Our Shaw Family Blog

May Memories

2011-06-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

It's been 5 months since an update.... Couldn't even keep up with 1 time per month like Sarah's 1st year! Well here's what our Shaw family has been up to.... there's a new little sister in the making and we have a video for you... No, this isn't that kind of video... :)

I think Sarah wants to name her little sister, "Elmo." We'll see, we still need a middle name, so Lillian Elmo Shaw it could be!

Also we tried to sell our house to move into a bigger house, but it's probably not in the cards for this summer. Maybe next summer...

Here are some more pictures\video from this month...

Sarah demonstrating she is already a sinner -- breaking the 1st and 2nd commandments.

We bought a water table to enjoy over Memorial Day Weekend. It was a big success! And a great weekend to use it since it was so hot!

Here are some words Sarah is saying all the time now:

baby

ball

book

water

hot

wet

Dada, Mama

"nana" -for Banana

Elmo - it was "Mo mo" for about a month

bottle

milk

Addy - her friend at daycare

Sarah - 11 Months

2011-01-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

Events:

Christmas: Sarah got a ton of toys for Christmas! We had both sets of our parents over on Christmas morning and attempted to get her to open them, but mostly we opened them for her.

First Words: Sarah said "Da Da" and "Ut-oh" early this month, knowing what they mean!

Steps: Sarah took her first steps this month! She isn't walking for the majority of the time, but it's a start.

Teeth: Both of Sarah's front 2 teeth started coming in this month.

Day to Day:

Eating: We started sippy cups this month and Sarah is doing ok with the cups, I think she just doesn't like juice. A couple days ago she reached for a glass of ginger ale I was drinking and I let her drink some (out of a cup!) -- she made the best face.

Playing: Among her favorite gifts from Christmas is a baby doll from Mommy. She actually feeds her a bottle, which is really cute!

Sleeping: Sarah sleeps through the night! She goes from 8pm-7am and it's wonderful...

Favorite thing about this age: When she sleeps she tucks her hands under her and puts her butt up in the air like when she was really little.

Least Favorite thing: She's so squirmy on the changing table.

Sarah's 1st Steps!

2010-12-20T18:08:00.000-08:00

Look who's walking!

Sarah - 10 Months

2010-12-05T10:31:00.000-08:00

Events:

Thanksgiving: We hosted Thanksgiving with Ted and my families at our house this year. Both our parents and our brothers were able to come and we had a great time. I loved seeing Sarah interact with her uncles. She had so much fun. She also enjoyed eating with the family. She was so tired that day she fell asleep at 6:30 and slept through the night!

Stairs!: This past weekend we noticed that Sarah can crawl up the stairs very efficiently. She now regularly crawls the whole way up a set of stairs. I have tried to get her to crawl down the stairs, but she just likes to go up right now.

Day to Day:

Eating: Sarah definitely prefers to feed herself with her fingers. Her favorite foods these days are corn, mac & cheese and chicken nuggets.

Playing: Sarah loves pulling things out of toy boxes and baskets these days. She also likes stuffed animals. One of her favorite games is to offer you something, you take it and say thank you, then she takes it back.

Sleeping: Sarah still wakes up pretty frequently once a night. But, there were definitely some nights this past month she slept through!

Communicating: She's definitely babbling and it must make sense to her. (We often think she's saying "what" or "cat" but we're still not sure). There's lots of intonation in her voice and she looks at us like we understand her. She likes to clap her hands when she's happy too. We're teaching her "High 5" and "Kisses" and she's really picking them up fast.

Favorite thing about this age: When she's joking around and cuddles and lays her head down on my chest.

Least Favorite thing: She puts everything in her mouth! I think I pull something out of there daily.

Photo session this month was a challenge... Here are my favorites!

Hello Photoshop!

2010-11-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

I just had to give Photoshop a try after reading this blog post from Katie Bower@BowerPowerBlog

These are the results!

Sarah - 9 Months

2010-10-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Events:

VA Beach Trip: Sarah and I visited with my friends Kate and Lauren (and Anna) in Virginia Beach Oct 8-11. Despite Kate getting appendicitis and having her appendix removed, everything went well and the kids are all enjoying playing together. It's quite an adventure getting them all together, but so great getting to see such good friends.

Quack: For Halloween, Sarah dressed as a duck (although several friends thought she was a chicken -- her costume could be either I think). I got her costume at a Tot Swap sale for $4 and it was well worth it. So fun to dress her up and she liked playing in it too!

Cartoons!: Today I discovered that Sarah will sit still and cuddle when we watch a cartoon. We watched Handy Mandy before church and she sat on my lap under a blanket. It was nice to relax and not have to watch her constantly.

Day to Day:

Eating: She's very easy to feed these days, definitely interested in food and tells us when she's "all done" by waving her hands in the air. We've also been enjoying giving her some extra treats -- some Gerber finger foods as well as some chocolate candy from Halloween. She definitely likes chocolate!

