2 weeks down

Starting to open her eyes and focus!

No more umbilical cord!

We have had a great 2nd week! Sadie is growing and is still such a great baby. She's having some problems figuring out her nights and days but seeing as I worked nights before she was born I can't say I am too surprised. She lost her umbilical cord on Friday night last week... poor Clint was changing a middle of the night diaper and wasn't quite sure what happened at first. Her little belly button is so adorable! I just love holding her and watching her. She is such a beautiful baby and it still amazes me that she is our child and that I 'grew' her. It just amazes me what the human body is capable of!

She had her 2 week appointment today and Dr Sullivan said she's doing great and is a perfect baby... like he had to tell me that! She is back to her birth weight of 6lbs 9oz putting her in the 7th percentile. She is supposedly 20 1/4 inches putting her in the 51st percentile but I am not so sure how much I agree with that measurement since her head wasn't at the top of the measuring stick. Her head is now 14 inches around which is the 40th percentile. Dr Sullivan's office is big on reading to kids at an early age so they give out books at well child exams. The one we received today is aimed more for the parents and what is appropriate for each age.

1 week old already?!

Happy 1 week Birthday Miss Sadie!

Wow! I can't believe it's been a whole week. What a whirlwind of new adventures, emotions, and adjustments. Last night was by far our roughest night. Sadie had horrible hiccups and then gas issues. The poor thing couldn't sleep more then maybe an hour at a time. I tried really hard to just deal with it instead of waking Clint up to take a shift because today was his first day back at work and I wanted him to be well rested. Once he saw me this morning he insisted I wake him up tonight to let him do one of the mid night feedings so he could sleep. In the end Sadie and I both pulled through and took a nice nap this morning after the hiccups left. I am still so in awe of our perfect little lady. I could not have asked for anything more. She is happy, healthy and here in our arms to love!

She's up!

The doctor appointment went well today. She is back to her hospital discharge weight of 6lbs 4oz. This means we don't have to give her formula anymore if we don't want to! I think at this point we will go down to one bottle of formula a day and then be done with it in a couple of days; just so she can maintain her weight and I can produce enough milk for her. She's doing great though and is still as happy as can be. Still waiting to hear about the billirubin level but I will update when we know something. She's looking much better and pooping up a storm so I am anticipating it has dropped!

And it has... no more heel sticks for now!

Happy Valentines Day!

What a busy few days it has been. Clint and I brought Sadie home on Thursday afternoon. The last few days have been all about getting to know each other. Sadie has been doing very well. She sleeps especially well during the day and pretty well at night. She was always much more active at night when I was pregnant so I'm not too surprised by this. I really need to do better about sleeping when she does but I just can't sit still. There is too much to do!

Saturday Sadie had her first doctor appointment. She was down to 5lbs 11oz which puts her in the 4th percentile for weight. We had a feeling this would be the case as she was already down to 6lbs 4oz when we left the hospital and hadn't been doing very well with eating since we had been home and wasn't filling her diapers as often as she should be. After confirmation from the doctor we decided to do what Clint and I had already discussed and were thinking of doing... supplement with formula. Stinks that we have to do this to keep her weight up but it's worth it to make sure she stays healthy. We go back in the morning for another weight check so hopefully between the formula and what I have been able to pump she will have at least maintained where she was at. During her appointment the doctor also decided we needed to recheck her billirubin as she was looking a bit more jaundice. This took us back to the hospital to get the lab drawn which turned in to a long wait but was worth it in the end. Her billi is still elevated but not enough for lights. She will have that rechecked tomorrow also. After all of this we returned home for Daddy & Sadie to snuggle and cheer on Mizzou!

Today we spent lounging and enjoying our first Valentines Day together! Sadie got her first bath and surprisingly didn't really fuss much. Clint made us a very yummy dinner of wild mushroom ravioli and crab legs. Sure it probably wouldn't be placed together in a restaurant but it hit the spot! I also was excited to enjoy a glass of wine! Delicious! This is by far the best Valentines Day ever. I am so excited to be able to celebrate with my awesome husband and our precious daughter.

Sadie Renee Meek

Sadie Renee Meek has arrived! She was born 2/9/10 at 4:24pm at Centerpoint Medical Center in Independence, MO. She weighed 6lbs 9oz, was 19.5 inches long and her head circumference was 13.5 inches.

Here is a brief Labor & Delivery story...
2/8/10 Admitted to start cervidil for the night... see previous post.
2/9/10

Pitocin started at 6am

Water broken at 9am

Epidural at 930am

My L&D nurse kept flipping me this way and that ... 'like a rotisserie chicken' she kept saying... to get Sadie to move down.

Epidural bolus at 3pm because I thought I was tougher then I really am!

