More Sadie Pictures!

6 1/2 weeks old

Love Sadie in RED!

Sweet Sadie

Sadie's smile!

February Sadie Update!

Happy February! Well the month is almost over and I'm a little behind on my blogging. I think you all know why! ...Miss Sadie keeps me pretty busy these days :) and very tired too. But I'm lovin' being her mommy!

Sadie is now 6 1/2 weeks old and she sure has been changing! I swear she gets bigger even after a nap! Her cheeks are getting more and more kissable and she is filling out for sure! She is into her 3 month clothes now, so long newborn clothes! Sadie started smiling at us early this month and we are loving it! Just today she started talking/babbling/gurgling... whatever you want to call it. She is getting more and more social and playful every day :) Sadie loves her swing, which helps me get some things done around the house. The past few days she went through a growth spurt, all she wanted to do was eat and sleep. We were worried something was wrong, but we did some internet/book research and called the pediatrician and she assured us that this is totally normal and very common around 6 weeks of age.

We haven't been up to too much other than hanging out with Sadie. We've ventured out a little bit here and there on the weekends... to Babies R Us, Target, the Mall and to 2 restaurants... but mostly just staying home and getting to know our daughter. We love TV and have been enjoying watching our favorite shows and Netflix movies when Sadie sleeps. Sadie's bottles are timed with my favorite daytime shows: 7am Today Show, 10am Hoda & Kathie Lee, 1pm Days of Our Lives, 4pm ellen/Oprah. It just worked out that way! :) I thought I would be able to get more "stuff" done on maternity leave like read books, exercise, and get caught up on the TV series "Friday Night Lights"... but I am surprised to find out how much time it takes to take care of an infant... she eats, she sleeps, she poops and there isn't a whole lot of "free time" in between. When I do have free time when she's napping... there is always laundry to do, bottles to wash, emails to read/respond to, coffee to drink, and oh... getting my shower in! Sometimes I'm so busy I forget to eat breakfast or lunch! I'm so glad when Jason comes home to help me out. I really don't know how single parents do it, I'm so glad we are a team!

Since I last blogged Sadie has had some important visitors. She got to meet her Uncle Ben and Aunt Mary Ella, they came all the way from Indianapolis to meet their new niece! And Sadie also got to meet her Great-Grandma Lou Vaske. Sadie Lou is named after Great-Grandma Lou and her Grandma Linda Lou. So we got the 4 generation picture and a picture of the "Lou's". We've had some other visitors too! Sadie has now met her 1st cousin once removed Elizabeth Pancratz and some of our Des Moines friends; Lindsey, Nick, Sarah, Bridget, Melissa, Matt, Brian, and Kelly. And I didn't mention in my previous blog that Sadie has met her Grandpa George and Grandma Virginia, they came to the hospital and spent a weekend with us in January. And she also met Uncle Jared, Aunt Tammy, and cousins Ava and Wil too! Grandpa Bob and Grandma Linda have visited too of course. And Uncle Jim and Aunt Toni have visited a lot since they live so close in Ankeny.

I am half way through my maternity leave ~ 6 weeks down, 6 weeks to go. I'm so glad I have 12 weeks!!! I would not have been ready to go back to work after 6, I am so thankful my job allows me to do so! :) :) :) I just started feeling better recently, around 5 weeks post-delivery. My blood pressure has been maintained, my incision has pretty much healed and doesn't bother me anymore and I have more energy. I am starting to feel "normal" again! Now I just need to start exercising and get back on weight watchers so I can lose the rest of this "baby" weight and then some more too. Also, some more sleep would be nice... Sadie still wakes up usually 2 times/night. I'm not much of a napper so I can't wait until she starts sleeping longer at night so I get more sleep!

We had a nice Valentine's Day! We had fun dressing Sadie up in her Valentine's outfits and taking lots of pictures. Sadie even had Valentine's jammies. Our big Valentine's outing this year was dinner at Red Robin :) Jason got flowers delivered to his work from me & Sadie and I received flowers delivered here at home from Jason & Sadie - we had the same idea. Jason got me a massage and pedicure for Valentine's Day! What an awesome hubby! I am so lucky! I got the pedicure last night and it was pure bliss. I scheduled the massage in a couple of weeks, I cannot wait!

Here are some pictures from the last month:

Daddy's 3rd Photo Shoot w/Sadie

Daddy's Photo Shoots with Sadie Lou

Photo Shoot #1 (January 13, 2011)

Photo Shoot #2 (January 23, 2011)

Nursery Letters :)

Sadie's Birth Story

Well, Sadie is in her swing and I've finally got a few minutes to write a blog post :)

I'll start with Sadie's birth story...