Playing: Sarah is all over the place, getting into all sorts of things we never thought of child-proofing, like some low drawers in our dinning room (she squished her fingers in them when she leaned on them. Both baby gates are installed as of tonight (Hallelujah! and Ted and I are still on speaking terms)

Sleeping: Sarah is still consistently waking up in the middle of the night. We've decided that she is probably more use to being nursed in the middle of the night and that she doesn't really need it, so we're going to try some sleep training -- letting her cry\only nursing a little if she really won't go back to sleep on her own.

Communicating: She's definitely babbling and it must make sense to her. (We often think she's saying "what" or "cat" but we're still not sure). There's lots of intonation in her voice and she looks at us like we understand her. She likes to clap her hands when she's happy too. We're teaching her "High 5" and "Kisses" and she's really picking them up fast.

Growing: No new teeth this month (just 2 on the bottom) but she's definitely been teething, so we expect them to come soon. Her hair is definitely growing -- I think her hair is one of the most remarkable changes from month to month.

Favorite thing about this age: Mischievous look when she knows she's doing something wrong

Least Favorite thing: Still waking up in the middle of the night!

It's harder and harder to get her to sit still. A blog I read mentioned using a laptop with cartoons to capture the kid's attention, I will be trying that next month!

Sarah - 8 Months

2010-09-29T16:03:00.000-07:00

Major Accomplishments:

First Teeth!: Her 1st tooth showed up on Sept 10th (bottom left) and the other bottom one wasn't far behind.

Crawling: Sarah started crawling this month! She's not too fast yet, but now the pressure is on more than ever to get those stair gates up.. :)

Understanding "Sarah" and "No": This month we realized that Sarah started reacting when we'd say her name and also when we say "No"

Day to Day:

Eating: Sarah is eating 3 meals a day of solids and gets 6 bottles\nursing. I'm still nursing in the morning and evening.

Playing: Sarah loves to play with table-like toys or just stand by an automan. She is very good at assisted standing and loves to watch all the action! Now that I'm back at work full-time, Sarah is with Grammy(Beth's mom) on Mondays and Mrs. Kristine Tues-Fri.

Sleeping: Sarah rarely wakes up in the middle of the night. She goes to sleep after very little fussing (if we start calming her 20 minutes before bed time). She sleeps 8pm - 6:30am regularly.

Communicating: We're teaching Sarah the sign language for "more" (finger tips together on both hands, and touching each other in a clapping like motion) and "All Done" (hands upright rotating quickly back and forth). I've joked that Sarah has her own signs for more and all done. She hits the tray of the high chair for "more" and she won't open her mouth when she's all done. :)

Favorite thing about this age: Belly laughs

Least Favorite thing: Child-proofing

Sarah - 7 Months

2010-08-29T20:07:00.000-07:00

Sarah is now 7 Months old. She is doing well and really enjoyed our multi-vacation summer. We just got back from my dad's family reunion in San Diego. It was a great time, but we definitely caught a cold that is now a sinus infection and bronchitis for me. Sarah and Ted just have a cold right now.

Sarah is now sitting up very well and is even standing and holding on to things on her own. She still isn't crawling and doesn't have any teeth... but both of those things seem eminent (and have for a while!). She started babbling "ma ma" this month (about a week after "da da") but there is still no evidence she knows what she is saying. She's still going to bed around 8pm and waking about 3:30/4 but I'm hopeful that will stop soon. She's tried lots of solid foods, but she's still not completely getting the hang of it and it's a mess trying to feed her. Here are the pics from her session!

And if there was any doubt as to whether she's her father's child... let me put that to rest now... :)

Perspective

2010-08-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

I saw this picture in a blog post recently and it definitely gave me some perspective. As I prepare to go back to work "fulltime", I am glad it's not really FULL time as this woman experienced.

Sarah - 6 Months

2010-07-31T04:56:00.000-07:00

Sarah is now 6 months old! This month has been really fun. We started solid foods a couple weeks ago and Sarah is trying a new food every 3 days. She's had rice cereal, bananas, carrots, green beans, and sweet potatoes. I think she's starting to get the hang of swallowing and is really enjoying the new flavors. She's able to sit up pretty well, but still falls over a lot. We got her a Baby Einstein jumper used because she loves to jump. As you can see from the pictures, all of Sarah's original hair is gone... we cut her comb-over right after camping, so now her hair is more even. It's going to be a light brown or blonde I think!

We went on a couple trips this month. July 9-11th we went camping at Assateague Island with some friends from my Bible study. Sarah did well camping and even though the weather was less than desirable (rained most of the time!), we had a great time hanging out with friends.

Sarah and I went to Catonsville Commons Nursing home to help Kelley from church with giving the residents a bingo game. It was so fun to bring Sarah to let the residents see and play with a baby. I think this guy in the picture was only there to see Sarah because he hardly played bingo. :) It was such a good experience too because there was a blind woman there and she heard Sarah laugh. I spent some time with her at the end letting her hold Sarah and she just loved it. It was such a special time and I think will become a regular event on our schedule.
We also went to Deep Creek with Ted's family (July 24-28th). That was lots of fun too, a couple days Ted and I were able to get away while Ted's parents watched Sarah. We went jet skiing twice and it was really fun. I rode on the back while Ted drove. We also enjoyed playing pool and cards in the evening.

Here are Sarah's 6 month shots. Taken early in the morning on July 29th.

