Finally Home!

See what a fickle blogger I am? I have a baby and totally abandon my newest hobby... Just kidding, we've obviously been a little busy! The last few days have been a total blur, and just now I'm taking some time to pan through pictures and get organized. For those of you who haven't figured it out... we had our baby! Here's how it went down:

Monday morning, as I was stressing about my upcoming amnio, my water broke all on its own! Three weeks of sitting in that hospital, wondering if I should even be there, and then exactly what we had feared would happen, did. I am so fortunate that I was there under the watchful eye of wise physicians! And, the good news, is that the baby was ready. Small, but ready. Things went very fast... from the time they figured out that my water had broken to the time the baby was born was only about 45 minutes... Paul barely made it! And, as you know, it was a girl!

Sadie Rose Merritt was born at 9:50am, weighing in at 5lbs, 14 oz, and 19 inches. Because of her gestational age, she did go to the nursery for most of the day, working on getting her body temp up and getting her blood sugar levels up. But she was back in my room with me by early evening, and she's been mine ever since! What a relief. Most of the day I spent waiting for the bottom to drop... but it never did. She might be small, but she's strong!

Anyway, we were released yesterday afternoon, and are now settling back into being home. How surreal after being gone for so long! I am recovering well, although a c section recovery is very different! I have so much respect for all my girlfriends who have gone through this... it's tough! Sadie is doing well too... she nurses really well when she is awake, but getting her to wake up is another story! Preemie babies LOVE to sleep, and it's really important that she be eating. We had our follow-up appointment this morning, and she is down to 5.5lbs... so she needs to eat! Other than that, she's dreamy. She has so much hair, reminding me alot of her brother when he was born... and she has BLUE EYES! (Charlie and Avery's were both charcoal)

Charlie is SO PROUD of his new little sister. He wants to help in any way, and he keeps saying how cute and little she is. I'm very pleased with the kids transition into this... it's going to be fun! Avery runs around saying "Sadie! Sadie!", but is having a little trouble sharing her blankets with her sister.

We continue to be humbled and blessed by the tremendous support and thoughtfulness of our friends and family. Thankyou from the bottom of my heart to all who have taken such good care of us throughout this journey. I will never be able to sufficiently express my thankfulness. We are just so very very happy to be home with our little girl! I promise to update more often now that we're home...