If I had a million dollars....

Remember that song? I think it's from the late 90's or early 2000's, I can't remember. But the song came to my mind this afternoon. If I had a million dollars, I would be a stay-at-home mom. At least part-time during the week. Today I put down a registration fee for Sophia's day care. This is very traumatic for me. I teared up in the director's office. Then I teared up in the baby room. All the baby's were smiling and very happy and I know she's going to be safe there, but it's so hard to know I have to leave her. The only comfort I have is knowing that we are going to do everything in our power to leave her there as little as possible. We are praying John will get a later shift, maybe 2 - 10. That way, he can be with her in the morning, I can see her/nurse her at lunch, then he can drop her off at 1 and I would pick her up at 4:30. But, it may not work out that way. I have to be prepared, I know. I never thought I would have this much trouble with the idea of taking her somewhere. I'm so smitten with her that I want to spend all my time with her! This may change by 3 mos, but right now, it is what it is.

Ok, I'm going to try to post a link to my friend Tracy's blog so you can see the wonderful gift she made me! Check it out, she is super talented! And smart enough to teach me how to put a link in!

First baths, good visits, and surprises!

Sophia had her first bath last week. Her umbilical cord actually fell off the week before, but there was still a little residue so we continued with sponge baths. We ventured into our first bath using a baby bather my friend Melodie gave me for a baby shower. She was not so sure about the bath! But my other friend Larise gave me a great idea of keeping a washcloth over most of her body to keep her warm while bathing other parts of her body. This worked great for her second bath. She was much less upset with the whole process!








We've had a lot of visitors the past month. My mom was here for nearly 2 weeks. Then John's mom came for a weekend. Then my sister came for 2 days. And finally Molly was here for 3 days. She just left at 4 o'clock this morning! Wow! Thank goodness for rental cars because I would not have made it to San Antonio and back at that time! It has been so great to visit with everyone. Now, John is back to work and I'm here alone with baby girl. She's really a great baby though, so I can't complain. And we're working on schedules, so that's showing some promise!





As for the surprises...don't ya just love when you get something in the mail that was totally unexpected?!?! We got 2 of those this week! First, my dear friend Tracy sent me the most beautiful and perfect hand made card and baby memory book. I'm waiting for her to teach me how to link to her site so you can see how beautiful it is! Second, my other friend Antoinette sent me some precious outfits, shoes and a toy for little Sophia! It's gonna be so much fun to dress her up! And last week, our good friends from Corpus sent us some personalized burp cloths and a personalized onesie. She's wearing it in the picture to the right.

Today, Sophia is 4 weeks old. It has been a wonderful 4 weeks with my sweet baby girl. We feel very blessed to have her and to have the people around us who love her as much as we do! What an exciting journey we are on! Thank you for keeping up with us!

Sophia at 3 weeks

My sister took these pictures with her awesome camera! I think she got some great shots, but it's hard to shoot a baby! They don't exactly do what you ask them to do. :)
















Our sweet little girl is 3 weeks old as of last night. She has gained 9 oz in the past 8 days. We are up to 8 lbs, 8.3 oz. Getting closer to the birth weight. She's taking a little longer to get back up there than I had hoped, but she is making progress.

Last night she slept nearly 6 hours! I know I was not supposed to let her go that long, but it was so nice to have some sleep!! She's getting a lot better at resting. Mainly thanks to her Aunt Liz and Uncle Willace's fierce swaddling skills!

We've had lots of good help. My mom came for 2 weeks. John's mom came this past weekend and my sister & her family came the past couple of days. It's been really nice to ease into this.

I'm trying to keep things updated, but it's hard! I hope all you are doing well and thanks for keeping up with us!

First Mother's Day!

We are still trying to get some good pictures for the birth announcements


Yesterday was my first mother's day! What a wonderful day. I am so glad to be mommy to little Sophia. Even when we were struggling so much last week, I was still glad to be her mommy, but now it's even better.