Sarah - 5 Months

2010-06-29T05:19:00.000-07:00

Can you believe Sarah is 5 months old!? Time really does fly!

This month has been FANTASTIC! Mainly because Sarah has been sleeping through the night very consistently. She goes to bed at 8pm and sometimes wakes around 6am, but often sleeps till 7 or 8! She's also taking a regular nap at 1pm and mini-naps in the morning around 10am. I'm not particularly fond of "scheduling" a baby, but now that she's on a schedule, I wouldn't have it any other way and she isn't fighting it.At night, when we put her down she sometimes fusses a little bit. When this happens after about 10 minutes of crying, we say she needs the "Daddy Touch" -- which is Ted calming her down and putting her to sleep. For some reason the Daddy Touch works best. Recently she was crying and I told Ted to give her the Daddy Touch but he was caught up looking at something on the computer. I didn't nag him, but a couple minutes later, Sarah fell asleep (on her own) and Ted said, "see, she just needed the Daddy Touch"

Sarah's definitely still loosing her hair, which is sad for us. Ted calls her "baldy" sometimes, rather than "fuzz" (her old nickname). She is great at grabbing and holding toys and rolling over. She's learning to sit up and sometimes I think she'll crawl soon (she has a strong desire to get places -- I can see it in her eyes). She also likes to giggle and talk\coo at us. Sarah also started teething this month. Specifically, last Tuesday! :) She is drooling and biting everything. She likes when we just rub her gums with our fingers or put a cold teething toy in her mouth.

Sarah - 4 Months

2010-05-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

Sarah is now 4 months old. It's been a great month this past month. Lots of growing and development. Sarah is loosing some of the hair she was born with and it's growing in lighter-- more like a light brown. She's moving more in her crib and is able to roll over, although she doesn't do it a lot. She is able to hold on to rattles and understands she is getting it to make the noise. She can hold her head up pretty well, but still gets tired doing it...

Sarah's also getting better and better at sleeping, she's started going down around 8pm and still wakes up for a feedings around 11pm and 4/5am, but sleeps regularly till 7:45am.

We took these pictures on Saturday morning (the 29th) before we drove down to Virginia Beach to visit with some of my college friends. (more on that later!) It's pretty early, so the lighting isn't great, but here are Sarah's 4 month pictures!

Sarah - 3 Months

2010-05-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

We're now a week into Sarah's 4th month... She turned 3 Months last Thursday... Boy am I glad to be out of that stage! I think 3 months might be my favorite age. She's cooing and smiling most of the awake times. She's rarely fussy these days and if she is, it's resolved pretty quickly by feeding her or when she poops.

I started working last week. I started with a planned 3 day\week schedule. My mom would watch her Mondays and Kristine (our neighbor with a day care program) would get her on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Kristine also has 2 other kids -- a 2 year old boy and a girl 1 week older than Sarah.

Last Thursday was her first day all together with all 3 kids and apparently, it was a little too much to bear. She called me on Monday night, realizing that having all 3, even just 2 days a week, she would not be able to provide the kind of care she wants to give. She didn't want to leave me "in the lurch" but since my schedule and my mom's schedule are relatively flexible, it worked out to have my mom watch her the rest of the week as well, just through May. By the end of May, Kristine will have some help from some college students home from the summer and once school is out, the other 2 kids will stay at home since both their mothers are teachers.

We're so grateful for Kristine, because she knows her limits and was honest with us. We're glad she's able to watch Sarah just part time, which is quite hard to find! And she's so close (walking distance!) and I can tell she has a heart for child care. She's actually being trained for foster care and will be able to provide a home for some kids in our community when there is a need.

Sarah has really grown a lot this month. Even I can see it! She's been getting some soy formula during the day, since I'm not able to pump the full amount that she wants to eat. She's doing well at going back and forth from the bottle to the boob, so we're able to continue breast feeding. I'm hoping to be able to continue for at least another 3 months, maybe longer.

She's sleeping for about 6 hours at night most nights... but she does sometimes wake up sooner than that. She's very good at just nursing and getting back to sleep, so I don't mind getting up that much. It's actually nice to get rid of the milk I am soaked in...

Her favorite toys these days are mirrors and mobiles. Part of our morning routine involves me getting her all ready, then I put her in her crib to play with her crib mirror for about 20 minutes while I get ready. She's thoroughly amused by it. Many thanks to Lauren for the suggestion of the crib mirror! She also still loves the mobiles above her crib and her swing. Her face lights up and she even puts her hands up, signaling them to rotate. We call them her "friends". as in, "Do you want to play with your friends?" "Whatcha doin' friends? Just hangin.."

Here are her pics! These were taken on April 29th before I went to work (at 6:45 am!) She's a little sleepy...

Sarah - 2 Months

2010-03-29T12:34:00.001-07:00

Sarah is 2 months old today! She has been growing steadily, although she's still quite small... We won't have an official weight till next week, but when we put her on our scale at the house, she's 9 pounds.

Developmentally, Sarah seems to be right on track. She smiles and laughs a lot (inherited from both me and Ted). She's fairly good at holding her head up and she can roll from her stomach to her back. She seems to recognize Ted and I, but she still doesn't say "excuse me" when she farts.

