Learning

We're 3 weeks into parenthood and I am learning new things daily:
*Time is measured elapsed, not time of day (ex: Sadie slept for 60 minutes vs Sadie slept from 2pm to 3pm)
*My list of things to accomplish is narrowed down to keeping baby happy/figuring out how to make baby happy..which leaves me sometimes trying to figure out how I spent the entire day
*Being the mother of a newborn is tiring.  The hours you lose at night are hard to make up during the day.
*Little bitty babies have a lot of things come out of their bodies...I have already been pooed, peed and spit up on many times. (Yes even little girls will pee on you).
*Showers and make up are a privilege...although showers may actually be a necessity (see above observation) you have to find time for them...
*At least one load of laundry is a daily necessity 

All of these things though pale in comparison to the other things that I am learning, I never knew:
*how much you could love something that is so tiny
*how happy it makes you when they want to hold your hand or actually make eye contact with you
*how perfect, beautiful and cute they are..yes, even when they are crying or it is 2 am
*how much team work is essential with your spouse
*how unfathomable motherhood is not matter how many books you read or what you hear in the 9 months leading up to it..the moment you finally meet your little person, your life changes

*how fulfilled your life becomes with this one tiny life

Salted Pretzel Caramel Brownies

I like to cook, but I LOVE to bake.  Sounds about right for a diabetic to have a sweet tooth, right? : ) Specifically, I love to bake anything that involves chocolate. 
I came across this recipe on Pinterest (of course) and love the way they turned out.

Salted Pretzel Caramel Brownies
from Recipe Sweet
*I don't have any pictures as these were quickly devoured, but the original blog post from Recipe Sweet has step by step pictures if you are a visual learner : )

Ingredients

1 box Betty Crocker fudge brownies (for a 9×13 pan)

2 eggs

1/4 cup water

2/3 cup vegetable oil

3 cups pretzels (I used the stick kind, but can see where the loopy ones may lay flatter)

1 jar caramel sauce

coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, or grease with cooking spray.
2. Prepare brownie batter according to package instructions.
3. Pour about 1/3 of the brownie batter into the prepared baking pan. Spread until the bottom of the pan is evenly coated. Then add two even layers of pretzels, covering the entire surface. Carefully spoon the remaining brownie batter on top to cover the pretzels.
4. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the brownies comes out clean. Remove and set on a cooling rack to cool.
5. Spoon the caramel sauce onto the top of the brownies in an even layer. (If it is too thick, spoon the sauce into a small bowl first and microwave for 30 seconds to thin.) Sprinkle the caramel with a few pinches of sea salt.
6. Serve warm, or let cool to room temperature then serve. (I kept them in the freezer when not serving as the caramel sauce never really seemed to completely set unless frozen). 

40 weeks/1 week

I promise at some point these posts about Sadie will slow down, but she is absolutely my world right now, so you get to read about her : )
 Today was actually Sadie's due date, so I thought I'd put up her growth (in my belly of course) over the past 40 weeks.  She is one week old today!

Sadie's Birth Story in Pictures

 

 

 

 

Sadie's Birth Story

It was decided almost at my first doctor's appointments, that the goal of my pregnancy would be to get to 39 weeks with a healthy baby to avoid any complications that could arise from my being diabetic.  To ensure that this happened, I went to my OB, a perinatal specialist (high risk OB) and my diabetes doctor frequently, especially in the last trimester.
At about 37 weeks, we started noticing that although Sadie was very healthy, they were estimating her to be large.  At the same point, I was not very effaced or dilated at all, meaning that inducing may or may not work.  My high risk doctor at this point started mentioning the possibility of a c-section, but we trucked on hoping that I would still be able to have a regular delivery.
At my 38 and 38 1/2 week appointments, we made a plan: although I was not fully effaced or dilated at all, we would go ahead and start the induction process on Wednesday night with the pitocin starting Thursday morning. 
These are my 39 week pictures just before we left for the hospital on Wednesday (good thing we delivered when we did..my maternity shirts were not doing the best job of covering my stomach anymore..)

On Wednesday night we ran a few errands in the Woodlands, ate dinner at Zoe's and got checked in to the hospital. They started the first medicine, gave me medicine to help me sleep and we called it a night. 

Early Thursday morning, they started the pitocin in my i.v. and although they kept coming in to check me that morning, no real change had occurred (I wasn't much more effaced or dilated).  Taking into consideration her expected size (the week before they were estimating 8lb 13oz) and the fact that my body was not cooperating, the decision was made to switch to a c-section.  Within 30 minutes of the decision being made, we made our way down to the operating room, the anesthesiologist had given me the spinal, Cody got to come in and I was all prepped.  I was nervous slightly because I was just so ready to meet her and probably more so because I had a horrible idea of a c-section in my mind.    The c-section process was so quick and we got to see our baby girl so fast! 

She was smaller than estimated at 8lb 5oz, 19 3/4 inches long with a head full of brown hair (so glad the heartburn had a purpose! : )

 

We are so thankful for the doctors that worked together to help ensure that Sadie was as healthy as could be when she was born.  We delivered at Memorial Hermann in the Woodlands and had the absolute best experience from the hospital itself to the nursing staff.   Not an incredibly long birth story, but an incredibly happy one. We are learning how to be good parents to Sadie and falling in love with her sweetness along the way.