Hello World.

Since most of my readers are friends and family, you hopefully already know that we welcomed our baby GIRL, Natalie, on Sunday night. She's - if I dare say - perfect. And truly a surprise. Part of me wishes I could adequatlely describe the sheer wonder and awe we felt when someone announced the news of her non-boyness and part of me is glad that only Jeff and I were there to revel in that moment. We are smitten. And it sure was fun to make all those phonecalls to family and friends since we didn't really get to do that from Japan with Wyatt.

See, here's the thing that was different this time around: we kind of always knew that Wyatt was a boy. I thought I saw a special something early on and then we thought we saw that same something late in my pregnancy (accidental both times and never commented upon by my doctors) so we weren't fully surprised. This time we had NO idea. Sheer bliss and to anyone out there who is wondering find out or not find out? Please, don't find out. Just some handy unsolicited advice from me to you.

Other info about Natalie: at 7 lbs. 5 oz, she weighed almost a full pound more than her brother; she is eating well and that is a very pleasant change; her middle name (Sarah) is my Grandma's first name, while Wyatt's middle name was Jeff's Grandpa's middle name; sweet Natalie is remarkably nocturnal right now and we didn't experience that with Wyatt; her labor was even easier than Wyatt's.

When my doctor offered her services for a Sunday night induction (and Steph, I didn't take brownies to my appointments, but I am in book club with her :)), we thought it was great even though it meant we'd be up all night and heading into this all sleep deprived. We got to the hospital around 5, they got me into a room and we found out that the L&D ward had gone from really quiet to full. I was lucky they didn't turn me away! Anyway, I had been dilated to 3 cm since last Thursday, so the plan was to break my water, add pitocin and see what happened. I'm a smart girl, so I asked for my epidural first. I figured that I hadn't felt any real pain yet, so why bother? My epidural was in around 6:45, my water was broken around 7 or 7:15 and at that point I sent Jeff away to get dinner for himself since it looked like it would be a late night. He got back by 8 so we just hung out. After a little while, Jeff started looking at the contraction monitor. I wasn't feeling anything beyond a little tightening and wasn't bothered by it so I was kind of surprised when he told me they looked like good contractions only a minute or two apart. He went out to find a DSN phone to call friends in Japan. My doctor (Anita) came in and asked if I was feeling okay; I assured her I was good. She said she'd like to check me and then, after doing so, said, "that's what I thought. You ready to push this baby out?" I cracked up. Seriously? It was like 9:30 and we were thinking more along the lines of a 3 am baby. I told the doctor that we'd need to find Jeff first. She offered to do that and disappeared. Jeff walked in a minute later and I said, "can you believe this?" Turns out Anita hadn't found him and so I broke the news that our baby was imminent.

Anita showed up moments later with nurses and techs and a coverall thing for Jeff, who wanted to help deliver this baby, too. And I know half (80 percent? More?) of you are weirded out by that but it's so Jeff and I don't care so he totally helped deliver both of our kids. Anita gave him a crash course in what to do and they got him all gowned up. I took that opportunity to take a few pictures and then one of the nurses (who were both so cool, I have to say) offered to take the camera from me since I needed to focus on other things. At about 9:50 I started pushing and at 9:57, Natalie entered the world. Granted, she entered a really disconcerting shade of purple since the cord was wrapped around her neck, but still! I told you it was easy! I am on a quest to be the one person in the world who doesn't tell a scary birth story. Why do people do that?

And now more of what you're really here for:

I think maybe newborn photos are only intriguing to those who already love the child, since they lack any real distinction, but she'll grow up and get interesting and we'll post lots of those photos too. We'll just have to be patient because for now, we're just enjoying her the way she is.