She's not sleeping through the night (wakes up about every 3 hours), but she is a pretty good sleeper in general at night. She goes back to sleep after feedings and we usually can sleep off and on from about 11pm - 8am. We still end up having her sleep with us in bed (she falls asleep nursing). Once she's asleep, I can usually move her to her pack n' play next to our bed.

This month I tried giving up dairy to see if it would help Sarah be less fussy. I think it has helped a little, but she still does cry a good amount. Ted was lactose intolerant as a baby and I was allergic to milk as a child so it's very likely that Sarah can't digest dairy products easily.

We took more pictures on the rocker with her "2" block. Of course you know she wasn't calm for the whole shoot, but we got some good shots.

Does this look familiar?

I used a hair dryer to keep her calm and also give her that "wind-blown" look!

Love this one with the grin!

Bear Suit

2010-03-29T12:18:00.000-07:00

Sarah has a favorite outfit. It's her bear suit. Our friends Josh Talley and Monica Phillips gave us the bear suit at our couples shower... and we also got a bigger version from Ted's mom. Little did we know how much 2 of them would come in handy!

We first tried her bear suit on her to take her home from the hospital. It was way too big...

Now the bear suit fits perfectly. We first discovered the wonders of the bear suit when we wanted to hang out on the deck with Meagen and Andy Young and it was a little chilly. Sarah had been crying a lot (nothing new!), but when we put this suit on her, she calmed down immediately. Now I put it on her nearly every time she's fussing! So she wears in every day basically. Here are some recent shots of Sarah in her bear suit.

Sarah and her favorite photographer - Meaghan Elliott

Bear suit and the swing - a winning combination!

All Smiles

2010-03-11T15:37:00.000-08:00

Sarah has been smiling a lot recently and we know it's not just gas... Here are some shots of her smiling. We're hoping her smiles will increase and fussiness will decrease now that I've given up dairy.

Sarah and her daddy

Sarah and Grandpa Wade

Sarah and Great Abuelita Rivero (Ted's Grandmother)

Sarah - 1 Month

2010-03-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

Sarah is 1 month old today. (March 1st would be Feb. 29th if February had 29 days...)

Our days are consisting of eating, crying, diaper changes and sleeping. Sometimes Sarah sleeps for long stretches, other times she skips naps in between feedings all together. She does seem to smile socially sometimes, although I know she shouldn't do that for a few more weeks.

My biggest challenge these days is trying to pump in between her feedings so I can build up a reserve of milk for when I go out, and eventually when I go back to work. I can only pump 2 oz. at a time and today she woke up right after I had finished pumping and was very mad when she found it hard to get milk. I ended up feeding her the milk I had just pumped.

Here are the pictures from her 1 month photo shoot. I'll be taking a picture of her each month, her rocking chair, so we can see her grow!

I really wanted her to wear a pink headband. But, as you can see, she would have none of it.

She even tried to flip me off...

This was the last photo of the day...

Yesterday, this photo was taken. So see, she really is a happy baby most times.

Swing Low, Sweet Sarah

2010-02-25T04:46:00.000-08:00

I really don't want to make my blog a commercial. But since we have so many pictures of Sarah in her swing, I thought I'd let you know a little about it. Since I love it! I found it on Amazon (surprise surprise). Here's the link. I have never seen so many reviews for an item... at the time of this post there are 1252 reviews and the majority are positive.

Sarah getting in the sun to treat her Jaundice in her first days

This swing does it all; swing, play music (4 options of sounds), rotate the mobile with an optional starry light show, 2 positions for the seat, optional battery or AC adapter, swing side to side, or front to back.
Thanks mom for the great gift! We love it!

Sarah's Birth Story

2010-01-30T23:26:00.000-08:00

We welcomed Sarah Catherine Shaw into the world yesterday morning at 5:20am... but so much happened before that... here's the story.

Around 1:30am on Thursday January 28th (her due date) I woke up wide awake and was starting to have contractions. We noticed they were 10-15 minutes apart and Ted started using his stopwatch on his phone to track them. We tried to sleep but we started getting excited. We called Maria (Ted's mom) at 3:30am because we knew she wanted to know right when I went into labor. Around 4am we got up and I ate 2 oranges and we watched an episode of Lost... then we tried to go back to sleep for a few hours. After we went back to sleep, the contractions really started to slow, sometimes as spaced as 45mintes apart. I'm not sure when exactly my water broke because it was a slow leak at first, but definitely around 6am when we took a shower, I was pretty confident it had broken.

I had actually just joked a few days ago about my birth plan including taking a shower, blow drying my hair, and putting on make-up then going to Panera for breakfast... so we followed the plan and actually went to Panera to have a nice breakfast. We knew we should stay home as long as possible, until the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart ideally, but since my water had broken, we also knew the risk of infection was there if I didn't give birth to the baby sooner rather than later. We called Shannon at 8:40am to let her know we'd be coming into the Labor and Delivery unit later that day (where she's a nurse -and would be working starting at 11am). Shannon suggested we go on a long walk to help bring on labor, so we went on a walk around the neighborhood for about an hour. It did seem to help, but the contractions were still so light and only 10-15 minutes apart.