Started pushing at 3:54pm

Dr Ash arrived around 4:20pm and was shocked that Sadie & I were as ready as we were.

Sadie arrive at 4:24pm... yes that is exactly 1/2hour of pushing. That was enough, thanks!

Daddy cut the cord and did great through the whole thing. He was a wonderful coach!

Sadie's Apgars were 8 & 8... no NICU! She had some rapid breathing and retractions the first couple minutes but calmed right down and hasn't had problems since.

Sadie & I got all cleaned up and Clint & I were able to snuggle our precious daughter for the next couple hours and let everything set in! She is perfect and we couldn't be more proud of her.

We had an awesome medical staff and I have to say it was most definitely because of them that Sadie and I are doing so well. They not only took care of us but watched out for Daddy to. If it wasn't for our nurse, Jessica, I don't know if Clint would have made it through the whole thing or been able to cut the cord. She treated him just as well as the patients and for that I am very grateful. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Sadie is coming tomorrow...

So I had my weekly appointment this morning and an NST following. My pressure was a little elevated but not as much as it had been at home. My doctor decided to rerun labs and check a growth ultrasound. She told me to plan on this week or next week for Sadie's arrival at that time. So I went over to L&D and they hooked me up. Sadie looked great on the monitors... quite the wiggle worm all the nurses kept calling her. The ultrasound tech estimated she is about 6lbs 1oz and looks very healthy. So obviously the problem here is me. Really we are having her tomorrow for a few different reasons. It's a combination of my elevated blood pressure, low platelets, and swelling. Basically I am getting closer and closer to pre eclampsia and if my platelets continue to fall I can't get an epidural. The epidural isn't all that important but if there are complications and we would have to do a c-section I would have to be knocked out so Clint couldn't be present... and obviously I would be there but wouldn't be able to really be there. I don't want that for her or us. The other reason is that my doctor has a gut feeling. For those who work in health care you know that when there is a gut feeling you react. You don't wait to see what the feeling is due to or see if it goes away. God gave us those feelings for a reason and we should listen to them.

So as I sit here in my hospital bed thinking of all the things I was going to do and didn't and all the things I probably should have done and never got around to, I remind myself of how lucky we are. We will make it to 37 weeks and we will have our precious little baby to hold in our arms and snuggle and love. She will be happy and healthy and Clint and I will get to be parents. We have looked forward to this for so long and are so excited the time is almost here. It doesn't matter if there is an extra load of laundry that didn't get done or floors that didn't get swept. Our baby is coming... and she will get her safely. Mommy and Daddy love you Sadie. We are so excited to finally get to meet you tomorrow!

Sadie's Room just a few pictures...

Our mom's painted the entire room for us, including all of the polka dots! We would have been lost with out them... Thank-you! Clint's mom helped hang the curtains, picture frame, shelves, clock and saying... Thank-you! It was fun to put it all together but I am ready for her to get her now and be able to snuggle her in the glider (I put that together!). May be sooner then we all know. Or it may be another 4 weeks, we will see.

PS- NST went well today. Next appt on Monday.

Bedrest = Boring

36 weeks

So it all started over the weekend when I was off work for 2 nights. Usually my swelling goes down but this weekend it got worse if anything. I checked my blood pressure as always to make sure things were okay. Everything checked out until Sunday when my pressure started around 136/84 in the morning, at noon was about 146/92 and after a 2 hour nap with my feet in the air was at 150/95. Needless to day I called in to work. I had an appointment scheduled for the next morning so didn't bother to call my doctor and just drank water, laid on my side and elevated my feet as much as I could. Heck we even made a low sodium soup for dinner that night in hopes it would help. Before bed my pressure had come down some but still not to a comfortable level. At my appointment Monday morning I weighed in 4.5lbs higher then the week before! (my doc assured my it was water weight but still I felt even more huge then I had before) My blood pressure was up and there was more protein in my urine also. My doctor told me I didn't have a say any more and that I was going on bedrest period and I wasn't to argue. I knew it was probably coming but I was still disappointed and shed a few tears. After I regrouped we decided that induction was not something to consider for now and instead she set me up with non stress tests twice a week (I get hooked up to monitors and they check Sadie's heart rate and movement and my blood pressure and contractions), blood work, a 2nd 24 hour urine and I am continuing my weekly doctor visits. I called Clint and let him know right away and then headed over to the hospital to have my first NST done. Sadie and I both looked great on the monitors and my blood pressure came down while I was over there... it likes to go all over the place. My uric acid was high and my platelets low so for now I am home trying to relax and not get too bored. Our mom's came yesterday to finish Sadie's room so it has been nice to have some company the last couple of days. I have another NST tomorrow so we'll see how that one goes.