Nell Virginia Osterhout

With so much love and excitement, our family introduces Nell Virginia Osterhout.


She made her debut on March 10, 2011 at 11:30am in Harrogate, UK. Everything went perfectly - even if she was 5 days overdue. Steady contractions began about midnight and by 1:15 am I woke Devin up letting him know that I thought it was the real deal. We went to the hospital at 4:30am and from there things went smoothly until she was born at 11:30am. The labor and delivery were by far the best experience I have had and we had an amazing time together right after her birth.


She is absolutely beautiful and looks very similar to Clara when she was baby. Is it bad that I looked to see her gender almost before looking at her beautiful face? I was just so excited to find out!!! Don't worry - I have already spent many of the past 24 hours making up for that by admiring her little face.


Devin managed to get in some great face time too...


After a lovely afternoon in the hospital we were discharged home about 7pm much to my delight. Sharing a room with 6 other women and one bathroom without Devin being allowed to stay didn't really appeal, so home sounded like a fabulous option. We were welcomed by the most excited, adoring and amazing children. Clara and Jonas were beyond thrilled and I am struggling to understand what part of my day was the best. Delivering and meeting Nell or introducing her to her sister and brother. Both still bring me to tears.

As for their reactions?

Clara saw us through the window and waved frantically then ran to the door to meet us. She came straight over and kissed and adored her new sister. I don't know if I've ever seen her look more excited than she did meeting Nell. Can't you see it in her eyes.


She looked at all of her little parts, touching her ears, hair, hands and toes and kept saying "Mom, she's so cute" over and over. She was so excited to hold her and looked so proud of her new baby sister.



She had also made this welcome sign for Nell which I am told she worked diligently on.


She then took Nell on a tour of the house telling her all about it and insisted she did not leave her side all night long.

As for Jonas, he squealed "Nell" as soon as we came to the door and made a beeline for her car seat, where he immediately put his head in her lap and kissed her. Here he is trying to hug her right away.


It pretty much did not end until he was put in bed about 8:45 and I could still hear him saying her name over and over until he fell asleep. The most precious part of the evening though was when he held her and whispered to her about the rainbow he has seen that day. It was so precious to hear his little voice saying "Nell, rainbow, blue, window, outside" and how excited he was to share that with her. He is already an amazing big brother.


Poor Grandpa and Grandma Morris were left to stand on the sidelines and admire from afar while Clara & Jonas hogged all of Nell. Hopefully they can fit some good cuddle time in during the rest of their trip because they do have some fierce competition.


As for me, I am feeling great. Epidurals are few and far between here and I was so nervous about the hospital experience. You bring everything yourself from towels to pads (TMI?) to birthing gown (except that I didn't and they managed to scrounge one up for me anyway)...well you get the idea. They don't provide a single thing. I was hesitant and skeptical to say the least. But now? My opinion couldn't be more changed. The midwife was amazing and the birth experience was incredibly meaningful to me. I'll spare you the details but compared to my previous two birth experiences, I would never want to do it any other way. They were so respectful of my experience and left Devin and I alone to labor as needed checking in periodically and were so helpful when it came to her actual delivery. I absolutely loved the experience.

After her delivery, Nell was placed right on me and the midwives left the room leaving us alone for about an hour to bond and enjoy our time. They then came back in to examine and weigh her at 7 pounds 13 ounces.

***Well, I was in the middle of this post when we got a call that I had a lovely UTI at the time of delivery that they were concerned the bacteria may have been passed to Nell so we had to take her back to the hospital for some testing and a potential stay. Thankfully after a few hours her tests came back clear and we were allowed to bring her back home. While minor, it made me nervous and we are grateful that everything turned out just fine. I really don't need any children competing for hospital time at this point!! :) We did manage to make a night of it by ordering Indian food (sorry poor breastfeeding Nell!!) and watching a show on the laptop while Nell slept and we awaited the results.


Clara and Jonas were very upset by her return to the hospital and were so elated Saturday morning to find us back home.***

It is amazing how immediately a baby fits into a family. I can't imagine us without Nell, she fits in so perfectly. We are incredibly grateful for the blessing she is to each member of our family and are all completely smitten! In fact last night Clara exclaimed "Yay, tomorrow I'll still have Nell."