We called the doctor's office at 11am and they had us come in to the local Catonsville office to check to be sure I was ruptured. The exam confirmed that I was ruptured, 2.5cm dialated and 50% effaced, so Dr. Abello sent us to the hospital. She predicted it would be a long labor, with the baby being born at "about 6am."

Ted while we're being registered.

We were greeted by an excited Shannon at Mercy's Labor and Delivery unit. She had already done the majority of registration. She had chosen the biggest room available to give to us. We were truly treated like royalty. Dr. Hoffman would be our OB (there are 4 doctors from her practice that could have been there). I have met all of them (and like them all!), but actually got to see Dr. Hoffman more throughout the beginning of my pregnancy because she had early appointments available before I went to work. Dr. Hoffman was not only the 'on call' doctor for her practice, but was also the hospital's in house doctor, meaning she would be there until 8am, no matter what. I was encouraged to hear that because I knew she would be with us all night.

Dr. Hoffman chose to start the induction process with Cytotec - a pill that helps soften the cervix. I needed to stay in the bed initially while it dissolved and Sarah and I were initially monitored, but then I was able to move to sit next to the machine on the birthing ball. For 4 hours in the afternoon Ted and I hung out with my parents and Maria. Ted's dad wasn't able to come because he was feeling sick with flu-like symptoms. We gave him a call and shared the name with everyone while he was on the phone. When we announced we would be naming her "Sarah Catherine" I loved Maria's reaction because she would have named Ted "Sara Katherine" if he had been born a girl. She had a great look of shock and excitement. My mom also shared that she had thought Sarah would be a good name because it was her grandmother's name. I'll share in another post more about her name.

Sharing Sarah's name with the family.

During the conversation at one point my dad hailed the necessity and usefulness of the Cesarean section and said it was important a hospital's C-section rate wasn't too high or too low. I told him I didn't think the rates of C-sections got "too low" in the US, since many other countries have similar mortality rates and much lower C-section rates. One of the residents that poked his head in our room happened to be a student at U of Md and had my dad as his Renal professor. I liked it when he pointed out that my dad might need to agree with me since I was the one in labor.

Maria (Ted's Mom) with Ted and I

My parents (Jim and Rachel) with Ted and I

I used the birthing ball and had light contractions. I progressed to 4cm dilated 70% effaced. She also discovered there was still the "fore bag" of amniotic fluid. During the exam, it was punctured and Dr. Hoffman said it should help labor now that this 2nd sack had broken.

Knowing it would be a long night, our parents headed home, we would call them when she was born. I tried to labor for another hour without Pitocin, but at 7pm, Dr. Hoffman and Shannon advised that we should start at least a slow drip because the risk of infection was increasing the longer it took. Although I knew Pitocin would make it harder to have a natural labor, I really trusted that Dr. Hoffman and Shannon knew best and I really didn't want to have an infection because that would lead to a c-section in no time!

I labored with Pitocin, but no epidural till 10:00. This was a nice time because it was just me and Ted together and although the contractions started to get more painful, Shannon taught us that Ted could put counter pressure on my lower back. That pressure really helped and some of those contractions got really hard. I continued to sit on the ball and I really think it helped things progress, being upright with gravity helping me along. Ted was so helpful through it all. Joking at just the right times and giving me lots of hugs and kisses. Shannon "bumped the pit" on the hour (rather than the normal every half hour). She said it was hard for her to increase it, knowing it would cause me pain. I told her to do what she needed to do, but around 9:45pm I realized it was getting much harder to handle and I needed pain medication.

I had Dr. Hoffman check me and I was now 6cm dilated 70% effaced. She also commented that Sarah's head was pretty big. I glared at Ted. Shannon was so happy that I had progressed so far, I was actually disappointed it wasn't more, but she assured me I was doing really well. Shannon and Dr. Hoffman were really excited when I decided to get the epidural because they said it really helps to relax you and you often progress very quickly afterwards. They thought I might even be able to deliver just after midnight. Shannon planned to stay past 11pm (her initial end of shift). We called Meaghan to let her know to come so she could take pictures of just before and the "sweet moments" immediately following the birth. (I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I'm sure they'll need a fair amount of censoring!)

They got the epidural in me and I started to feel MUCH better. I had no idea it would be that much pain relief. Everyone would say, "it just takes the edge off" but I felt practically no pain, just some pressure when there was a contraction. It was amazing. I had been against epidurals because I heard they can slow your labor, then you'd need more Pitocin, then you can stress the baby and often that can lead to an emergency c-section. Shannon and Dr. Hoffman assured me that since I was in active labor, the epidural would not slow my labor.

About and hour and fifteen minutes after the epidural (maybe 11:15) things started to get fuzzy because my blood pressure dropped pretty low (Shannon said 80s over 40s). I guess I passed out and they gave me oxygen because my oxygen level was in the 80s/100. They bolused the fluids in my IV to bring me back. The extra fluids actually did slow my labor down a lot, but I think it was probably better to be conscious. :-)

Once I was feeling better, but my labor had slowed a lot, we realized it might be a bit before Sarah entered the world, so Shannon headed out to get a few hours of rest (this was her 3rd 12 hour shift in 3 days!). Ted, Meaghan and I tried to sleep for a little bit. I was definitely able to rest a little, but for each contraction I would wake up and I remember breathing through them, but it wasn't so bad. I remember focusing on Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God" -- knowing that he had everything under control.

