6 weeks and beautiful!

That's my baby girl! This was the week of six week post-partum visits. Sarah, who if you will recall was born 5 lbs 10 ounces. As of six weeks, she is a healthy (and to our eyes HUGE!) 8lb 13 oz baby! I called her a chunker because I have seen how much she has grown so quickly, but seeing as how some babies are born this big, she is really only in the 16th percentile for her age! However, she is doing well and took her first shots like a champ. She only cried for a few second as the nurse had a great calming and soothing rock right after the shot - and the best part - she got silver sparkly band-aids!


This is the latest picture. Returning back to a somewhat normal life has us snapping a few less pictures, but in this picture she had just had a bath, was warm, clean and snuggly. The best combination ever - if you can't tell by my face!

Clearly, we are both healthy and well!

I had a follow up with the cardiologist and my blood pressure was back down to normal. Swelling is gone and I've lost 37 lbs doing nothing but nursing and a little walking - so clearly fluid is on it's way out. One of the greatest signs of this - I finally got my wedding rings back on! (Now, I may have pulled a Jim Friedrich and they may not come off for another 30 years, but by golly - they're on!)

My c-section scar is looking great and I am now cleared to start excercising again! (5K here I come!)

Of course, even though I've lost a significant amount of weight - I do still have a nice scar line and some fantastic looking stretch marks all over my body and my skin is a lot more flabby than it used to be in that area...but I came across this blog post at the most poignant time!

http://blogs.babycenter.com/mom_stories/06272013-jade-beall-a-beautiful-body-project-must-see-photos-celebrate-real-moms-bodies/?scid=fb_wallPost

You see, I spent most of the entire time of my pregnancy thinking my body was letting me down. (If you need a recap - the posts are archived to the left). In fact much of my conversation at my six week post-partum visit revolved around whether or not my future pregnancies would be just as difficult. I'm still trying to figure out if I want to have more biological children or not and therefore what to do about birth control. (This conversation could have it's own really long blog post...)

But when I read the blogpost above, and saw the beautiful pictures of these mothers with their stretch marks, flabby skin and sagging boobs and read the quote - "... I know now that my body has much greater potential than looking good in a swimsuit." I couldn't help but agree more.

My body brought a healthy, beautiful baby girl that is growing like a weed. My body isn't only about getting my weight to an acceptable place (because it is right now and I can still find things I would like to change), it's not about being good looking. My body did something amazing - and continues to do so by providing nutrition for my child on a regular basis.

I can say that I am more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have been. So what if I have bright pink stretch marks all over my stomach and other random places I never thought I would have had them? And the scar on my abdomen - heck, that's the best battle scar I've ever gotten! I'm proud of that sucker. And hey - seriously was I ever going to feel comfortable walking out in a bikini? Um, no. If I've got a swimsuit on, I'm being far too active to risk a wardrobe malfunction!

Besides - my husband has and always will think I'm beautiful and he makes a point to tell me on a regular basis. I'm no longer trying to impress anyone else - so who cares?

I only wish I wouldn't have given myself such a hard time over my body image for so long. I'm not going to lie and say I'm 100% ok with my body - what woman is? The point is to be healthy so I can do the things I want to do - like get in the floor for hours and play with Sarah, run a 5K because it's good therapy, throw and kick a ball as a family (because as soon as Sarah does that it's all her Daddy is going to want to do and it will be no fun to be left out!), hike the Canyon so we can take Sarah for a long hike in the Smoky Mountains and say "This is what REAL hills are!" so that MAYBE just maybe, one day Rocky Top will make sense to her!


Thanks for reading - I hope you know you're beautiful too!

(And I promise more Sarah pictures next time!)

1 Month Old!

Wow! It is a lot harder to update the blog these days - but for good reason! Sarah turned one month old on June 14th...a week ago! I'm a little late posting on her one month birthday, but better now than never, right?

We are taking a cue from some friends of ours, the Titus family - who just welcomed their second girl, Miriam (YAY!) - who took pictures of their first daughter Ashleigh with a book that had the number of months old Ashleigh was. At one month - our pictures weren't as pretty as we remember Ashleigh's being, but after a gazillion takes, here are some of the best...and worst!

At first, it was ok...propping a baby up is hard to do when she's become such a wiggle worm. Not able to sit up on her own soon...this is what happened. (And yes we are bad parents, we both sat there and snapped pictures...)

