3 Weeks Old

Sara Kate is 3 weeks old today, and I'll be honest and say that it's been a rough day! It started by her wanting to be up at 1:30 am, 3:30 am, 5:00 am, and up for good at 7:00 am (every other day this week she has gotten up to eat at 1:30 am and 4:30 am). Yes, she wanted to eat at those times but mainly she wanted to be held...she wouldn't eat long and then she would fall asleep. She also hasn't wanted to nap at all this afternoon. I read about a 3-week growth spurt...hopefully that is what is going on. But needless to say, mama is tired! She spent a little time with Chris' dad this morning while I had to run to the courthouse and the DMV (thanks again, Bob!!). Yep, I almost let the tags on my truck expire...whoops! Fortunately, the DMV was pretty much empty and I was able to get in and out pretty quick. It was my first time to go out by myself and honestly, it was nice to get out for a bit, even though it was only like an hour (and that seems like it was the one and only hour Sara Kate slept today). At times, I feel like I'm gonna go stir-crazy sitting at the house. But I am enjoying my time with Sara Kate and I just wish Chris could be here with us. Other eventful happenings on her 3-week birthday is that we did some tummy time today! She's pretty good at holding her head up when she's laying on my chest or when I'm holding her on my shoulder, but today I layed a blanket on the floor and put her down on her tummy for a bit. She did pretty good!
This pictures says, ok mom, I'm worn out!
This past week we got her newborn pictures taken. I read that between 2 and 3 weeks was a great time to do newborn pictures because babies are still sleeping alot and they are easy to move around and pose. Not our Sara Kate!! She's such a wiggly worm that she was not easy to pose! Hopefully we'll still end up with some good shots, though.

I'm definitely no photographer, but here are some other snap shots I've taken in the last couple days.
I just noticed that it seems like all these pictures are her on her changing table (which is missing the cover because she peed on it 2 days in a row...nice!). She's pretty content laying up there, which makes it a good place to take her picture!

Chris just got the munchkin to fall asleep so that's means I need to hit the sack, too!!

Happy Due Date to Me!!

So today is April 23, the date Sara Kate was due. I thought for sure I'd still be pregnant, so it's still hard to believe that I have a 2 week old! Even though she came early and we weren't completely prepared, we are just so thankful that she's here and she's healthy! I thought I'd take today to do a little 'pregnancy recap', if you will.

I was very blessed to have an uneventful pregnancy, and I really enjoyed being pregnant. I didn't have much morning sickness and the real fun started once I started feeling her move...I loved feeling her move around in my belly!! She was definitely a wiggle worm on the inside and that has translated to the outside world because she certainly likes to squirm around. I was waiting until the end to divulge how much weight I gained because if it was too much I was going to keep it to myself. Ha! I ended up gaining about 23 pounds over the course of my pregnancy (which I was thrilled with...I think being so active at work this winter/spring really helped keep my weight in check), and right now I'm within about a pound of my pre-pregnancy weight. This morning I got brave and tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans and much to my surprise, they fit!! Also, as of today my diamond engagement ring/wedding band fits again, too! Yay! I was sad to have to put that in my jewelery box about a month and a half ago. I'd been wearing my plain silver band I wear when I do field work but even that got tight the last week or so before Sara Kate was born. Here's the last belly picture that we took (we took it before we left the house in the early morning hours of April 7 - that was the day we thought my water broke)...so it's my (almost) 38 week picture.
And here's my 2-week postpartum picture.
And here's the perfect little angel we are so blessed to see every day.
I found this quote back in the fall and wrote it down so I wouldn't forget it. I think it sums things up perfectly.

"With one hello, I'll never be the same." - Joy Williams

2 Weeks Old!

Sara Kate is 2 weeks old today!!! Not only is today her 2 week birthday but her umbilical cord stump fell off this morning. YAY!!! Currently she is asleep in my lap and I'm actually able to type with 2 hands. We'll see how long that lasts! Ha! The week has gone pretty good with Chris back at school. She and I have been napping together in the mornings after her morning feeding...she doesn't want to go back in her bed and she wants to be held. So I prop up and she lays on my chest. Then once she's up, she gets her diaper changed, she gets a bath, and she gets new clothes on. After that she usually is screaming (from the bath) and so she eats, which calms her down and usually puts her to sleep for the afternoon nap. One day I was able to put her down in her bassinet and I got some things done around the house. But because she likes to be held, a few other days she and I have napped together with her asleep on my chest. When Chris gets home he can't wait to see her. It's very sweet. Night time gets a little iffy. The routine changes depending on how she's doing...she seems to get gas pretty bad in the evenings. I try to feed her and put her down between 9:30 and 10:30 pm. That means she's up to eat around 1:00-1:30 am, and then again between 4:00-5:00 am. This is the schedule most of the time. Wednesday morning after her 1:00 feeding she had pretty bad gas and was up pretty much the rest of the night. That may have been caused by something I ate because I had horrible stomach cramps, too. So that's what we've been up to. I've also been trying to take her out in her stroller at some point during the day, too. She likes that! Tomorrow morning I have to take her to the pediatrician at 11:00 so it'll be interesting to see how it goes with me getting dressed (more so than just jumping in and out of the shower) and dealing with her too. Ahh, the joys of parenthood. :-)