I had another exam around 2am and I was 8 cm. dilated. Meaghan texted Shannon to let her know but she didn't get the message immediately. When she did get it, she started to worry she would miss the call for when she should really come. She came back around 2:45 saying she just couldn't stop thinking about how we were the friends that took her in when her husband left her. I told her she didn't owe us anything but we're so glad to have her there.

Not long after she got back the contractions started to really hurt again. They determined I needed a "top off" in my epidural, but when they paged the anesthesiologist, he was in an emergency hysterectomy and could not come up right away. I was so glad for Shannon being there now, because she could stay with us the whole time now that she was off the clock. She had me turn on my side and she and Ted would put lots of pressure and warm pads on my back during the really hard contractions. Ted kept worrying I would fall off the bed or that I wasn't comfortable. I hardly remember it, but the only thing I was unhappy about was the excessive pain and the anesthesiologist being MIA. I'm not sure if my thoughts were totally verbalized about how annoyed I was that he was the only one in the whole hospital that could help. It felt very strongly like I needed to push through the contraction, but since I wasn't fully dilated, they said I shouldn't and that it would actually cause swelling and she'd have a harder time coming out. I was kind of bad at listening to this advice, but luckily there wasn't too much swelling.

Once I got that boost in the epidural (~4am), things started to go pretty fast. I was fully dilated around 4:45 and they told me I could push whenever I wanted to... it was great! I really pushed through about 6 contractions with Dr. Hoffman and Shannon helping me count and getting in 3 breaths of 10 seconds each. Ted and Shannon held my legs and Meaghan took pictures from behind the bed. When she came out, they initially placed her on my belly but needed to pull her away for the majority of the initial stuff because she had some extra fluid in her lungs and I had some extra bleeding for Dr. Hoffman to attend to. She actually reached in and pulled out the placenta because it was broken up. She had the nurse pushing on my stomach on the outside and she reached in to pull it out. It was pretty crazy but I didn't feel a thing!

Sarah in her "crib" after birth.

Dr. Hoffman poses for a cameo.

The left portion of this image is cropped. Trust me, you would appreciate the edit.

Maybe 45 minutes after the birth, I was able to nurse her for 20 minutes on each side. She did so well!

Two different reactions to the same face...

We called our parents and set up times for them to come meet Sarah that day. Everyone notices her hair... it is pretty long. I had no idea she would have that much hair! :)

Although I initially went into labor with the "plan" to avoid intervention with the natural birthing process, I am confident I was given the appropriate amounts of medical intervention at the right times. Despite my fears that Pitocin and the Epidural could eventually lead to a C-section, I believe they aided in not having a C-section (since I was able to get her out faster than without an induction, there was no infection.)

We're so pleased that we had such a good birth experience with Sarah and so happy that she is so healthy. We look forward to the years ahead..

"A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world." - John 16:21

It's already becoming a blur... so I knew I needed to write it down now!

Pigs are flyin'

2010-01-22T03:42:00.000-08:00

Remember when I told you about the special pig mobile I ordered? Well it's here and installed! We've also added some other fun touches to the nursery... here are the pics...

Last weekend after we finished installing it, we were laying on the floor of the nursery, looking around. I asked Ted, " Is there anything you don't like in the nursery?" He said with a straight face, "Yes." So I asked, "What?!" and he said, "There's no baby." So that's all we need now, the baby...

Princess Reflections

2010-01-08T16:45:00.000-08:00

We've gotten a fair amount of "Princess" gifts. Many clothes and decorations for little girls center on this theme. I definitely loved princesses growing up, particularly Snow White. My mother made me a wonderful costume for Halloween as Snow White and I think I wore it 2 years in a row! But something now, as an adult, strikes me funny when I see babies in tiaras and the like....

I couldn't pinpoint it exactly. I knew it had something to do with not wanting our daughter to be self-centered. We know there will already be a tendency towards that as the first born (I think I definitely struggle with feeling at the center of it all).

As I thought about it today, I realized that the carefree life of a princess is completely the opposite of the life I believe God calls us to have. In Philippians 2:5-7, "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant..."

Rather than being royalty, we should have a servant attitude...

This is certainly not something I would expect our young daughter to understand and I'm not going to keep her from enjoying princess movies, dressing up, etc. But I think it's definitely something I will keep an eye out for (limiting the quantity), because I know that the media we expose her to from an early age will shape her view on the world.

Perhaps we should focus on the story of Cinderella, a servant who was chosen as a princess... It is the most real princess story I have experienced.. because we have been chosen as royalty, though we will not experience it until heaven... "you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God..." 2 Peter 2: 9

Maternity Shoot

2010-01-08T16:05:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while since I've posted but I wanted to share another blog post out there that was super fun for Ted and I. Our good friend Meaghan Elliott took our maternity pictures and I love them! Here's the link:

http://meaghanelliott.com/wordpress/2010/01/05/yup-another-baby-belly/

I LOVE this one of Ted. I think it captures so much of the excitement we're experiencing.

