Claire Nadine Naustdal

Wow...where do I begin. The last few days have been the most amazing days of our lives. Let's start with labor. I was induced on Monday evening at 5pm. Dr Russell, my OB/GYN was a bit nervous about letting me go past my due date for fear of having too large of a baby; so we set up an induction. He came in and placed my Cervidil at 5:35pm. I was 1.5cm dilated, and half way thinned out so we thought we were going to have quite a wait. Well, it turns out we were wrong. He must have placed the Cervidil just right because by midnight we were dilated 3cm and contracting well. My water broke so my nurse took out the medication and let my labor progress on its own. I was completely dilated by 4am. With my epidural I was unable to feel much so we waited to start pushing untl 5:30am. Claire Nadine arrived at 8:58 am after 3.5 hours of hard pushing.

Claire weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. A big baby for my first! Since she has arrived, life has been a whirlwind. We have been trying to stay on top of phone calls, emails, and texts. Fitting all of that in between feedings and diaper changes has not been easy. Despite all of that she is the most precious baby and immediately Jeff and I fell in love with her. She has been amazing so far and I can see what people mean when they say your baby will steal your heart...Jeff and I are swept away with love and adoration over our new little girl.

Jeff....I don't even know what to say about my awesome husband. He was very anxious about going through labor and delivery. He was amazing. He helped me breathe through contractions, doing anything I asked him to do in a heartbeat. When it came time to start pushing, he was right there by my face offering words of encouragement with each push the entire 3.5 hours. He was very nervous about watching Claire arrive into this world...well I knew he was watching when she got close because with each push his words of encouragement became more animated and excited, helping me to push harder. He even cut the umbilical cord, which is something he said he didn't think he could do. I am so, so, so proud of him!

I have had the best pregnancy possible. In fact, I even told Jeff that I was not ready to be done which is not something you hear too often. I had only one day that I didn't feel well and that was from some crazy turkey I had eaten (jk). Because everything had been going so good we figured I would have a difficult delivery. We were right. Eleven hours of labor, including 3 1/2 hours of pushing were tough. It became even tougher hours after the delivery when my legs were not working properly. I had assumed it was just the epidural taking its time to wear off. 36 hours later I had a consult with the neurologist. He diagnosed me with femural neuropathy which is what Dr. Russell and many of my nurses were already thinking. The bad part of my condition is that there is no set timetable for healing. Case studies show it could take anywhere from days to months. Obviously we are praying for the prior. I have gained fairly good control of my left leg but still waiting on the right. We have met with occupational therapists and devised a plan to allow the most freedom possible in our apartment. I will keep you updated.

The last part of this post I want to dedicate to the amazing staff at Methodist Willowbrook. My delivery team: Ciri, Lisa, Elaine, Delia and Dr. Russell have been unbelievable. The support and encouragement that we recieved will not be forgotten. All of my nurses have gone way beyond the call of duty to make our stay as comfortable as possible. To everyone that has stopped to wish us well and offer their help....a never ending THANK YOU! I also want to thank my "on call" "nursing staff in MN. The phone calls have helped more that you can ever imagine.