 Help!!! I'm falling! She teetered there for a second and we thought she might be able to swing herself back in the corner...but...

 Nope...She ended up here...just hanging there like "Mom...Dad...really...this isn't cool."

So we propped her back up and got this annoyed face.

Then she started yawning...she was so over this whole picture thing...

And so...finally...this was the best we could get!

At one month Sarah is...

- Eating about every two-three hours and growing like a weed!

- Constantly tagging Mom and Dad when we go to change her diapers

- Starting to enjoy bath time...warm water isn't so bad after all! (Maybe this is why she keeps peeing and pooping all over herself and us! My daughter is a GENIOUS!)

- Has decidedly blue eyes (for now...)

- Stays awake for about an hour or two at a time and loves to play! (Except from about 8:30pm-midnight...then she stays awake and cries and cries, nurses, sleeps, wakes up and cries some more...)

- Enjoys a stroller ride around the block with mom and dad

- Loves to be in the Moby with mom all snuggled and warm (and Dad too but he won't admit that wears the Moby...shhhhhh)

- Enjoys a good song sung to her from Mom or Dad (and finds comfort in hearing their voice- MELTING OUR HEARTS!)
- Focuses more when she sees our face and engages with us when we speak to her

This is my favorite picture of her doing just that. I'm trying to calm her and tell her that her eyelids are getting heavy. (We just finished nursing and I'm trying to burp her...) The lights were off, her sound machine was on and it was about 10:45pm. I was greeted with this energetic face and quickly told Stephen to flip the lights on and bring me my phone so I could take a picture.

"Hi mom...I know I just nursed and you want to go to sleep, but isn't it fun to bob your head back and forth? You're the best mom ever, you don't need to sleep, you need to stay awake with me, right??" 

When I disagreed...the wailing began, but this is about the cutest face I've ever seen, so...it's hard to be mad.

 

Next week she will go for her six week check-up and we will finally figure out how much she has grown, but as a reference, here is a picture of her from three days old, to just a few days ago.

 

She is already starting to bust out of a few of her newborn onsies! I keep telling her she can slow it down. If she's Dad's daugther, she'll keep growing. If she's my daughter...she'll keep growing because she's stubborn and I told her not to. ;-)

That's all for now folks!

 

 

Dear Sarah

Dear Sarah, (I'm excited just by this salutation because the last letter I wrote you was "Dear Baby Girl")

Today was the day you were due to arrive - but you're here and already four weeks old!

In a few short weeks, I have fallen head over heels in love with you in ways I could never have imagined. If you think I'm excited over typing your name "Dear Sarah" - I can't explain to you how giddy I was when we took you to your two week doctors appointment and I filled out your information as Sarah G. Friedrich, my daughter! That's right, I'm legally listed as your parent and guardian, so you're stuck with both me and your dad! Sorry, kiddo!

When I was pregnant with you - you'll recall I was very, very sick (as I will continually remind you when you decide I'm soooo uncool - I carried you for eight miserable months with a gag reflex, stretch marks and a long scar on my abdomen to prove it!). All I could do was pray and tell your dad how I just wanted you to be healthy and strong and when I finally get to meet you - I'm going to kiss you all over. I wanted to kiss every toe, every finger, your sweet chubby cheeks and that crook in your neck that is oh so soft...

You're here and I cannot kiss you enough. I now understand why some moms say they want to eat their children because I could literally nibble on you all. day. long. I tell you how much I love you because I don't want you to ever forget it or go a day without hearing how much you are loved about a thousand times. And I plan to kiss and nibble, snuggle and hug you until the day I die (or the day you die of embarrassment in the middle school parking lot...or...preschool parking long...I'm praying for middle school though...am I pushing my luck with highshcool? College?)

I love the faces you make everyday. It's another reason I could spend all day looking at you. Occasionally when you wake up you give me this grimace like "Mom...this is so not cool, I was sleeping so good." And I thank God that you seem to appreciate the value of a good nap because I certainly do.

Or the grin you have when you pass some really good gas, which I too can appreciate how much better than can feel. I hope I didn't give you my stomach though...