Meaghan is an absolutely fabulous photographer for weddings, but she also does other portrait sessions (like our maternity session). She will be exploring whether she also enjoys "birth sessions" by joining us in the delivery room to capture some fun moments right after the birth of our daughter. We're hoping we can time it right so that she's not waiting very long but we're so excited to have her there. I'm also hoping it doesn't scare her off from having children!

Nesting

2009-11-12T05:04:00.000-08:00

Well the nesting instinct is in full effect now. When I'm home, I can't seem to relax, I want to always be moving and improving our house... the baby's room is nearly done. We ordered a rocking chair and Ted needs to change out the outlets & double check the fan wiring for safety (I installed the fan years ago before I knew the best\cutest electrician ever). Other than that, we'll need the mattress & bedding which might be given as gifts, and the room will be complete. Here are some pics!
We'll be painting the nightstand white (depending on how it looks when we get the chair in there) or we'll sell it... :) When I went up to take pictures this morning, I found Molly on the changing table with Mimi. Mimi was my baby doll when I was little. Ted has been preparing by miming that he is holding\burping\feeding a baby... Mimi was used in his mime recently and she only fell down the stairs once so far....

Baby Bump: 6ish Months (28 weeks)

2009-11-12T04:44:00.000-08:00

Baby Bump: 5 Months (23 Weeks)

2009-10-03T07:35:00.001-07:00

We'll have a baby when Pigs Fly

2009-10-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited about the mobile I just ordered. It was featured on Young House Love and although I didn't win the give-away, I bought one! Our baby will get to look at these intriquitely made felt pigs!

The Efficient Frontier

2009-09-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

In Modern Portfolio Theory, the "Efficient Frontier" is when a portfolio maximizes the amount of return for a given level of risk. I must give credit for any knowledge I have about economic theories to my dad, who has an insatiable interest in the topic. I believe there is a similar "Efficient Frontier" when it comes to families. Each set of parents has the most efficient breakdown of children, in which they can maximize their children(return) to the amount of cost(risk). For instance, do you ever see a mom driving a suburban with just 1 child in the back? Doesn't it seem wasteful? Such a big car, for only 1 kid?! That family is not operating at the efficient frontier.

Determining Your Efficient Frontier
There are several variables to assess when determining your family's efficient frontier. How many children can you fit in the bedrooms of your house? How big are your vehicles? How many car seats will fit? At some point as you create your family, you may reach capacity in your home or your car. The point of capacity in your home and car, is your family's efficient frontier. At that point, just 1 more child will require you to move or buy a new car.

There are other factors to consider with the efficient frontier as well. Certainly multiple children of the same sex can share more clothing, which decreases costs. I've also heard that boys are not as expensive as girls (however that is more optional spending I believe). When it comes to the spacing of children (age difference), there is an optimum spacing, maybe 2-3 years, in which they can share cribs and car seats. Too close in age and the previous child is still using their crib, too far apart and there are other things to consider, such as time away from work for the mother. If you're like me and you'd like to work only part time (or take a break) when your children are young, the closer in age, the fewer years away from work you have before they reach school age.

Our Efficient Frontier
As I consider these factors for our family, the Shaw family efficient frontier is 2. Our home has 2 large bedrooms, so 2 children could comfortable share the other bedroom upstairs. If they are both girls, I think they could share into their teenage years (I don't think opposite sexed children should share once they reach puberty). And both of our cars could fit 2 children comfortably, even if both are in car seats.

But we want 3 kids! One more than our efficient frontier... what should we do? Of course, we will adjust and plan for our family. When we buy a single family house, eventually, we will look for at least 4 bedrooms, even if we have only had 2 children at that time. We may operate below efficiency initially, but hopefully we will find a house we can call home for the remainder of our child rearing years.

We will also be considering school options when we move, since the public high school in our area is known for having crime and disciplinary issues. We will need to assess whether private school tuition would be more cost effective than buying into a school district with a well-rated school. For families with this consideration, the more children in the family, the more worthwhile a good public school option is, since tuition is paid on a per-child basis.

Conclusion
Can we base our decisions on what is best for our family based on a formula? Of course not. We should, however, recognize these expenses and how we can make our families most efficient. We should consider the resources God has given us, and make the best use of them, which could mean staying in a smaller house longer, while I work part time.

One thing I have been considering lately is that God is not concerned with making us 'happy' but, he does want us to be joyful. When we consider our lives, our decisions, and the long term, we should consider our long term joy, over our short term happiness. This could mean directing our resources to support a cause we believe in, rather than the fancy SUV with warming seats and a DVD player.

So what do you think? What is your efficient frontier?

It's a Girl!

2009-09-04T19:38:00.000-07:00

Ted and I were thrilled to find out we're having a girl. So much fun to buy for a girl and decorate for a girl... It might get a bit out of hand. I'm also thinking that if our boy (eventually hopefully) is as adventurous as Ted was as a child, I'm going to need to be broken in first.