I left off with the post where I was waiting for my test results. Well... the next day I received a call that the lab spilled my 24 hour urine collection?! So, I had to collect another 24 hour urine collection. I was planning on returning my 2nd collection on Thursday afternoon (Jan 6). That afternoon I got a headache that wouldn't go away. I checked my blood pressure at home and it was 216 over 110. Yikes. So I called my doctor's office and they told me to come in to get my bp checked when I dropped off my collection. So Jason met me at the doctor's office at 3:30 and they actually wanted me to go to Methodist West Hospital to get my bp monitored for a few hours as well as the baby's heartbeat. So, off we went to the brand new beautiful hospital. My bp was very high and wasn't coming down after 2 hours of monitoring but our baby girl looked great. They advised us to go downtown to Iowa Methodist Medical Center to get monitored overnight. We stopped at home quick to gather our overnight bags and headed downtown at 6:00pm. Once we arrived, Dr Lehman, my doctor, was there... she happened to be the one on call :). Dr Lehman said she had been keeping an eye on my monitor readings from Methodist West Hospital and thought it would be best to induce labor since I was past the 37 week mark and I had high protein readings in my urine (450 - anything over 300 is pre-eclampsia)... so I was officially diagnosed with pre-eclampsia. The nurses brought us to our room and we settled in. (Side note: our room # was 623. When I first met Jason, he lived in an apartment in Ankeny, #623, and the 1st day I visited him at his apartment was on 6-23-2008... so cool!... meant to be). I got my hospital gown on, got comfortable in my hospital bed, and they started me on magnesium for my blood pressure, pitocin to induce labor, inserted a cervical balloon to put pressure on my cervix to thin it out, and inserted a catheter - fun fun! I was dialated to 1 and was 50% effaced. I felt some mild contractions through the night and felt very uncomfortable from the pressure of the balloon and the yucky feeling from the magnesium. My blood pressure remained very high and wasn't coming down. Around 6:30am Dr Lehman's shift was about to end and she stopped in to check on me. I was only dialated to 2 and my cervix was not thinning out. I was still -3 station (I wasn't dropping) and labor was not progressing. They couldn't break my water since I was still so high because of risk that the umbilical cord would deliver first. Dr Lehman said she would check on me when she was done with clinic at 11am. At 7:15am, Dr Hoegh came in and introduced himself. His first question to me, "So, Rachel, when you do think you're going to have this baby?" I said.. "I hope today!". And Dr Hoegh said "At this rate not until Sunday or Monday! ... would you like a c-section?" And I said "YES!!!". And from there everything happened so fast. I was prepped for surgery and wheeled into the OR around 7:45am. And our daughter Sadie Lou Taylor was born at 8:05am on January 7, 2011. Sadie weighed 6 lbs, 5 oz and was 18 inches long. Jason, the proud papa, got to see her come out of my stomach, got to trim the umbilical cord, see her get weighed and measured and brought her over to me. What an amazing moment meeting my daughter for the very first time. She was the most beautiful baby girl I had ever seen. I spoke to her and she turned her face towards mine. She had the most peaceful look in her eyes and it was love at first sight. I was overwhelmed with happiness and love. She is a dream come true and a gift from God.
In the hospital we pretty much looked at her all day long and took lots of pictures :) The above picture of Sadie is the picture Jason took with his cell phone 20 minutes after she was born. Here are some more favorite pictures from our time at the hospital:
I am recovering well from my c-section. I didn't realize how painful c-sections are... the 1st time I got out of bed I thought it was impossible to just walk to the bathroom. It has been a slow recovery, but every day I feel better. I guess they do consider c-sections major abdominal surgery for a reason. Since delivery, I've been having some issues with my blood pressure. It has remained very high, and it wasn't getting any better. There was a chance I was going to be re-admitted to the hospital the week after Sadie was born, but that didn't happen thank goodness. I am now on blood pressure medication and my blood pressure has looked better the last couple of days. It was pretty scary for awhile with risk of stroke, seizure or hospital stay. We asked my mom to come and help out the Wednesday after Sadie was born and it was such a blessing. She made us so many home-cooked yummy meals, cleaned, helped take care of Sadie, and just comforted me when I needed it most. She stayed for 1 week and I missed her the second she left. But we are doing just fine now, I'm feeling better, and we are establishing a little bit of a routine :)

I love being Sadie's mommy and I am in awe of this little miracle that has come into our lives. We are amazed by her and I seriously could gaze at her all day long. She is precious. And she's got daddy wrapped around her little finger too. Here are some favorite pictures since we've arrived home:

Introducing Sadie Lou Taylor!!!!

She was born Friday, January 7, 2011 at 8:05 AM.
She weighed 6lbs. 5oz. and was 18 inches long.
Will post more details soon! :)