Lately, you've enjoyed peeing and pooping all over us right after we take off your diaper. You tagged your dad so good one night in the middle of the night - he had to give you a bath. At 2 am. (Yeah, he loves you...). You peed right down my side while I was nursing you - but the greatest story is one you need to continually thank your grandma for. She went to change your diaper, took it off you and you promptly pooped at a distance and velocity we did not know was capable. She laughed so hard I went to see what happened and examined the mess you made...we were bent over hooting and hollering because of what your tiny body had just done. Your dad tried to take incriminating pictures of you and the mess, but I'll have you know I told him that was not nice. (In between my uncontrollable giggles!!!) I'm just giving thanks you're healthy and well enough to eat, poop, pee and sleep like all good healthy babies.

Your dad and I went on a date night tonight while your Grandma and Grandpa stayed for the really tough task of keeping you. We tried really hard to have conversation about things other than you, but we both gushed about how much we already love you and the latest cute things you have done.

I already can't imagine life with out you because I am SO blessed because you are here - and I think all of this before you were really even SUPPOSED to be here. I hope one day you have your own children so that you can understand how much better life is when love is shared in such an amazing way. And also, so that one day, you will understand my undeniable addiction to kissing you all over.

Because seriously...look at those cheeks!!!!!









Love,
Your Mama

Three weeks!

It's hard to believe this little girl is three weeks old! It's been both a long and a slow three weeks getting used to each other, but mostly we've just reveled in the moment. She is getting stronger and as you can tell in the picture, her eyes are getting a little brighter! She keeps them open for longer periods of time and we just love having playtime!

We spent some time playing with the toys on our play mat. Then I flipped her over on her tummy so that she could spend sometime getting nice and strong! Here she is!

I have a newer video where shes even stronger, but will have to learn to keep them under a minute if I want them to upload in any reasonable amount of time. The great thing about the camera on my phone is it takes high quality video...unfortunately that means a large file size!

We also had to say goodbye to Mimi, which was sad. I personally needed the interval of time by myself to feel confident in what I was doing. Mimi gave me a good system, but I still wasn't ready for her to leave. Having survived in time for the reinforcements (Grandpa Jim and Grandma Nancy), I feel much more prepared to handle being a mom, but am super happy for the help!

It was hard for Mimi to leave too. This picture captures the complete love and joy in her face when holding Sarah. *Sigh* Such a hard job!

This is Sarah on my shoulder taking a nap. SUCH a sweet face! I could eat her with a spoon! It's faces like that make constantly being on call as a food source or just general soother all worth it!

We also went to church for the first time on Sunday. It's the only time I have gotten her out of the house and I kept her wrapped up in the Moby close to me to keep her away from germs since she's still so young. Of course, summer worship starts at 10:00am...a regular feeding time. And of course despite my efforts to feed her more and right before worship, we were still late by the time she fed again and then dirtied two more diapers...I really wish she could talk so when I change her she could say, "Hang on mom...I'm about to add a pee to that poopy, save the diaper for another two minutes..."

After that...this is how she spent her first Sunday in worship.

I told her she might find Daddy a little more interesting when she's older...;-)

This was her cute dress Mimi got her, although no one really saw it but me!

She has gained more weight (although I'm not sure how much). Her head is getting longer and her neck is getting stronger. She's put weight on her cute little cheeks and is now starting to look more like me in some respects, although I still think those lips are her daddy's!

She has developed a wicked diaper rash that is slowly getting better after I quick using pampers (they have some weird webbing in the diaper that kept sticking no matter how much diaper cream we used). She started to regularly blow out luv's diapers. Yesterday she cried almost all day just because it hurt. I have no doubt it burns...so we were super vigilant about changing her diaper even though the wipes and diaper cream always seem to ignite more cries. Stephen had to give me a break yesterday for a few hours. I've always been able to console her and it was clear she was hurting...it wears you down. I'm seriously considering ordering cloth for newborn, but she looks and seems to feel better today, so hopefully switching all that stuff and being diligent has helped. At this rate...it'll be months before she fits into her current cloth! Oh how a mom's heart aches when her daughter doesn't feel good!!!!

Of course, being diligent means not waiting around to see if she's going to pee or poop when one part of the diaper is soiled - which has led to Stephen and I getting tagged numerous times and lots of diapers being soiled before they're actually fully put on...sooooooo maybe we should wait for cloth! ;-)

Lots of you have been kind and ask how I am. I'm still frustrated sometimes by how weak I am - but I'm definitely getting a lot stronger. My c-section scar is healing nicely and have been off all pain medications for almost a week. I've been able to take longer walks (and by longer I mean...we made it around the block...instead of just around the house...). I'm able to keep up with some chores like washing, sterilizing bottles and keeping up with at least Sarah's laundry. Yesterday, I even went grocery shopping! I'm also careful to take naps with Sarah. We both enjoy the bonding time in the chair together, and it's easy to doze off with a slow breathing sack of potatoes on your shoulder with such a sweet peaceful face!

