, I stole this picture from your blog..we missed this one!)

First Days at Home

Here's a picture of Natalie before we left the hospital. We thought this outfit might be too small for her, but she was still swimming a bit!


We've had a good couple of days at home with Natalie. She's wakes up every 2 - 3 hours to eat and stays awake for 5 or 10 minutes and then goes back to napping. Tonight she surprised us by staying awake for about an hour! It was nice to see her eyes for a while. Here's some pictures from today:






We gave Natalie her first bath on Tuesday. She didn't really like the water - she screamed the whole time. She definitely has some curl to her hair when it is wet!



Picture with Daddy after her bath:


She had her first visit to the pediatrician yesterday. The Dr. says everything looks good. She weighed in at 7lbs 1oz, which is an ounce higher than when we left the hospital, so her weight is on the rise now. She should be back at birth weight by the time we go for her next appointment a week from Friday.

Family meets Natalie

Here are some pictures from the hospital with our families.

We're home!

We're home from the hospital and have had an exciting few days! Natalie has been great so far - mostly sleeping. She's still learning to eat, but has made vast improvements the past 24 hrs. I'm surprised at how great I feel - not much pain and I'm able to move around pretty easily. I'm not sure if that is the pain meds, or that I just don't hurt! Anyway, I'll post more of the details when we get some more time, but for now I know everyone wants to see pictures - so here's a few!

Mom and Natalie

Natalie in Mom's arms with her full set of hair

Auntie Patty with Natalie

Dad with Natalie

Grandma Remillard with Natalie

Natalie's Birth Day

This is Auntie Patty updating for Michelle and David.


Natalie Faye Remillard was welcomed into the world today at 12:28 p.m. She weighed 7lbs 10oz and measured 20 1/2 inches long. (Not sure who won the guessing game on her measurements!) Natalie and Michelle are both doing well and are getting some rest now. I'll let Mommy and Daddy update with more details about the day and show you more pictures when they have settled into a routine - or get a free minute while the grandparents are loving on Natalie!

13th Appt (38wks 5 days)

Thanks for all of the great guesses on the weight & height! My dad wanted to know what he was going to win and my mom told him "the winner gets to babysit or have diaper duty". My dad's response was "I'm going to change my guess then". We didn't really come up with a prize, Natalie will have to do!

We saw the OB for the pre-op appointment. He basically gave us an overview of what to expect tomorrow and ran through all of the risks associated with the surgery. Some of them are common and happen (ie I might get sick or get an infection) others were more scary and not too likely to happen. I have to sign a bunch of paperwork tomorrow, so he just wanted to go over the info today.

I can't eat 8 hrs before the surgery; he said absolutely no food or drink (not even water, tea or juice) after 4:30am. I'm sure my adrenaline will be high tomorrow and I won't really even notice it, but the way the past two nights have been going I may need a midnight snack!

We look forward to meeting Natalie and seeing all of the visitors tomorrow and the next few days. We're off to pack our hospital bags now (still haven't done that! good thing there were no emergencies!)

Someone will post an update tomorrow!

The Weight(ing) Game

As far as we know, we are having a girl, planning to name her Natalie and are planning for her arrival this Friday, October 9th! That takes a lot of the guessing games off the table. But, we can still guess her weight and height while we wait!

Post your guesses, or let David and I know and we'll add you to the list.

12th Appt (37wks 5 days)

We went to our last appointment with the Midwife today. Next week we will see the OB for the pre-op meeting (not sure what exactly that entails, but I'm guessing he'll go over all the details of the surgery and probably any consent forms that need to be taken care of).

Blood pressure was good at 120/80 (higher than normal, but still is good range). I measured a little smaller at 34 cm, but that is likely due to her position which seems lower this past week. Heart beat sounded good - I didn't ask the rate.

We played the 20 questions game - I bring in my list of 20 questions and she does her best to answer them. (Might have been a little less than 20, but she was still impressed by my organization). We were able to get a general idea of what to expect next Friday(!!). I go in at 10:30 to be prepped. They draw blood, get the IV setup (hopefully that one goes smoother than last week), and get everything ready. She thought the OB would be doing the surgery on his lunch since he sees patients on Friday mornings. Her best guess is I would go in 12 - 12:30. I'll spend an hour or so in recovery afterward while David and baby go back to nursery/postpartum room. We won't have one of the standard L&D rooms since I won't need it (kind of nice I don't need to decide whether I want a room with a labor tub or shower..all of that has been decided for me). She seemed to think I'll go home on Monday (this was my guess too).

I think that's about all for now. My last day of work is tomorrow. Not sure yet how I feel about that! It's been more than 10 years since I haven't worked full or part time. In a way it'll be nice to have a break, but overall I really enjoy working. Of course, the first few weeks I will be so busy I won't even notice!

So, my next and final appointment is next Thursday. Hopefully nothing too exciting happens before then. My favorite MW is on vacation until Monday Oct. 12th and the OB happens to be in New York until Wednesday Oct. 7th. Of course there is a backup OB on call, but we hope we don't have to use that option!