First photo shoot

Since I didn't get any good pictures of Sophia in her coming home outfit, I attempted to take some after the fact.

Birth story

We went to the hospital for a scheduled c-section because Sophia was breech and was expected to be over 10 pounds in weight.

At 6:00 AM we checked in and they put us in a pre-op room to monitor me and the baby, and get an IV started. I hate needles and never had an IV before so I was pretty anxious about that. Of course it took 2 tries to get the IV started, after blowing out the vein in my right hand. Rick and my mom were in the room and we hung out and tried to make light of the situation. Shortly after, the anesthesiologist came in to describe the spinal block and my Dr. came in to explain the c-section again.

At 7:30 AM I walked from the pre-op room to the operating room. At this point I was no longer feeling nervous, just anxious to meet our baby girl. I hardly felt the numbing needle from the anesthesiologist, and just felt some pressure from the spinal block. Within seconds, a warm sensation traveled down my legs and I was numb. They put a catheter in and started scrubbing the incision sight. They gave me some oxygen and I was ready to go. The anesthesiologist asked if I could feel anything and I said no, and he said, "good because they've already started." I told them to get Rick. Rick came in in full on surgical attire and sat down next to me.

Less than 5 minutes later, the Dr. yelled "surf's up!" as my amniotic fluid gushed all over the floor. Turns out the reason I was measuring so big was due to the amount of amniotic fluid and not the size of the baby. Seconds later, they announced they have the feet out, so Rick stood up and started taking pictures.

Sophia was born at 7:54 AM, to Lynard Skynard's Sweet Home Alabama playing on surround sound in the OR. She didn't breathe right away, so they gave her some oxygen and about 10 seconds later I heard the sweet sound of her wailing. It took about 10 minutes for them to bring her to me and we were able to look at her for a minute before they brought her back to check her out some more.

At 8:15 AM I was able to hold her and nurse her for the first time. She took to it like a champ. We spent about 45 minutes in the recovery room as a family, and then Rick and the nurse took Sophia to the nursery for her first bath and foot prints. They stopped by the waiting room on the way to the nursery so that Rick's family and my mom and Amy could see her.

They didn't have a room available right away, so we were brought back to the pre-op room. Everyone was able to come into the room and see us. At 12 PM we finally got into our post partum room for our 3 day stay.

Sophia's first week

We've had a pretty busy week here, but managed to get some pictures...

Welcome Sophia Lee

Born Wednesday, April 9 2008, 7:54 AM

Weight 8 pounds, 3 ounces

Height 19 inches

Absolutely beautiful and perfect in every way (yes, I'm completely biased). We are all recovering well and getting to know our brand new daughter.

I'm going to miss my womb-mate

About 24 hours from now and we'll get to meet our baby! After all this time of guessing what she looks like, who's features she'll have, how big she'll be, what her personality will be like, etc. and so forth--it now just seems completely surreal that I have a baby inside me and she is coming out tomorrow. Craziness.
My womb-mate was just served her 24 hour eviction notice. I told her to start packing up over breakfast of Eggo waffles and syrup, which I know she loves because it really gets her motor running in the morning.
I'm really going to miss the close quarters we've shared for the last 9+ months. It's been, to put it in a really sappy way, magical. So here's my top 3 list of what I'll miss most about my little incubated tenant:

1. Daily pep talks on growing and thriving, which she apparently took quite literally since she's measuring so large.
2. Feeling all her movements and hiccups and trying to guess what part of her body is moving, especially waking up and feeling her wake up too, slowly tickling and then stretching and then the full blown rolling and kicking.
3. Knowing I have her with me 24/7 safe and sound and snuggly, not worrying too much about if I'm doing the right thing and if I'm a good mommy. She's pretty easy to take care of right now.

Pre-labor

I've been having quite a few Braxton Hicks contractions in the last few days. Last night was a record for me, and although it's not the real deal, it's been nice to get an idea of what labor might be like. Yeah, call me nuts but I really want to experience labor, and if I have to have the c-section then this will have to somewhat satisfy my curiosity. I have my weekly Dr. appointment with the on-call Dr. tomorrow because my Dr. doesn't get back from vacation until Mon. I'm interested to see of there's been any changes, and still holding out his baby may decide to turn around. Whatever happens, I'm getting really excited to finally meet this baby!

Changing direction a little bit, I want to share some things that I never realized I'd appreciate until poof--gone. Of course, there are probably tons of things through life that are deeper and more meaningful than this following list. Even in a few months I'm sure I'll forget these were important to me at this time. However, the last nine months have produced a lot of change with my body and I hope to get back the old me eventually.

If I get my body back close to where it once was...

• I will never call myself fat again. I can't believe I was so skinny, actually.
• I will never brag that I can bend over and flatten my hands to the ground, beyond touching my toes. Right now I'm lucky to bend over to the point my hands extend the reach of my knees.
• I will be thankful to change positions in bed, blissfully asleep and unaware my body can move with such ease.
• I will fully appreciate my bladder and it's capacity to store more than an ounce of fluid.
• I will run a little bit harder and jump a little bit higher.

38 weeks