I've officially lost 30 lbs...which I can't help but think is contributing to my weakness. It's odd not to fit into your pre-pregnancy clothes because they're too BIG. It's also odd to see your body lose that much so quickly. I know you're probably rolling your eyes that I'm complaining...but it does give me an indication of how malnourished I was. Now...having said that, I'm still at a healthy weight.

I had let myself get too far out of control...I'd tried so many different things and had just let myself believe that my weight was what it was going to be and not to mention I knew we were going to try to get pregnant which I naturally equated to getting fatter, so why bother right? (not good logic by the way)

I'm going to try to maintain where I'm at...but my stomach three weeks post partum is like a bowl full of jelly - so naturally I'll try to get that firmed back up. (Did I mention I think sit-ups and crunches are from the devil though?) Once I get cleared to exercise I might try to run some more. I am noticing in addition to my stomach some strange stretch marks...like ones behind and on the sides of my knees from how swollen they were...and my upper thigh and places you never thought you'd get stretch marks from pregnancy. Mostly those don't bother me though as they are still in places I rarely uncover in public. And because the pregnancy was so rough - I few them as just more battle scares of what it took to get Sweet Sarah to this world.

Luckily, I seem to have *SO FAR* escaped post-partum depression...but I'm chalking it up to a boost in an anti-depressant I had about a month or so before she was born. I think it was because of a shift in hormones because it was a rapid swing southward...we all decided staying on a higher dose was the best thing to do for me now that she's here and so far I think that was a great decision!

And now...it's time to feed my sweet baby girl - so I'm off to take care of the light of my life!

Two Weeks Old!

Sweet Sarah Grace turned two weeks old yesterday and we made a day of it! First, with her two week check-up at Dr. Young's office.

Sarah had been having a lot of gas and very frequent bowel movements (she can thank me later for posting about this publically...) so we called the on call line the night before and were told to give her pedialite through the night until we could get to Dr. Young at our regularly scheduled check-up the next morning.

We thought Sarah had been growing despite the tummy upset and we were right! We've noticed her face filling out and her clothes fitting a little better. She was up from 5 lbs 10 oz to 6 lb 4 oz. and had grown a whole inch. Since she's been mostly breastfed, I feel like I deserve an award for having enough breastmilk to have her growing on target! I have heard so many friends having problems with supply, but the growth indicates that she's getting all the milk she needs from me! (Now if I could just keep it from making her so uncomfortable!)

Dr. Young interestingly enough asked me if there was something I had added or taken away from my diet since her stomach became so upset. I'm a pretty regular eater as of late...especially because we've had a lot of leftovers, but on Saturday, Papa asked for Mimi to bring home a dessert, and she brought red velvet cake. Knowing of some friends with food coloring allergies I suggested that and Dr. Young concurred it was likely the culprit. So I was instructed to pump and dump for 24 hours since my last slice of cake (I really hadn't had much of a taste for it anyway...) and switched her to soy formula in the meantime.

She did well on the soy formula. I did less well dumping about 10 oz of breastmilk down the drain. (I now understand the phrase "Don't cry over spilt milk." That's harder than it sounds...)

Because her feeding schedule got off a little the night before on the pedialyte (she ate a lot more frequently) I ended up staying up a lot later to get that first breast feeding after the fast.

There had been storms in the area south of us, but they weren't expected to come to Amarillo and to be honest I really didn't pay much attention to it. I was exhausted and ready to get to bed...so at 10:45 I fed Sarah...got her burped and changed until she was comfortable and sleepy...stayed a little extra longer to make sure she was good and asleep before I put her down. Success at 11:00! Quite impressive if I do say so myself!

I drug my tired body in the bed...curled up to my warm sleeping husband, pulled the covers under my chin. Let out a contented sigh and then...

WAOOOHAHWOOAHOOOHWAHOOHAHHOOAHHH!!

No it wasn't the baby. It was the tornado sirens.

