The First Two Weeks

It's hard to believe that Sophia Grace is already two weeks old! I know every parent says that their kids grow fast but goodness, she changes on a daily basis. She's definitely gaining weight and growing longer by the day. She's finally settling into more of a routine of eating and sleeping which makes her mommy verrrry happy :) Anyways, now that I have a few minutes I wanted to share a little more about the past two weeks since Sophia's arrival, starting with her birth day.

Labor and Delivery
I really enjoyed being induced. I am so thankful for the way that everything turned out because I don't think labor and delivery could have gone any smoother. One of my biggest fears throughout my pregnancy, aside from something going wrong, was the actual labor and delivery part. I think every woman is fearful when it's their first. I can happily say that my labor and delivery with Sophia was quite easy, mostly painless, and rather quick. I've been told that I was blessed with a pretty easy delivery considering she was my first. We arrived at the hospital at 6am, started the Pitocin at 6:30am, broke my water at 8:30am, and started the epidural at 9:30am. I progressed rather quickly which caught us all off guard. I labored for an hour before getting my epidural - I had wanted to hold out longer, thinking that 5cm sounded like a magical number to finally beg for the epidural but my wonderful labor nurse, Sandi, told me that in her 28 years as a labor nurse she'd learned that there was no magic number. She told me it wasn't too soon to want comfort and I happily agreed. My mom and Dave were with me throughout the day and I'm sure they were happy to see the pain end when the epidural began working because I was a much happier and friendly person :) Sandi told us that she thought baby girl would arrive by 3pm so mom and Dave headed out to get some lunch quick before the final pushing stage began. We began pushing at 1:20pm and shortly after my doctor arrived. Another perk of being induced: you know your doctor will be the one delivering your baby. I absolutely love my doctor and she did a wonderful job of keeping me focused yet distracted during all that pushing. My mom helped me count my pushes while Dave provided the physical support while pushing. Nurse Sandi really does know what she's talking about when she makes predictions because at 2:54pm Sophia Grace finally arrived. It was all so surreal - I was mid-push when they told me to stop, open my eyes, and and meet my daughter. There she was with a head of dark hair, wailing away as she entered the world. It was a pretty remarkable moment and I'll never forget the overwhelming love I felt for her when they placed her on my chest. What happened after that is a bit of a blur. Everyone tended to Sophia as they cleaned her up while Sandi and my doctor tended to some bleeding complications I was having. Thankfully, all ended up well and I could finally enjoy some time with my new family.

Hospital Stay
We were fortunate to have delivered at an amazing birthing center where the nurses really did make the first few days of parenthood a lot easier. We were a bit overwhelmed at first with all the visitors and I was having a difficult recovery from the bleeding complications after delivery so having the extra help certainly was nice. We were hesitant to send Sophia to the nursery the first night but the nurses informed us that all the other babies were there as well and that we'd really want our sleep. They were absolutely right! We spent two days in the hospital recovering, getting to know our baby girl, and working with a lactation specialist. While we enjoyed our stay at the Columbia Center we were quite eager to get home when Friday afternoon rolled around. On our way out the door, the nurses said, "See you in a few years". We laughed. Let's just see how we do with the first one.

Coming Home
Walking into our house with Sophia for the first time felt incredibly surreal. Dave brought her in and put her carseat on the kitchen table and went back out to get the rest of our stuff from the car. I just stood there watching her for a few minutes before I burst into tears. Oh yes, the baby blues are a very real thing. Dave came in the house asking me what was wrong and I told him absolutely nothing...everything was so perfect now that she was home. I think we had a good first-time parent moment, crying over our sweet baby's car seat before reality set in that she was staying with us forever.

Settling In
We're still settling into life with Sophia. The days and nights go by far too quickly. She keeps us busy with all the diaper changes and the feedings. I wish I could say that I love breastfeeding and that it's going really well but the truth is that it is an incredibly difficult thing to master, for both me and Sophia. We're slowly starting to find a pattern in feedings and things are becomming easier. She's feeding nearly 12 times a day which keeps me busy (and leaves me feeling starved oddly enough) and sleeps in between (mostly). Sometimes she'll sleep as much as two hours between feedings, other times it's just an hour. I'll take what I can get! Dave has done a tremendous job of supporting me through the breastfeeding and helping out with extra diaper changes and lots of cuddle time in the evenings so that I can get an hour or two of sleep before the long night begins. Dave headed back to work this week which added a few challenges but Sophia and I are enjoying our time together, just us girls. I've attempted to venture out of the house with her on my own, making a quick trip to Target earlier in the week and yesterday to my mom's work where she spent some time while I went to the dentist. We've had so many visitors come meet Sophia, including both of her Godparents this past weekend. Overall, she's a pretty good baby. She certainly has a strong set of lungs on her but thankfully, they only come out when she's hungry or needs her diaper changed. She has her mommy's personality already but everyone says she looks like her daddy. Aside from my nose, she has mostly Dave's features at this point - his dark hair, his long skinny legs, his ears, and her face looks identical in shape to his when he was a baby. We can't wait to see how she changes as she continues to grow.

We certainly feel blessed each day we have with Sophia in our lives...it already feels like she's been a part of our family forever.