Meeting Natalia in Photos

Here's some highlights from our journey to meeting Natalia.

Finding out we were expecting a baby at long last! Best Easter ever!

10 week sonogram.  Our little peanut waved to us!

This is how we broke the news to Oscar's mom:

A favorite on Facebook, at 20 weeks.

Profile at 21 week sonogram.

3D image at 21 weeks.

28 weeks, one of my favorite pics because of the shadow of the leaves on the belly.

30 weeks, the only ultrasound image where I thought baby looked like a girl!

32 weeks at our Baby Shower.  No further comment necessary ;)

At 34 weeks, with this photo, I finally ballooned into a pregnant lady!

I practiced prenatal yoga throughout my pregnancy. I'm 35 weeks along here, doing a version of the Tree pose.

Getting belly henna done at 38 weeks and 1 day - the day before Natalia was born!

View of the outside world on the day Natalia was born.

Birth pool I never got to use :(  We had a planned homebirth.

Oscar was a great support, keeping me focused.  Here I'm taking a break from pushing.

Oscar cutting the cord.  I'm holding Natalia, though you can't really see it here.

Here we are, not yet knowing that our baby's a girl! We found out about an hour after she was born!

Natalia being weighed old-school, coming in at 5 pounds, 10 ounces. She did not enjoy this.

Natalia's first full day "on the outside".  Chilling on top of her casita (little home), decorated in henna to welcome her.

The picture that went out in our Baby Announcement.  Natalia was grinning with dimples and looking attentively at the world from day one!

Nursing was a nightmare for the first 8 or so weeks.  But I cherish that first week when Oscar would wait on us hand and foot.  Note the table with food and drink next to us.   

Oscar using skin-to-skin contact to help Natalia regulate her temperature, heart rate, and breathing.  Since she was born 2 weeks early, we did all we could to catch her up.

We utilized Skype a lot to share our good news with loved ones.  We didn't want to have to entertain or deal with people's comings and goings those first few days and weeks.  Instead, we spent the time bonding as a family and getting to know each other.  Here I am Skyping with Poland, introducing Natalia to her great-grandmother.

On her 7th day, breastfeeding went from bad to worse with... let's just say nipple damage that led to a snowball effect of other complications.  Shortly before midnight, with a heavy heart, I cave and Oscar gives Natalia her first bottle, of formula.

Kissing Natalia, dressed in purple for the Advent season.  Natalia's name means "born at Christmastime", and she was expected to be born during Advent.