Mind you we had been talking about our emergency plan since the tornados in Oklahoma (which was only about four hours from us if you need a reference), so we knew we were going to pile into our small master bedroom closet which is one of the only interior places in the house without windows.

I shot up out of that bed, practically shoved Stephen yelling "Stephen it's the tornado sirens, GET UP and go!!" I ran and picked up Sarah and then ran down the hall bursted in the guest room where mom was sleeping and again in a panic said "Mom it's the tornado sirens, get up, let's go!"

We grabbed all the pillows we could and our cell phones and huddled in that closet keeping in touch with weather updates on our phones. Meanwhile, Sarah who I was so worried about waking up when I laid her down - slept in my lap cradled on a pillow - SOUND asleep the whole time. Through tennis ball hail coming down like our house was being stoned.

Mom took a picture to document the occasion of all four of us curled up in the closet and I prayed it would be nothing more than a memory of the time the tornado sirens went off when Sarah was two weeks old and we were all okay.

Since we were all in our pj's that one is going in the family book, not online - sorry folks! ;-)

There was a period of time where it got really calm and quiet. I just prayed that wasn't a sign of bad things to come, but shortly after the news channel reported they were headed out of the studio to a safe place. (This morning they were featured on the Today show and NBC nightly news forcasting from the bathroom...) Apparently a funnel cloud either touched down or came really close to the studio. The studio as a crow flies is probably not more than a mile from us. I'm wondering if that funnel cloud passed over us first.

By midnight, the threat was declared over. Sarah had slept through it all. Mom and Dad then got up all through the night with her since she was later wide awake. We made sure to tell her we didn't sleep through the storm and would appreciate it if she would calm down and sleep. She didn't seem to understand.

It was another one of those days were I was thankful Mimi was still here to watch her so I could get some sleep.

She also let Stephen and I take a date night. We went to Napoli's (a local Italian restaurant) which went by all too quickly even with dessert. Since I hadn't been out much, we decided not to go straight home and went to...wait for it...the most romantic of all places...Sam's Club. That's right, we went to Sam's. There were some shorts I'd gotten there about a week before Sarah was born. They were great, but now fall down to my knees...so I wanted to get a smaller size. Plus, we were out of graham crackers and nutella. That really can't happen in our household.

All in all it was only a little over an hour and a half we were gone, but the adult conversation was good for me. Even if it did include a little about Sarah.

And now...again, the moment you've been waiting for...

 Sarah and sleeping on her Daddy's shoulder. So incredibly sweet. I could eat them both with a spoon!

Sarah really likes to be walked and bounced. When we need to get work done we put her in the swing. But don't be fooled...if she wants to be walked and bounced, the swing is NOT the same. She got a little fussy in the doctors office while we were waiting on Dr. Young. I walked back and forth in the room and bounced and said to Sarah "Oh we love to walk and bounce don't we!" to which Stephen said..."You need to say "I" for her, unless you like to walk and bounce too." I replied..."If she's quiet and happy, I LOVE to walk and bounce!"

Hopefully, we'll get this stomach thing figured out soon...

This is that sweet sleepy face we like!

A week and a half in...

It's hard to believe so much has happened since Sarah was five days old!

The breathing issue turned out to be a bigger deal than I thought...although not as big of a deal as it could of been. Let me explain...

I had always been able to get my breathing under control when it became difficult, but last Sunday night, after doing some simple walking around the house and getting ready to watch the Hunger Games with mom (and Sarah) I suddenly became so short of breath that I felt like I couldn't breath. It wasn't like a panic attack because I've had that before. (Besides, Sarah had been relatively easy to care for - plus I had mom and Stephen with me...)

Long story short I ended up spending the night in the ER at BSA. (And we thought those days were over...) Stephen went with me and even though my mom is a perfectly capable mother who took care of both a fussy baby (my brother) and a baby hooked up to a heart monitor born very premature (me) I cried and cried (not helping the breathing!!!) over leaving my five day old baby. Sarah had been exclusively breastfed up until then, so no bottle and no formula. I fretted over giving her a bottle at so young because everyone makes such a big deal about nipple confusion. I did not want to introduce formula, but do to a back order issue with the electric pumps and an ill fitting manual pump, I had not pumped any breast milk and I was sure this one night was going to kill my efforts at breast feeding. That and the only time Sarah ever cries hysterically is when she's hungry (I'll take responsibility for that as a Ward). What if she didn't take the bottle OR the formula? I would have left a screaming child with my mother for who knows how long...