And now for some pictures...I mean, that's what everyone really wants to see, right?? :-) I think I caught a quazi-smile this morning while taking pictures of her. I know she's too young to be smiling for real but she does grin, especially while in a milk-coma!
We've noticed that her eyes are getting bluer. We were eating dinner the other night and she was sitting in my lap and the light was coming in the window just right to really make us notice that her eyes are getting lighter. Since Chris and I are both blue-eyed, I always figured our child would have blue eyes. It's still early, and I guess things could change, but for now it definitely looks like Sara Kate will be have pretty little blue eyes.
Last Saturday Sara Kate got a visit from her Aunt Jenny, Uncle Jason, and cousin Hannah! She got fussy while they were here, but Aunt Jenny got her to take a long nap! It was the first time for Uncle Jason to meet her, too.
Cousin Hannah wasn't super interested. She definitely says it's Kristen's baby, though! She showed a little interest when Paw-paw (I have no idea how they spell it) was holding Sara Kate, but other than that, she was just interested in Sara Kate's vibrating chair (which she took in and out of the living room) and her stroller, which Uncle Chris took her for a spin in. Some day I'm sure they'll be great friends!!
And finally, I'll add one last picture. Chris and I just were cracking up as she was laying this way. Who knows what Sara Kate was dreaming about, but I'll title this picture 'Things that make you go hmmm....'
And for the record, I was able to type out this entire blog with her asleep in my lap. Sweet baby! She's starting to stir a bit now, which is good because it's time for her to eat. Guess that means I gotta wrap this up!!

A Week of Firsts

So this week brought several firsts for the Michaels Family, including Sara Kate's first visit to the pediatrician, her first ride in her stroller, her 1 week old birthday, and our first parent freak-out. Lets start with the pediatrician! Tuesday we had to take her in so they could check her stats. She weighed in at 6 lb., 13.5 oz. He said her weight was great...he had expected her to lose down to 6 lb. 8 or 9 oz., so she's doing great with weight. He said on average babies gain about 1/2 an ounce per day and sometimes they can gain a whole ounce a day. We - guess I should say I - take her back Friday for another weight check.

Before we left the house...raise your hand if your Sure! :-)

On the way there

Snuggled up with daddy, waiting for the doctor

Like I mentioned, Sara Kate also took her first ride in her stroller this week. We loaded her and one of the dogs up and took a nice walk around the neighborhood. She did good...just kinda hung out the whole time. It was a nice family outing...minus one dog.
Thursday, Sara Kate turned 1 week old! Can't believe our little girl is already a week old!! Chris built her little vibrating chair so we let her hang out in that for a bit. She seemed to like it...I put her in it this morning after her bath and she sat in it for a while and was quite content. Hopefully it will be a nice alternative to laying in the crib or us holding her.
Finally, our first parent freak out. Friday morning she was fussy and then the area under her eyes got really puffy and red...kinda like where your sinuses are. We didn't really know what to think so Chris called the pediatrician and they said bring her in. The doctor said she looks perfect, and the redness/swelling under her eyes was more than likely a swollen tear duct. How would we have figured that out?? We wouldn't have! Anyway, he pushed and rolled it back into place, and Saturday she looked fine! Crisis averted. We have no photo documentation of that little trip. :-) Oh, and the pediatrician we saw also has a daughter named Sara Kate. What a good name!

All in all, we're doing well. Sara Kate is a pretty good baby. She gets fussy when she gas bothers her, and right now she hates bath time!! She really likes to be held and she likes to be swaddled. She likes to lay on my chest after eating, and we've taken a nap or 2 like that...my sweet girl. As for eating, she's a good eater! She definitely lets me know when she's hungry, and she'll eat for about an hour. We seem to be on an every 3-4 hour schedule for the last few days, including at night. We're doing our best to get on a schedule, but I guess at a week old it all depends on what she wants. Chris goes back to work tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous about doing it all alone. He's good at taking over in the morning to let me sleep in a little more or to take a shower or even to let me nap at some point in the day. So we'll see what the week brings!!

Family

Here are some pictures of Sara Kate with family over the last couple days, including our first family picture. It's not the best because it was taken with an iPhone, but it's our new little family!
And just because, here are just a few other cute shots of our little munchkin.

She's here!

We proudly welcomed our little Sara Katherine into our world on Thursday, April 8, 2010. Here's the story.

