Baby Natalee Anne

Baby #2 has arrived!
(And actually arrived Monday, I'm just late in posting.)

Baby Natalee Anne was born August 7, 2006 at 7:14 pm, weighing only 6 lb. 6 oz. She has a lot of dark blond hair, that looks a lot "straighter" than the curls that covered her head Monday after birth.

Rebecca was induced Monday morning, and was in intense labor all day long. She took the epidural around 4 cm, and yet it wore off three times, and they had to up the dosage. Jesse and I had decided to wait until later to head down to the hospital since we had been there every other time, and we had to work anyway. We left our house around five, and my phone rang. It was Rebecca. She said that when she dialated to 9.5, they went ahead and tried to push for awhile, but nothing happened, so she was resting to begin pushing again. She already sounded exhausted, and I just prayed for her the whole way there hoping that her little one would be safetly in her arms when we arrived.

Well, by the time we arrived, the family was all out in the waiting room and were making bets on the time of birth. Anywhere between 6:02 pm until 6:27 pm. Sure enough, 6:27 pm passed, and we all started getting nervous. Somehow we all conjugated outside her door (even though we were not supposed to be there, and were told to go back to the waiting room), listening at the door to figure out what was going on. One of the nurses kept going in and out, and she would kindly say "she's doing great...but not yet." Well, we started to hear Rebecca crying softly and breathing hard, and all you could hear of Chase was him saying, "you can do it, honey. C'mon!" (Kindly of course.)

When we heard the first cry, the new grandparents were out in the hall with us, and all started crying themselves. It was pretty cool. Natalee has quite a set of pipes on her! We all paced around outside excitedly, and after a bit Chase came out and just quickly handed us his camera then went back in. It had pictures of her, and we all were amazed.

Within 30-45 minutes, we were all allowed back in there to see mom, dad, and new baby. Rebecca was pretty tired, but holding Natalee in her arms, you would never have guessed it. As the family took turns holding her, Natalee was just precious. Her big blue eyes were WIDE open (I have never seen a newborn with eyes open like that), and she was just starring at everyone, soaking them in, as if to say, "ah, you must be ___. I've heard so much about you..."

Rebecca and Natalee had to stay for the full 48 hours at the hospital because she was born with a small temperature and was stuck in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. They all came home late Wednesday night, and Jesse and I went to see everyone Thursday night.

Here are some pictures of the new baby and the happy family:


Congratulations Chase and Rebecca! I'm so excited for you, and I know your dreams have come true with the arrival of Baby Natalee. I cannot wait to watch and see how she grows into your own little princess. Congrats!