After 8 hours overnight in the ER, I was given oxygen, had a chest x-ray and a CT scan, was told I had pneumonia and fluid on my lungs and given an antibiotic. Sarah - took the bottle no problem. I had to pump (with my ill fitting painful manual pump) and dump for the first half of the day and then she went back to breast no problem. (Except mom's supply having dropped - which we're slowly getting better at)

The next day I was told to go to Dr. Anderson's office immediately...and God love that man...he says "Pneumonia? WHO told you that?? What doctor was this? I don't even know this guy...you don't have a fever, you're not sweating you don't have pneumonia!" But what he was concerned with was a little bigger of a problem (and perhaps that was part of his frustration) It was a condition called pericardial myopathy which is weakness in the heart left by pregnancy...I was booked with a cardiologist the next day for an echo-cardiogram. (Fluid on the longs is just one symptom...)

It could have been really scary...but fortunately, I do NOT have pericardial myopathy. But my blood pressure is taking its sweet time going down and I did have a fair amount of fluid left in my body. I go back in a month to make sure my blood pressure goes back down. It was chalked up to my body having a really difficult time recovering after gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia and major surgery. (And it probably doesn't help I'm "severely anemic".

So let's talk about that fluid because it's a week and a half post-partum and I have lost 30 lbs. Mind you, I only gained 15 - but that's what malnutrition and throwing your guts up for six months then being put on a restricted diet does to you. But let's think about this...Sarah was 5 lbs 10 ounces. So to date...I have lost 25 lbs of fluid. It's bizzare. But my lungs are feeling better and I'm feeling better.

So by Wednesday it was time for Papa (my dad) to arrive and crisis was averted. So onto why you REALLY visited the blog. Thank you to those of you who pitied me and read the part about "mom".

First we had our first bath. Dad made sure he got the most obnoxious shots of bath time as he could. As you can tell. Sarah was not particularly fond of the experience.

Of course, I use only the best Arbonne Baby Care for my daughter. ;-)

But it didn't seem to matter much. You can tell the deep concentration on my face as I try to scrub the back of a screaming, squirmy wet bet baby. Bless her heart...

Towel time wasn't near as bad until mommy decided the towel needed to come off...

Because it was time to put her in her cute kitty PJ's from her great Aunt Cathy. (Which of course, makes mommy happy to indoctrinate into baby Sarah that cats are indeed a good thing). Now we're all clean and ready to meet Papa!

(Side note: Several of you have asked out Mr. Cat aka Palmer is handling his demotion. He seems a little lonelier than usual. But I try to take intentional time to pet him each day. He's been a little curious of Sarah, but for the most part hasn't been too interested. I think that will change when she's old enough to chase him and pull his tail. Something, no doubt, Mommy will discourage and Daddy will encourage. We need to get our "we parent together" minds together on that one...Mommy WILL win.)

Side note over.

At last Papa got to Amarillo and met us in the hall way as we were finishing up a feeding from earlier. I was surprised at the group hung (Dad did actually hug me first, although he later apologized and hugged me because he forgot, and thought he hadn't hugged me...I'll take it either way.)

Love at first site on both accounts. 

This is one of baby Sarah's very favorite places to take a nap. I remember it was one of mine as a little girl. Those broad shoulders and warm chest. My dad always seemed to radiate warmth that made nap time so easy...Sarah and Papa often nap together.

But it's more fun when Sarah is bright eyed and saying hello to the world. Papa loves to see her eyes open. They still aren't quite focusing but you can tell every day she gets a little closer.

The Sunday night trip to the ER didn't help us straighten out night from day. Mom (Mimi), bless her, was trying to stave off feeding Sarah thinking I could get home and breast feed. I think it caused Sarah to take a step back and mix her days and nights up (although I do appreciate the gesture). There are times when she is wide awake and has kept Mom and Dad up most of the night. Finally I got so tired we both completely zonked out when we were left alone.

Mom (Mimi) thought the picture was precious as we all look so exhausted. The picture is less than flattering to me, but I remember thinking that taking a nap with baby and Mr. Cat would be my definition of nirvana. It was...