Wednesday morning at 2 am I got up to go to the bathroom and we thought my water had broken. Either that or I peed my pants. Ha! I called the emergency line and they said to come on to the hospital. I wasn't having contractions or anything so I wasn't sure that was what happened. I took time to take a shower and we had to pack the hospital bag. Yeah, we were slackers! So we got to the hospital about 4:30 or so, got checked and I was dilated to 2 cm and my water had NOT broken. While being monitored I started having contractions that weren't very strong but I could see them on the monitor. At that point I knew what contractions felt like. We were sent home. I had a big report to get finished so I went up to work and Chris headed to school. During the day, I was still having dull contractions that would come and go. Wednesday afternoon we had our last baby shower at McNair, and it was a great shower! We got tons of stuff. We got home, and I spent some time trying to unpack and organize the new stuff. We went to church that night at 7, and we were home and ready for bed by 8:30 since we were running on little sleep. I fell asleep about 9, and contractions had started again but I was able to sleep for about an hour and a half. At 10:30 I was awakened by stronger ones that I could no longer sleep through. I watched the clock for about an hour trying to time them and they were getting consistently stronger. I got in the shower at 11:30 and went into the living room to try and get comfy. Not possible. Contractions were getting stronger. They were between 2 and 4 minutest apart. I finally woke Chris up at 1:00 am, and we got ready to go back to the hospital. By 2:30 we were in the ER, we found out that my water had broken at some point (or so they said...I think I was maybe slowly leaking a little fluid) and I was dilated to 4 cm. By this point, the contractions were really bad and they were all in my back. OUCH!!!!!! We were sent to a labor/delivery room and at this point, my tracking the timing of events becomes hazy. They put a call in the for the anesthesiologist who finally showed up. YAY!!! Well, it turned out that was a painful procedure. I had to lay on my right side while he put the epidural in. After he poked a bit (all the while I am having awful back labor), he said 'You have a difficult back.' I said, 'meaning?' He said, 'meaning, I don't know, you have a difficult back.' Nice. Eventually he thought he got it right, and thankfully he did. The pain subsided completely and I was able to relax. For all those who haven't had babies yet, epidurals are a god-send!!!!!!!! I seriously don't know how women give birth without them. The rest of the time I watched the contraction monitor get bigger and I kept saying thank goodness I can't feel those. Anyway, I kinda got hung up at 4 cm and they decided to start pitocin to move things along. I can't remember what time that was but I went from 4 cm to 9 cm really fast. I didn't think my parents were going to make it here. By 9:00 am I was fully dilated, but they decided to let me 'labor down' to allow her head to move down further. At 10:45 am they came in and said I was going to start pushing at 10 after 11. By this point my parents had made it up here and of course, Chris' parents were here, too. I started pushing at 11:15 am and once again, thank goodness I couldn't feel anything but pressure. Things started out a little slow; she wasn't moving down too fast. Then all of a sudden my pushes were better and she even started to slide out when I wasn't pushing. The doctor came in (he is the husband of my regular doctor and we actually really like him...he's the one I saw at my appointment on Monday), I pushed a little more, and Sara Kate was born at 11:57 am. 10 fingers, 10 toes, and yep, definitely a girl. Chris opted not to cut the cord, and actually, the doctor had to do it before she was out all the way because it was all wrapped up. They took her to the warmer to get her cleaned up and Chris went with her with the camera (of course!). She scored an 8 and 9 on her Apgar scores (I think that's right)...not bad! She weighed 7 lb., 2 oz., and was 20 inches long (my mom said that's exactly how big I was when I was born). I ended up with a 2nd degree tear...turned out after he head was out, Dr. Hix was sliding her out and she stuck her hand through early and it caused a little tear. Once again, glad I could feel nothing!! I got stitched up, Chris brought her to me, and we just stared at her. Our beautiful baby girl. All I could think was thank you God for this little blessing. I tried to feed her pretty quickly and then we let the all the grandparents come meet her. They took her to the nursery after about 2 hours and I was taken to a post-delivery room around 4 pm or so. Our first night with her went alright. She actually let us sleep from 1:30 am to 5:30 am straight. That was great, especially since we were both running on very little sleep. Friday morning we met with the pediatrician and he said that everything looked great with the baby, and he would release her as soon as I was released. The doctor came in and saw me around 1 pm, and said I was good to go. Before we left, the lactation consultant came in for a feeding and she was really helpful and reassured me that I was in fact doing things right. We headed home about 3:30 pm! We are doing good here at home. Last night was a little rough...Sara Kate was up every couple of hours and had some gas which made her fussy for a while. Today we gave her her first bath at home, which she HATED!! She hates to be naked, including when we change her clothes. So she screamed while I wiped her down and then she calmed down once she was wrapped up again. She's asleep now with her Grandmother Greer, and I couldn't be happier that my parents are here to help out. I need to go feed her soon so I'll wrap this up with some pictures!

Headed home!I am in love with this picture....beautiful little face looking up at mama.