Happy One Week Old Birthday!

Hard to imagine it's been one week since precious Hannah was born. We celebrated today by taking our first stroller trip to the park. Granny also bought her a one week birthday cake. TIm has been back at work the past two days which is so sad. He hates leaving her and we miss him during the day. We are still working on sleeping without being held and eating more, but overall she is so pretty, smart, and strong.

Day 5

Sweet baby Hannah is now 5 days old and changes before our eyes daily. It is already going to fast. She is such a little peanut and I just love how she cuddles up in my arms. Last night she was very good. She still requires us to hold her all night long, but she did sleep which was good. Today we had our first appointment with the pediatrician. Everything about her is perfect. The doctor thinks her eyes will be brown, but says maybe green. She thinks they are too dark to be blue like Daddys. The only thing we have to work on is eating more because she is only 7 lbs. now. It is natural for all babies to lose weight the first week, so the doctor isn't alarmed, but we have to go again next week to make sure she starts gaining. This means more food. Oh and did I mention she pooped three times just while we were at the appointment. She has no problems in that department.

Super Strength

I forgot to mention little Hannah's impressive feat. About 10 minutes after she was born the nurse put her into the scale to be weighed on her back. All of a sudden she yelled for the doctor to look as Hannah rolled herself over onto her stomach. This milestone is not supposed to happen for months. The doctor couldn't believe it. He said he has never seen a baby do that in his 20 years of experience. Two days later the hospital photographer came for her first photo session. She placed her on the bed stepped back to snap a picture and again she rolled over completely on her own. The photographer freaked out and was so worried to take the rest of the pictures because she said she has never had to worry about a newborn falling off a bed until now. Today little Hannah held her tiny bottle by herself. Not for long, but I still think it's impressive. Granny is convinced she will be an athlete.

Day 4

Today Hannah is four days old. She is so precious and growing everyday. She is very alert and aware of her surroundings for a little one. Her disposition is very sweet. She loves to be cuddled and held. She is a good pooper (even got mommy all over her shirt). She likes to eat and sleep (except at night, at night she likes to scream). With feedings and crying, mommy is averaging about 3 hours per night. We have been blessed to have lots of help and a daddy who is beyond amazing and does everything to help her. He is the poopy dipe king. Today she had a lot of firsts. She played with a few of her toys for the first time. I think she is still a little small for the swing it kind of scared her, but she loved being on her back on the activity mat. She also had her first bath at home which was a traumatic experience for her. She is just the best baby and I can't stop taking pictures of her. Here are some from day three.

Day 3

Had to post a few more because she just gets cuter every day

Welcome to the World!

Hannah Grace Tatum was born 2 weeks early on January 5, 2011. She weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 in. long. She arrived at 1:04pm after mommy and daddy stayed up all night in labor. She is beautiful and perfect, our little precious miracle. I can't begin to describe how I feel, lets just say the tears (happy ones) have been plentiful. All four grandparents and Auntie Laura drove up when they heard the news of labor and made it to the hospital right as she was born. All of your calls, texts, thoughts, etc. have been so wonderful. I'm sorry if I don't respond and wish I could write more now, but as you could expect I barely have a free minute. We are both doing wonderfully and I hope the pictures below give a glimpse into her little life so far. I will update more when things settle a bit.


Just found it I was in fact in labor (middle of the night of course)


Welcome Hannah!


I love her beyond words


First Family Picture


All because two people fell in love


The most wonderful Doctor, God bless him


Hospital celebration dinner


So beautiful

SItting and waiting

Two weeks to go, maybe less, maybe more, but either way it's almost time. Tim and I are so excited and I would add anxious and scared to my list as well. We are dying to know what she looks like, be able to hold her, and snuggle her up.

I had my appointment today and Hannah is still good. Heart rate and amniotic fluid are both still average and she continues to hang out head down. The doctor checked my pelvic bone again today and is pretty sure the separation will be able to be healed on it's own given a few months time. I was surprised however when he told me that I may want to consider a C-section and that I am a patient he would allow to schedule one because of the bone issue. He went over the pros and cons with me and sort of left it open ended saying there is still time to think about it. He said a natural birth is out of the question and that if I choose vaginal I'd have to take the epidural to which I replied "Not a problem, I was planing on that anyway." For now I have decided to continue with the original plan of a vaginal birth even though I know it will make the pelvis worse and the recovery will be difficult. One good thing though is that as soon as the baby is born he said they can medicate me more effectively for the pain. I did tell the doctor however that if she gets large enough where he thinks it's foolish to hurt myself more, then to tell me and I am fine with the C-section option. Right now he is telling me she'll be around 8 lbs.

The doctor also said that if he had to guess he thinks she will come this week because of family history and she is really low. However he was only willing to guess with 60% confidence and of coarse continued to say "could be anytime." So here I am sitting and waiting on my first official day of maternity leave. I still have contractions daily, but I know now just to overlook them until they are extremely painful. I have my appointment scheduled for next week, but it's crazy to think I may not even make it until next week. Until next time, I will keep waiting...