Family

What a wonderful visit we had with everyone. Sophie is so blessed to have so much love in her life, but truly we are the ones who are blessed to have her in our lives. I have no idea how she managed to stay so calm and composed with everyone ooing and awwing over her. She was passed back and forth between her Grandma, Granddad, Aunts and friends so much, it was overwhelming for me to see. She dealt so well with all of the attention.

On Saturday Sophie went for her first swim!!! OMG Im getting goosebumps now, just thinking about it. I have been wanting to take her in the pool for a while. Saturday was the day. She looked a little shocked as I lowered her in and the water got to her bellybutton. She made a bit of a face, as if she may cry, but not a peep. She was a natural. We floated around the pool, and took pictures. Trina and William had a great time playing with her in the pool as well. I rested her arms on one of those floating noodles, and she instinctively started paddling her legs!!! She is so smart. She may grow up to be an Olympic swimmer :) It was so funny cause she kept lowering her head forward and licking the water. She loves doing that in the tub as well. She will turn her head to the side, so that half her face is under the water and slurp up some water. The whole time we were in the pool, I wanted to swoop her under the water, like you see in that Nirvana video. I didn't want to upset her, so we waited until just before getting out of the water. I couldn't bring myself to put her fully under the water, but her face skimmed the water for less than half a second lol. She wasn't phased at all. Grandma and Aunty Jill wrapped her up in about three towels and snuggled her close, while Trina, William and I popped in the hot tub for a bit.

Seeing myself in a bathing suit was shocking. But it was a wake up call. It is time to get off the " I just had a baby" wagon. Im not planning to "diet", but it is time to start watching what I eat, and get a bit more exercise.

Thank goodness for Moms. I don't know what I would do with out mine. She was with us from the moment Sophie was born. She helped us so much for the first week, before she had to go back to Vancouver for work. My mom has come for many visits since then and taken such good care of us and her Granddaughter. This weekend when we visited her, was no different. She saw how badly I needed to sleep, so being the amazing Mom/Grandma she is, she forced me to go to sleep, while she stayed up all night with Sophie. I only had to get up once during the night, at 4:30 am to nurse, then Mom sent me back to bed till 8 am.  It brings tears to my eyes just to think about how wonderful it was to get some sleep, and to know that my Mom was so selfless to give up a night of sleep so I could get some. I have no idea how she managed to keep Sophie from crying all night. My Mom has always been a natural with children. She has an ability to calm, nurture, love like no one else.Thank you Mom, Hopefully I will be at least half the Mom you are.

Aunty Trinas birthday

Here we sit in mid travel. Going to visit the family, to celebrate Sophie's Aunty Trina's birthday. All is well at the moment. Sophie is sound asleep. I suppose she needs her sleep, as she was up all night. I think I had a grand total of 2 maybe 3 hours of rest lastnight. At some point in the night, maybe 4 or 5 am, I brought Sophie in the bed to sleep with us. I thought that might help her sleep, but in the end, I don't think it made much of a difference. I really truly miss my sleep, and some days it shows more than others. What is a little sleep loss when you have a beautiful little girl. A little one who depends on you, loves you, smiles and coos at you. I'm sure there will come a day when I will get a full 8 hours of sleep..... Right?!?

Sophie has been a little chatter bug lately. Oh my gosh, it is the cutest thing. I love hearing the new sounds she is making. I can see the determination it takes her to get these sounds out. It is obvious she is telling me something very very important, by the way her eyes focus fully on me, her face turns bright red and then pow, from her her lips spill a myriad of sounds. I can see the wheels turning, I can see how excited she is to communicate. I can't help but shower her in love and kisses. Honestly, I really can't stop myself from kissing her. She is so soft and cuddly, so smiley and lovable.

4 months old

Wow my baby girl is four months old. She is growing so fast. I weighed her a couple of weeks ago and she was 14lbs. I will have to weigh her again soon. She is supposed to go in for her second set of immunization shots. She did great at her two month shots. I on the other hand was a bit of a wreck. First of all I had the wrong address. By the time we found the right place, we had missed her appointment, but they managed to fit us in. Sophie was nice and calm, and then they put the needle in her leg. I held her tight but she still cried a bit. She shrugged it off and didn't think too much of it. Unfortunately there were still two shots to go. The third shot was the doozey. My poor baby turned bright red and let out a delayed scream. I held back my tears, as the nurse said, 'oh ya, that one stings a bit'?!?! Thanks for the warning. It felt like I was betraying Sophie. I am her protector, the one she trusts, and here I am letting this lady prick her with needles. I know it is for the best, but she doesn't know that. I quickly pulled out my magic weapon and nursed her. All is well once Sophie's tummy is full.

I just looked over at Sophie in her swing, and she gave me a big smile. I have to say, the best part of my day is when I wake up in the morning and look in her bassinet. Sophie always looks up at me and gives a giant smile. Her eyes sparkle.  In the moments before I see that smile, I lie there, wishing she would just go back to sleep lol.

Since Christmas she has decided she only wants to sleep in 1-1.5 hour segments through the night. It is a challenge for sure. I was getting used to the 4 hour sleep and then the two hours of sleep that followed, before getting up in the morning. Im hoping this switch up is just a phase, and that it passes asap.

