Two Week Checkup

As of today, Natalie weighs 10 lbs. 1 oz.! I brought her in for her two week check up and everything is looking great. The one thing that the Doctor wants to get checked is her eyes, so he referred us to someone else for that. She has crossed eyes, but many babies experience that in their first few weeks. He just wanted to make sure that it isn't something more.

We have enjoyed all of our visitors that we have had the past couple of weeks since we've been home. I don't think we've gone one day without having at least one visitor! It sure is nice for me to get some adult interaction too! Here are some of the people that have met Natalie or come to visit in the last week or so:

Uncle Josh


Cousin Dave


Beth


Grandpa Doug and Grandma Kim

The Clutter Family

Here's a picture of the three of us from today:




We also had visitors today - Eric, Colleen and Sami Bergh. Thanks for the pizza and pasta!

How Time Flies!

It's amazing that just two weeks ago I was still pregnant and we were anticipating going in on the 14th to have our baby! And now, almost two weeks later, this is what we get to see every day:



Although taking care of another person is a lot of work and can be stressful (not to mention the lack of sleep!), she is definitely worth it all. We can't imagine our lives without her now and would do anything for her. We thank God that He brought her into our lives at this time and can't wait to see how she grows in the coming weeks, months and years!

Nap time

This is one of my favorite pictures so far:

Natalie Rose Clutter

Natalie Rose Clutter was born on April 14, 2008 at 12:03 pm. She weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. and was 21" long.

Here are a couple of pictures (I'll add more later):

Today's the Day!

This will be my last post for a couple of days - Natalie will be born today! We will be leaving for the hospital in an hour and a half, and I won't be back until Thursday, so there won't be any pictures or posts until I get back from the hospital. Thank you everyone for praying for us today!

Love,
Melissa

Here was a picture of me a week ago - not much has changed!

Natalie's Birthday

Well, unless Natalie decides to come sometime before Monday, her birthday will be April 14, 2008! At our doctor appointment yesterday, the doctor did all the normal stuff (measure my stomach, listen to her heartbeat, etc.), but then he also decided to strip my membranes (to try to start contractions) and feel about how big my pelvis is. When he was finished he said that my pelvis is on the small side and that because the baby is big we had a couple of options to choose from:

1. We could wait and see if anything happened after stripping my membranes. If I did go into labor and started having problems because her shoulders were larger than my pelvis, they would do an emergency C-section at that time. If this was the case, there could be a possibility that she could end up with some kind of nerve/brain damage because of the pushing involved.

2. Schedule an ultrasound for next Friday to see how much she has grown and if she was over 5000 mg and hadn't been born yet, they would do a C-section at that point.

3. Or, what we decided to do - schedule a C-section as soon as possible. This way there will be no damage from trying to push her wide shoulders through my narrow pelvis!

Although I would have preferred to deliver naturally for my first pregnancy, I also want to do what would be the best for both me and Natalie in the long run.

So, on Monday morning at 11:00am, I will be having a C-section at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids! I will be in the hospital for approximately four days. I would love to have visitors while I am there (visiting hours are from around 9:00am to 7:00 or 8:00pm - depending on how I feel!).

Love,
Melissa

Maternity Pictures

Patiently waiting!


Surrounded with love!