Sadie Jane

I woke up the morning of July 27, 2008 and hefted my huge, pregnant belly over to face my husband. He smiled and said “Happy Birthday honey!” I smiled back and replied “I’m going to have a baby honey!” We got ready and drove to the hospital. I changed my clothes, walked around the hospital halls for a while and gave birth an hour later to our second daughter, Sadie. Everything about her birth was easy. I delivered quickly with no drugs or complications. She was beautiful and perfect and began nursing as soon as the midwife handed her to me. I thought “Boy, have I got this down this time around!” Well, that lasted about 4 days.

I received the call, like everyone else does, saying that Sadie tested positive for PKU and I had to get to Albany Med the very next morning. I looked at Sadie as I was sobbing my eyes out and praying silently to God, promising all sort of promises to the heavens if only my baby could be healthy. We made our way to the hospital, met with our doctor, nurse, and dietician. We received a lot of information that day and the two things I actually absorbed were 1: how to make formula and 2: that Sadie would be ok. Sadie is ok. She is a bazillion times better than ok. She is healthy and smart as a whip. We call her our Sweet Sadie because she is so affectionate and cuddly. Sadie is 15 months old now and she is full of curiosity and wonder. She is also very, very mischievous! She is full of trouble and too cute for her own good. It’s difficult to be upset with the sweetest, chubby face looking up at you, batting her sparkly eyes, and grinning. My husband and I often end up running into the other room to hide how much we are laughing. She is feisty as all heck and proves to be stiff competition for her older sister Georgia. We think she was born tough, spunky, and full of humor just so she could deal with PKU and, in the moments she can’t, at least she will be able to laugh at it. Sadie is the greatest birthday gift I could have gotten that day.

Through some miracle of fate, the first parent of a child with PKU that we met was Brenda. We live on opposite ends of the state but a friend of a friend of a friend of mine knew that she had a child with PKU. I was put in contact with Brenda and she graciously invited my family to visit. We came; we were so desperate to meet anyone who had experience with PKU. Brenda and her family shared a low-protein meal with us -even though Sadie was only a tiny babe still, only nursing and drinking her formula. My husband and I left that day realizing that Sadie’s food could taste really good and our daughter could grow up to become a happy, smart, healthy child. It meant a lot to us to meet another family and an older child with PKU. Thank you!

I bought cookbook after cookbook after cookbook and I started on the cooking journey of my life. I had a few months before Sadie would start eating solid foods and I was going to be armed and ready!!! I read Julie and Julia recently; I thought “This is the story of my life, low-protein style, that is!” I realize that food is not the enemy it is the thing that keeps my child healthy. I couldn’t just give her a pill to make it go away. Food is her medicine and I strive to make it the best darn tasting medicine that exists! Cooking is power, cooking is the way I feel like I have control over this disease. I think that Cook for Love is an amazing resource for us and helps us kick PKU’s butt just a little bit harder!