We are doing better about going down to sleep after feedings in the middle of the night. For a while, she would only want to be held. Now, I can get her good and sleepy and in a clean diaper, full belly and she will lay in her bed for a good hour - 1 1/2 hours. Sometimes she has a little whimper and I'm learning not to rush over and pick her up at that first noise. Usually she will go ahead and calm. Sometimes it will evolve into full-scale cry/scream and then I get to go hold her. So far, she's only hollering out when she's hungry, needs a diaper change, or just needs to be held.

Nursing is still going better, though things are tender. Today, we went back to the hospital for her 2nd PKU test. She had one in the hospital and they do another one 2 weeks later. She did cry when he poked her foot, but quickly recovered, making it less traumatic for momma! She's a tough girl! After the lab work, we went over to labor & delivery to get a weight check. She's gained weight!!! So excited! Last Wednesday, we went to the doctor and she weighed 7 lbs, 8 3/4 oz. That's pretty scary! Today is better and she weighed 7 lbs, 15.3 oz! We're almost back up to 8 lbs! Woohoo! We'll see what the doctor says tomorrow. Ideally, he wanted her to be back up to birth weight by now, but with the nearly week-long breast feeding issues, maybe we will have another week to get her back up and going! I never thought I would have had such a small baby!

In other weight news, I'm now 10 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. I am definitely not trying to lose weight, I promise. Maybe it's just a benefit to breast feeding. But, this week, with the stress levels down, and my appetite definitely back up, I should level out for a bit. It's nice having good meals (thanks hubby and momma!) and someone making sure you eat regularly! Otherwise, my schedule would be completely off!

We're keeping on the path...thanks for keeping up with us!

Home for 1 week

We have been home for 1 week as of last night. We left the hospital last Friday around 5:00 pm and came home happy but exhausted. It has been a week of ups and downs, ins and outs.

Sophia had a lot of trouble with nursing. She would scream violently and arch her back when I got her into position. When we came back up to a vertical position, she was perfectly fine. This would go on for about 30 - 45 minutes before she would finally exhaust herself enough to nurse. I knew this wasn't a good thing when she refused to eat for many hours. In the mean time, I was so tired and scared and anxious about everything. I think that first night I got up several times just to see if she was still breathing. It's such a great responsibility and I was definitely overwhelmed. People could tell me I have to relax and calm down, but I could not! I cried at the drop of a hat for everything! Mostly it revolved around the nursing episodes. I knew she was hungry, but I didn't know how to get her what she needed. We ended up with a few supplemental feeds of both pumped milk and formula. I hated doing it. I always wanted to nurse and never imagined having this much trouble with it.

At this point, I must interject that I love my small hospital and the wonderful people who work there. We have 2 lactation consultants that both gave me their home and cell phone numbers and encouraged me to call them for anything at anytime day or night. When we went back Monday for the second n-billi test (she was a little jaundiced), we went over to labor & delivery and told the consultant what was going on. She got us into a room and worked with us off and on for about 2 hours! It took a while, but Sophia finally latched on. We did this again in the afternoon and the next day...twice! They were so wonderful and encouraging. I would have given up if it had not been for those two ladies! She had lost nearly 1 1/2 lbs by the time I went to get my staples out, which was almost 10% of her birth weight. We were able to weigh her before and after the feeds and she was taking milk, once we got her latched on. I was encouraged to keep trying and keep pumping to ensure my milk supply would be there. By the 3rd day of consulting, one consultant suggested giving her some pumped milk before trying to nurse. Just a little to whet her appetite. This actually worked like a charm! We did that for 2-3 feedings. After that, she began latching on without the "preview". What a miracle! Since then, it is heaven compared to that first week!

But we still had another problem. ****WARNING**** Bodily functions about to be discussed*******
She had not had a bowel movement in 6 days. And her skin turgor indicated she might be dehydrated. Luckily, when I went to see my doc to get the staples out, he checked her over too. It also helped that the lactation nurses had consulted with him the day before so he had a head's up. We were instructed to try to get 4 oz of water in her to help with the dehydration and get some movements going. She does not like the water! Especially now that she's doing so well nursing! But, we were able to get some in her and it worked like a charm! I've never been so happy about a bowel movement!

