She's here!

We're so happy to announce that there's a new little Clove in the world!
Natalie was born on Monday, January 12th at 10:10 p.m. She was 6 lb. 11 oz.
(yes, rachel z. that is a good date!)
She is a very content sweet baby, a good eater and we have no idea how we ever got along without her.
Her two older sisters (the big sister, and the biggest sister as Katie is quick to clarify) are very excited about her. Before Katie even saw Natalie she had already learned to spell her name and had made her several cards.

Although Natalie is in very good health we are still in the hosptial because we found out right after she was born that she has a birth defect called bladder exstrophy. Basically, the bone, muscle and skin did not fuse from the belly button down and so her bladder is outside instead of inside. They will be doing surgery in the next couple of days (hopefully we'll be getting an official plan today) and then it will be a few days after that before she can come home. They will need to bascially reconstruct all the anatomy in that area and there will most likely be additional surgeries in the future. We won't really know until after the surgery the extent of all that needs to be done. And it will take time to see what kind of long term effects this will have. She has been in the NICU since right after she was born but it is basically because she is waiting for surgery. She is perfectly healthy otherwise and they've encouraged us to have a very normal baby experience with her. She's on a couple monitors just because that's the policy in NICU but I'm able to feed her, hold her and she's able to have visitors etc.
I was discharged yesterday but i'm able to stay in a guest house in the hospital so that I can feed her and be with her.

While this was a very unexpected situation we cannot help but feel very grateful. We have the best possible care for Natalie here at the hospital. Her surgical team will include the only 2 pediatric urologists in the state and a pediatric orthopedic surgeon. This is quite a rare birth defect (only 1 or 2 a year in the entire state) and I admit that the first day I was tempted to let my thoughts drift towards "why us?" I just wanted to be able to take my baby home and get on with a "normal" baby experience. But since we've had a little time to digest all this and get used to the path we are on we are able to feel at peace and realize that while this is a challenge it will all turn out okay. There are so many things to feel grateful for and we realize that it could certainly be a lot more serious. I am just so grateful that it's not a question of if we are taking her home but just a matter of when.

We certainly appreciate your prayers and love.

I will try to post some pictures later as well as give more details on the labor and delivery for those that are interested :)

I apologize for not sending out e-mails (all my addresses are on my outlook program at home) so I hope people will check the blog.

I will update as I can with more news. Meanwhile, know that we are happy and excited about our new little angel.