Look Who's One Today!!!

It is Sadie's very first birthday today! My how the time flies. I can't believe my little baby has gotten so big so fast. We had a pretty exciting day today. We started it out with breakfast and playing and then a quick nap. Then we headed off to the Pizza Factory to have lunch with Dad. (We were planning to have lunch there last year on this day and never quite made it there because we started having a baby instead). After lunch we went swimming with our friends Isabelle and Hayden. Even birthday girls need naps, so after swimming Sadie took a long nap. But after, we had dinner and then went with Dad to get some birthday ice cream. We finished the day by having a bath, playing with dad and then off to bed for a good night's rest.

We love our little girl and are so amazed at what a bright and joyful spirit she has. It is super fun to watch her learn and experience new things. What a world-wind year it has been and I am sure the one to come will be just as exciting.

We are having a big first birthday party on Saturday so I will keep you posted complete with pictures of Sadie smearing her face with chocolate cake.

Here are some highlights of the year:

First Smile: September 2, 2008

First Coos: Sometime in October

First cold: End of November

First Solid Food: December 6, 2008 (Rice Cereal)

First Rolls Over: January 2, 2009 (back to tummy)

First Sits up on Her Own: January 4, 2009

Rolls over again: January 29, 2009 (tummy to back)

First Word: April 11, 2009 (Mama)

First Crawls: May 13, 2009

First Tooth: (teeth, two bottom front teeth) beginning of June

You guys don't have to read this part, it is just a remembrance for me:

My journal entry from one year ago August 5, 2008:

On Tuesday August 5,2008 Ryan and I went to see Dr. Watts for our last check up before the due date of our baby on August 8th. It was just supposed to be a quick check up and then we were going to go to lunch with Sandra and Bryant (Grandma and Grandpa Johnson) who were in town for the Neuenswander reunion and then they were planning on staying for our baby’s birth.

Up to this point I had not had any real contractions. I had had some back pain, a few inconsistent contractions, but nothing serious. However, I was dilated to a 3. The Dr. came in and took one look at me and told me that I had a big baby on my hands, at least 8 pounds and because I hadn’t had any real contractions he felt it would be best to induce. I thought about it, and… induce on my due date of 8-8-08 would be pretty cool, and we had family in town… “Ok,” I said, “Let’s induce on Friday.” “No,” said Dr. Watts, “If we are going to do this, we are going to do it today.” As shock spread throughout my body the dr. informed me that the hospital would be ready for us in 1 hour. Panicked, scared, excited and happy, Ryan and I rushed home to get our hospital bags, calling family and work on the way.

At home, Ryan gave me a quick blessing asking that the delivery would go smoothly and safely and that our little baby would be born healthy and without complication. I was still very worried and scared of the unknown, but quickly peace replaced panic and I was simply excited.

As we were driving to the hospital I started to have a pretty bad back pain, but as back pain is pretty much a daily occurrence for me, I attributed it to sitting for a long time on the dr.'s table without a support and not going to my chiropractor appointments regularly. Besides, contractions hurt in the front, not the back, right?

We arrived at the hospital just on time. They hurried us into the delivery room. I changed into the beautiful hospital gown and crawled into bed. They wasted no time getting me all hooked up to the monitors. It was very cool to see baby’s heart rate right up on the screen. There was another line that showed my heart rate. And there was still another line that went up and down and came and went. “Do you feel that?” asked the nurse. I looked at her puzzled. “Feel what?” “You are having a contraction right now, a moderately strong one.” As we watched the screen it turned out that I was already in a regular labor pattern with contractions about 1 to 2 minutes apart. That back pain turned out to be back labor. No need to induce! I was very excited about that.

Soon Dr. Watts came to check on me. Since I was already in labor he didn’t induce, but he did want to move me along a little bit faster so he broke my water. And boy did my water break! I had tons of fluid in there. It just kept coming and coming. It was a very strange feeling; good because it relieved a lot of pressure from my stomach, bad because it definitely made the contractions come faster and stronger. Within minutes the contractions were coming every minute, lasting for about a minute and they were strong enough to take my breath away. When my water broke we noticed that the baby had had a bowel movement. This was a big cause for concern as it could lead to infections for me or the baby and other complications. We were informed that because of this there would be a NICU team present at the delivery.

My labor continued steadily and after about 2 hours I was dilated to a 6 and 80% effaced. The contractions were definitely hurting, but still manageable. My plan had always been to wait as long as possible to get an epidural. I wanted to be able to feel the contractions and to walk around and help the baby move down the birth canal. However at this point I was informed that the anesthesiologist was heading into a c-section delivery and if I wanted an epidural it would have to be now or I would have to wait for another 1-2 hours. I picked NOW. All I can say is that an epidural is a wonderful gift of modern medicine. I could still feel that I was having a contraction, but it felt like a tickle in my tummy. It didn’t hurt at all. As the hours passed I watched my contractions being monitored on the computer screen. The line kept getting higher and higher and closer and closer together.

As I continued through labor the nurse got more and more concerned that baby’s heart rate wasn’t following the normal dip and rise pattern. As the hours passed she hooked me up to more and more sensitive and accurate monitoring devices. I had tubes and cords and probes coming out of every part of my body. To make matters worse I developed a severe fever even though I was shivering uncontrollably.

After I had labored for 7 hours, dilated to a 91/2 and effaced 95% the baby still was at a -1 station. She just wasn’t dropping. Suddenly my temperature spiked to 106 degrees and the baby’s heart rate dropped to 96 beats/min. Something was wrong. Dr. Watts came into my room and informed me that he didn’t want to risk my health and the baby’s health through a long delivery. Under the circumstances a c-section was necessary. Suddenly the room was a flurry undoing monitors and preparing me for operation.
I was so nervous as they rolled me down the hall and into the operating room. I was lifted onto the operating room table and a sheet was hung below my neck so all I could see were the bright lights above me.

Soon Ryan joined me, dressed from head to toe in scrubs. He sat at my head and held my hand. As they started the surgery, the only thing that kept me calm was looking into Ryan’s eyes. He tried to keep my mind off of what was going on. We talked about all of the fun times we had had in Hawaii. Suddenly I felt a very strong push on my stomach and then relief, like a ten pound weight had been lifted on my stomach. The baby was out! The next seconds that passed seemed like a century as I waited to hear her cry. I thought that if she cried that meant that she was ok; that there weren’t any complications from the meconium. Finally she cried and it was the cutest little cry I have ever heard.

I don’t remember much after that. I was very drugged. Ryan went to help clean her off and cut her umbilical cord. I vaguely remember holding her, looking at her cute little puffy cheeks, seeing her dark hair. After seeing her I knew that she was definitely our little "Sadie Anne."
They rolled me back to the delivery room. After some time they brought Sadie into me and I tried feeding her. Then after some more time passed they rolled me up to my recovery room.