Before she was born I researched baby carriers like crazy. I decided that I wanted the Beco Butterfly. I pictured myself carrying her in it everywhere I went. Turns out, she didn't like it all that much. I was jealous when I saw other Mothers carrying their babies in carriers. I saw a wrap online, called the Moby Wrap. Its 5.5 yards of stretchy fabric that you tie around yourself in a variety of ways for various carrying positions. When I went to Vancouver for a visit, Dressew was one of my first stops. I picked up some discount fabric, cut it, wrapped it around me and put Sophie in it. It was great. It worked great while she was an infant, and is still great as she grows. Now that Sophie is getting bigger, I find that I really like the Beco. They say it is accommodating for infants, but for us, it really wasn't practical until Sophie hit 14 lbs. I just wish she could face outwards in it. I know they now have a new version of the Beco that has on outward facing option.

Another thing I was super excited about, were cloth diapers. They just didn't seem to work out well while she was a newborn. The were so bulky on her it was crazy. I gave up on them for a while, but recently started putting her in them during the day. They are still bulky, but they are adorable on her. She still mostly wears disposables, but I try to put her in cloth diapers during the day, around the house. For night use, its definitely disposables! 

You should see Sophie in her Exersaucer!! She sits there and pushes all the buttons. She loves knowing that if she pushes a certain button, lights will flicker and sounds will twitter. She is a little smarty pants, and super strong.


Oh boy, crying baby, time to go

My Baby Bump: Baby Arrival

My Baby Bump: Baby Arrival

Baby Arrival

*EDIT* I wrote the on sept 9th, but really haven't had a lot of time to proof read and post new entries until now. So it is a little late, but better late than never :)

Our little SweetPea has arrived :) September 7th, 2010 at 2:43 pm.

Tuesday morning at 8:30 am the phone rang. Dr. Cooper was on the other end, asking if we could be at the hospital in an hour!!! An hour?!? Crazy! Daddy and I brushed our teeth, slipped on some clothes and threw a bunch of stuff in the car. We drove to the hospital, found parking right out front... (thanks to Daddy and his bad leg)
We signed in, went up to the labour and delivery section and were told they didn't have a room ready for us, so we had to wait. Wait and wait some more we did. We were taken to our room and waited some more.

Around 2pm they came to get me. We walked to the operating room, where I was separated from Nenad and my mom and taken in to the operating room. The nurses talked to me, tried to distract me from the reality of surgery as they prepared everything.

Dr. Cooper felt my tummy and reaffirmed the fact that you were still breech. Thankfully Uta was there to hold my hands as they prepped my back for the spinal. I started crying  when they were cleaning my back. I think it was out of fear. Fear of the needle, fear of the surgery, fear and excitement that I would have a baby in less than 30 minutes.

The needle went in. It wasn't painful, just a bit of a cold sting, mostly felt like the anesthesiologist was pushing on a bruised muscle. After the first needle, the anesthesiologist asked for a second needle... I didn't feel that one at all. My feet started warming up, then my legs and then they lied me down. I quickly started feeling faint, then nauseous with cold sweats. I couldn't keep my eyes open. They swiftly put something in my IV and with in 30 seconds I felt good as new. I guess my blood pressure dropped to fast.

I was nervous about the catheter. Uta asked me if I could feel something on my stomach, I said no, and she said she was pinching me, and just like that the catheter was in and Nenad was brought in.

Nenad comforted me as I felt some pressure on my stomach. Then the doctor said that with a c-section sometimes babies don't cry right away, and they aren't always pink. He warned me that I was going to feel a lot of pressure on my chest as he pushed the baby down, another doctor told me it would feel like someone sitting on my chest, and then the docs sort of disagreed with each other on that description. I felt some crazy pushing and tugging and then they held up our baby girl very briefly. She cried right away and she was the perfect pink :) She was absolutely perfect and ready to enter this big bright world.
I turned to Nenad with tears rolling down my cheeks,  my voice crackling, I barely managed to say "she is so beautiful." I honestly was so full of emotion. I had so many feelings going on. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.  I cried , I laughed, I even sort of snorted. She took my breath away. I seriously lost control of my facial muscles, I can't explain it, but Im sure I was not a pretty site. I guess that is the true meaning of being overcome with emotions.

Nenad brought Sophie over to see me. My one arm was strapped down so I couldn't hold her but Nenad held her close to me. Then Uta held her and pressed Sophies face against mine. She was so warm and soft. I nuzzled her and kissed her. I worried that my rough chapped lips would be soo scratchy against her perfectly soft, smooth, fair skin. Her complexion was flawless.

They wheeled me to recovery.  I held my little baby girl. Her temperature wasn't warm enough so as they cleaned me up, they put Sophie under a little heater. Mom and Nenad were there with me. When I could wiggle my toes, they allowed me to go back to my room.
They put these compression leggings on me. I was itchy itchy itchy from they anesthetic, so they put a shot of benadryl in my IV. I felt a little trapped, being hooked up to an IV, compression boots, and a catheter! The compression boots felt interesting for a while. After a few hours, the sound of them, the compressing of them, and the fact that i couldn't get under them to scratch my itchy legs was a tiny bit bothersome, but who could be bothered by anything when you are holding your baby girl.

All but one of the nurses were amazing! The pain wasn't as bad as I expected. I took a couple extra strength Tylenol. I spent 2 nights in the hospital. My Mom and Nenad took turns staying with me. Sophie slept in my arms both nights. I was doing so well and Sophie was gaining weight and latching well, that they let us leave a day early.

Motherhood is amazing. I love Sophie so much. She is just like her mommy.... her favourite hobbies are sleeping and eating :) Looks wise, I think she looks like her Daddy.