As you can see, my Kindle is propped up. I was reading...apparently a while ago since it shut itself done to idle. Who can resist a nap when you've been up most of the night, there's a warm baby on your chest breathing sweetly and a cat keeping your legs warm. Anyone else would've looked equally exhausted...

Last night we made great strides in the night time reversal. I had done some reading on how to readjust her clock. My Breastfeeding 101 class (which I'm constantly using things from) recommended that if you're baby was especially fussy at night and was sleeping in the same room to move her because she likely smells milk on mom. So for the first time (which was a little nerve wracking) Sarah spent most of the night in her crib in stead of the pack and play bassinet.

I kept all the lights down low, and the second she cried, I was up changing a diaper and feeding her, no matter whether it was technically time. I didn't say a word to her, we just got down to business so that she would know if she cried in the night that was going to be the routine. And as has been the case most of the week, she cried on and off from the time we went to bed (around 10) until around 1:30am. I was diligent and on a mission. By the time I got her down at 1:30/2:00am, She went until about 4:30...again with the no nonesense changing and feeding. I was finished by around 5:30. Stephen who gets up at 6 on Sunday mornings was going to take the last feeding, but I knew if she was sleeping there was no reason to wake her up.

So around 7:45 she woke up again ready to feed. We got up flipped all the lights on and opened the blinds...ta-da...we made it through the night with more sleep than we'd really gotten since we first brought her home. I was thankful because Sunday is probably Stephen's most exhausting work day and he deserves to be in the right frame of mind with the important work that is to be done on Sunday.

Here's to hoping we can play the game again tonight and have just as much success.

In the meantime...naptime.

5 Days Old!

Sarah Grace is officially 5 days old today! Our first night home was a success. She only got us up about three times and I was still giddy enough to have her home that I didn't mind. The next day, Mimi got in town and boy, are we grateful for her help!

We're all just so smitten with Miss Sarah! She has been the most perfect baby. I feel like I was that pregnant lady that didn't want to hear about anyone's "perfect pregnancy"...I'm totally that mom that has the baby that only feeds two or three times a night. She only cries when she's hungry, so we have to be vigilant about dirty diapers because she doesn't let us know. She sleeps very well (takes after her mom that way.)It's like God's taking pity on me after such a rough pregnancy!

She continues to breastfeed well. I'm so glad I took a class on that as it has made our learning process so much easier. I've not had any issues other than a little tenderness.

I'm recovering slowly but surely. Right now, most of my pain is around the incision part and still soreness when getting up and down. I'm still taking pain medicine and an anti-inflammatory. I tried to get off the narcotics yesterday but it was clearly too early. I'm also having trouble breathing here and there. Taking nice deep breaths can be difficult. I try to cough as I was instructed to get the fluid out of my lungs, but it's painful to cough. I need a good deep productive cough and I can't seem to get one. Mom and Stephen remark that I'm sometimes very pale and I'm wondering if it has to do with my breathing. If I'm not any better by my follow up with Dr. Anderson on Tuesday I will address it with him.

In the meantime, our days have been filled with spoiling that sweet little girl. The first picture is the one of the first time she opened her eyes for any good period of time, but we got some good pictures today.

Here she is snuggling with her daddy. She loves him very much. One of the funniest things she does when she gets hungry and is cuddling with daddy, is she searches for a place to feed off of (aka a nipple). Stephen loves to give her lots and lots of kisses and she eventually opened wide and tried to root on to his nose. Well...I guess the tip is kind of pointy!

We stayed home from church this morning because the doctors really don't want her in large crowds for two months (or passed around much for the first two weeks - when she will get her first round of vaccines.) When we were told that - I asked the nurse if she wanted to tell the church that...I'm guessing though as she gets older, her pediatrician will be able to direct us better as to when we can get out.

She was however wide-eyed this morning, so Mimi and I put her in a cute outfit and took pictures.
Here are a few of our favorites...

I'm convinced she looks like a doll baby, but I know I'm biased. I just think she has the most perfect little face! We can't decide who she looks more like. I think she has Stephen's mouth, my nose..and every day I think the eyes are a toss up.

After this, she fed, we changed her diaper and she fell dead asleep.

Needless to say when she falls asleep like this on me, I melt into a puddle. It's also really easy to get sleepy myself. She must have had a good feeding that time because she let me sleep for a full three hours. We slept HARD and Momma really needed it. (See perfect baby...)

Thanks for all your congratulations and well wishes! We're still on cloud 9!