Ted got to see the baby for the first time at this appointment and I think it's really starting to sink in. He is now kissing my stomach (and me) "goodbye" in the mornings.

Here are some of her cameos. The nurse said, "There's her face, isn't she cute?" to which I responded, "I don't know, she looks kind of scary, like a skeleton."

and of course the infamous "it's a girl" shot.

These last few weeks we have started to hope more and more that it's a girl, but we didn't want to be disappointed with a boy. Everyone always says before they know the sex of their baby, "Oh, we don't care if it's a boy or a girl, just as long as it's healthy." Ted and I would like to make a modification to that phrase. For us it would be, "Oh, we don't care if it's a boy or a girl, as long as it's not ugly."

Here's what we don't want our baby to look like.

This is a picture of a baby that was born at Shannon's hospital, Mercy (where we are delivering). The mother sent a thank you note to the nurses and included this picture of her little one. The nurses got such a kick out of it that they posted the picture where they admit patients.

After work on Wednesday we planned a happy hour to celebrate our new news of Boy or Girl. We had our friends & coworkers come wearing either a pink or blue shirt, depending on what they thought it would be. We bought everyone's first drink that got it right (and consolation drinks if they got it wrong). It was a great time.

Baby Bump: 4 Months (18 Weeks)

2009-08-27T20:11:00.000-07:00

You asked, I've answered. The latest baby bump!

Anniversary Weekend in Atlantic City

2009-08-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

Ted and I had a great time in Atlantic City for our anniversary. We didn't win any money -- but we also didn't lose much! When I married Ted, I was disappointed that he didn't like playing board games or even cards. Ted now really enjoys Texas Hold'em.

We stayed at the Trump Taj Mahal. We had an ocean view room and stayed on the 88th floor! We really enjoyed our room, it had a great modern decor and a huge bathroom.

When we got home we had some of our wedding cake. The part that was saved was actually the "Groom's Cake" -- a chocolate cake in the form of a softball. It was actually really good still. We ate it throughout the week, but weren't able to finish it. It was a lot of cake!

Baby Bump: 3 Months

2009-07-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

Bump #2 - Little Bump (taken 7/22/09 at 12 weeks, 6 days)

Mango Smoothies

2009-07-08T20:12:00.000-07:00

My new favorite thing is the Mango Smoothie at Panera. I just can't get enough of them!

I highly suggest you check them out...

Mango Smoothie

Sweet mango puree blended with ice, topped with whipped cream & a raspberry syrup swirl.

The Big Reveal

2009-06-22T19:00:00.000-07:00

With Father's Day only 3 weeks from when we learned of our exciting news, we thought it was only natural to have both sets of parents over and tell them together on Father's Day. Since this will be the first grandchild for both sets of parents (Ted's dad has grandchildren in Arizona he doesn't see much), we knew the excitement would be high.

We started the grill and hung out outside. The excitement was killing me! I couldn't wait till they opened their presents and learned they would be grandpas in 2010.

Even when they opened their gifts, my dad still thought it couldn't be. He had a look like, "very funny.. ha ha" as if we were just teasing them. (It has been the case that we tease them we won't give them grandkids.) I said, "We're having a baby in January!" and I'll never forget the look of shock on Maria's face. Everyone was overjoyed.

The rest of the afternoon was a great celebration with everyone sharing horror stories of pregnancies and birth. Something that seems to be the favorite topic of conversation I've noticed around newly-pregnant women. Luckily I've felt very good so far.

Baby Bump: 2 Months

2009-06-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Bump #1 - No bump (taken 6/21/09 at 8 weeks, 3 days)

What did you do?!

2009-05-31T17:00:00.000-07:00

On May 29, 2009 Ted went to the O's game with some friends and I stayed home. I had just hosted a baby shower at work that day, so the thought of babies was on my mind. Also on my mind was the fact that I was 8 days late -- which isn't rare considering I've had 2 months this past year without a period altogether.

On a whim I decided to use one of the 2 pregnancy tests we had on hand. The test came back with 1 1/2 lines... it wasn't very clearly a 'pregnant' indicator. I was confused... the clearly there line was the line closer to the stick -- which would mean it's the pregnant line. That can't be! I'll have to take the other test. But I couldn't go again just yet, so I sat down and drank a glass of water. I forgot about wanting to take the second test until I got the call from Ted that they were on their way back. I hurriedly took the test. This brand of test showed a clear + sign - indicating pregnant. My mind raced, "Oh no". I just couldn't believe it since I didn't feel any differently. I drove out to Columbia to pick up Ted from his friend's house (since he drank at the game we thought it would be safer for me to pick him up).

When Ted got in the car I still hadn't decided how to tell him. I had an extremely guilty look on my face which caused him to ask, "What did you do? What..did..you..do?" (meaning did I buy something expensive or move furniture or something). I sheepishly handed him the tests and apologized for taking them without him. Ted was equally shocked, but his shocked was combined with alcohol, which increased the effects.

After a 3rd test taken the next day -- and despite him asking for me to take yet another test and make it "Best of 7", we were finally convinced that our family was going to begin a couple years earlier than we had initially planned.