introducing "sister" sara!!!

Sara Patricia Palmer was born at about 12:15pm on Tuesday, February 22, 2011. 
she weighed 8 lb. 9 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long
she has lots (and lots) of dark, crazy hair and rosy pink skin

here she is with her daddy.  she was so excited to finally meet him. 

sara was born at fairview hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.  it was a cold, wintery, and snowy day. 

and here sara is with her mommy... who looks a bit like she's been hit by a truck (she felt that way too.)

the labor and delivery went well. we got to the hospital just before 5am to be induced. they started me up around 6am. i got the epidural at about 10:30am after which they told me i was dilated to a 5. once the epidural kicked in i was happy as a clam and ready to take a nap for the next few hours until the baby was ready to come.
BUT an hour or so later i started feeling a terrible pain down south. within minutes the nurse was in the room telling me to turn over because the babies heart rate was dropping. the pain suddenly got really intense and the nurse (upon checking me) announced, "the baby is ready to come out!"
within minutes the room was full of nurses, students and a doctor that looked and talked just like dr. burke from the show grey's anatomy (my doctor was in the middle of a c-section). but i really liked the "dr. burke" doctor (whose real name is dr. harlem) so it was all okay.
about 15 minutes of pushing later sara was born!
first family portrait with our new little addition

here i am with my two little pals.  scott has been such a good big brother to sara.  he has been calling her sister sara for a couple months now and the name kind of stuck. 

i can't stop taking pictures of this girl.  take a look at all that hair! the camera just doesn't do it justice.

i can't say enough about how nice it was to have my mom "grandy" here this past week.  i honestly don't know what we would have done without her.  she cooked, she cleaned, she played with scott and took care of the baby while i napped. she nursed me back to health and was just so fun to have around.  i am kind of in a state of panic right now wondering how i'm going to survive without her. 

and a few more shots of the girly girl because she is as cute as a button.

my mom and i tried doing her hair with a bow but we weren't quite sure how to negotiate all that hair.  tips from other moms would be greatly appreciated!

we finally let scott hold his sister sara and he was thrilled.  he is constantly calling himself a "big boy" and whenever sara cries he becomes very concerned about her getting some "milk!"   he loves playing with her hand and her hair and this afternoon after he had been fluffing her hair for a while i noticed potato chip crumbs in her hair!  i guess that's what having a big brother is all about.

my mom didn't want me to put this picture of her on the blog (i think she looks cute but i agree that she looks better in real life) but i couldn't help it since this is such a great angle of sara's hair.  i seriously can't get enough of it.

my mom left today (sunday) but we had to get a few more shots in before the sad moment arrived.

i keep trying to get a good picture of this girl but i can't seem to capture how stinking cute she is on camera.  so you'll all just have to come visit us so you can see her in person!

today sara is 5 days old.  i can't believe time is passing so quickly!  and i'm truly sorry to those of you who have had to wait for details on the birth or for me to return your phone calls.  the past 5 days have been a whirlwind of aches and pains and juggling two kids but i'm sure things will mellow out eventually... right? 

and one last final thanks to my mom for coming out to help.  i can't stress enough how much fun we had with you and how much of a life saver you were.  thank goodness grandma palmer is coming in a couple days.  i'm sure i'll have many more photos to post soon!