As I mentioned earlier, she was a little jaundiced after birth. Most likely, this was due to our blood types being different, but can also be caused by the induction. Her levels were never critical and she didn't have to go under the billilamps. But, she did have a nice yellow tan for a few days. I think it's better today. We've been keeping her near the window and taking her for car rides. Today, we even walked around the block.

We're working on getting some good pictures for the birth announcements. I had this plan to have them already done and in the mail, but....well, I just had a baby and all... :)

Mom has been an absolute blessing this week! I do not know how I would have made it without her. John's been studying pretty hard for some things, and mom helped pick up the difference. Although, no one changes a diaper more willingly than my sweet hubby! And he's so protective of her!

I am so blessed to be a mom this mother's day! I wish all you moms out there and wonderful day! Thanks for keeping up with us!

Forgot to add...

I forgot to add her birth weight. She came out 8 lbs, 13 oz and 21 inches long. By the time we left the hospital though, she was down to 8 lbs, 1 oz. We've been struggling with the nursing thing, but after a couple of consultations with the lactation specialist, we think we may have things better under control! She is definitely a spitfire!

We went back to the hospital today for an n-billi test. This determines the level of jaundice. She is still within the normal range, though she does appear to be pretty jaundiced. In this case, doc says it was probably because my blood type is different from her's. Wednesday I go to have my staples removed from the c-section. A busy week for sure! Next week, she has more lab and we both go for our 2 week check up.

We are adjusting better each hour and each day. I am so thankful for my mom being here to help in the middle of the night, especially since John has to go back this week and has a pretty important week coming up. I'm trying to nap as much as possible, so that's what I'm headed to do now! Thanks for checking in!

She's Here!!

Sophia Isabella was born on Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 10:10 pm after a long labor of love!

We began induction late, late Sunday night with no results for a long time. I remained dilated only to a 1 after all day Monday and most of Tuesday. Around 1:00 Tuesday, my water broke and things really moved at that point...well, sorta. We got to 4 cm pretty quickly, and then the really pain began. The nurse anesthetist came and placed my epidural. The bottom right side of my body didn't get completely numb though. They tried to turn me on my side to see if it would run over to that side. It really didn't work. By 7 pm that evening, we were up to a 9 and the pain was really too much to bear. We called back anesthesia and they did a spinal tap on me which worked beautifully. This was really important for the night's events. Doctor instructed the nurses to put me through a pushing trial, which we did for about 1 1/2 hours with no change. When he came back to check me around 9, I was still at a 9 and he could not feel what he wanted to on her head. At that point, he made the decision to take me into surgery for a c-section. Everything after this was a blur. I had to sign some paperwork and everyone worked very quickly to get me into the OR. I could not stop shivering! I don't know if it was the meds running into my spine or my nerves, but it was uncontrollable. John got changed into scrubs and met me in the OR. My anesthetist gave me warm air on my upper body to try to help with the cold which was very appreciated! I didn't feel a thing while they were getting her out, just some pressure. Thank goodness for that spinal tap!

Then, we heard her cry! 10:10 pm. Oh, the joy that filled my soul :) Hearing her and then seeing her was what made it all worth it. They took the baby and John to the nursery to begin the rest of the assessments with her. I stayed and got my stomach beaten up ;) As the doctor's stitched me up, it felt like they were pulling my guts 12 inches away from my body :) Not painful, but pressure. The anesthetist did have to give me something toward the very end to combat some pain. I was back in recovery by 11:00 and then sent back to my room at 11:45.

Turns out, it was a good thing we went to c-section. Sophia's head was positioned toward the side of my pelvis. She was not in a position to head toward the birth canal and we would have been there a long time!

We survived the first night in the hospital relatively well. The next day, I was in a lot of pain! Everything was a challenge! I stayed in the hospital until Friday afternoon. We got home around 5:30 pm. Since then, things have been....well, an adjustment! Not much sleep for sure. We are getting used to this sweet little girl. I am so glad that mom is here and John has been a lot of help! I will try to post more about our home adventures, but it's been a little difficult to find the time and energy! Thanks for keeping up with us!