Daddy daughter time

Honestly, I don't know how anyone could do this alone. Or what I'd do if Steve hadn't been able to take so many weeks off. He is the bestest Dad and adores his daughter. During the waking hours, if she's not eating, Dad's entertaining her. During the LOOOONG feedings of a stubborn, sleepy eater, he's keeping me company, supplementing her feeding and changing diapers. He stays up until midnight with her so I can sleep and never complains when I wake him for the supplemental feeding at 6:00 a.m. He's probably getting less sleep than I am, and he's okay with it. I hope someday I can help Sofia fully grasp just how much he loves her.


I'm sure that will be a hard sell when he breaks the news to her that she can't date until she's at least 18 and greets her prom date on the front porch with a shotgun. "It's only because he loves you so much honey".


Calming her crying.

This Daddy does diapers.

Sofia in her bouncy seat. Daddy loves to watch her in it and can't wait for the day when she grabs at the animals because she realizes her actions cause something to happen.

Bonding with his daughter. (After explaining the rules of baseball to her as she watched her first Red Sox game!)

baby shower at church

The kind women at church wanted to have a baby shower. When I went on bedrest, it had to be scheduled for after the baby arrived. We found a weekend that would correspond with when my Mom was in town. Which was great to have the extra hands of Mom and Aimee to get us there on time (mostly)
Sofia was very obliging and slept through church and most of the shower. Never fussing once even when she sort of woke up and even though we were over an hour late for her feeding, and that it was hot out!!

The party planners plus a few guests.

The Law family and baby.

Pink presents for Sofia-who slept through it all.

Aimee right before she had to leave to go back to Denver.

Grandma tries to help Sofia suck her thumb. She REALLY wants to be able to.

Bring on the family-part 1

Heather's mother arrived on Sofia's 1 week birthday. What a great treat to have her here for a week. As an added bonus, Steve surprised me by flying in my sister that same day. Four extra hands around the house were very helpful. especially since I got really sick. I could actually take lots of naps and take care of myself.
Not only did they help with baby care, they left the house sparkling clean! We only wish they lived closer. It was very tearful when they had to go back home. But, we promised pictures. Hence, the motivation to get this updated!

Grandma and Sofia

Aunt Aimee with the littlest niece.

Sofia modeling her Wildwood clinic onesie. Wildwood is where Grandma Wetter works.

Grandma the day she had to leave, getting in some last minute rocking chair time with Sofia.

We've got a baby. Where's the instructions?

First week at home. Getting by best we can without an instruction manual. Some highlights:
Dad in the baby room feeding her the supplement.

Sofia's first bath at home.

Time to stop and smell the lilacs!

hospital living

If we'd known how good we had it, we would have stayed until Saturday, not asked to get out on Friday!! People waiting on you, bringing you made to order food off a menu, (once I got past the liquids only diet), visitors coming, other people cleaning up... that was nice.

Sleeping when we could:

Lots of visitors; Sarah, Tanya and Don, Sonya, Betzy, and Jim and Lisa:

Unfortunately, little Sofia kept losing weight and lost over 10% of her birthweight and was borderline jaundiced, so we had to supplement her feeding. Which is something Steve could do with finger feeding using a syringe and tiny tubing.

A picture of the new family:

Welcome Sofia Louise

You are all being spared the long birth story originally penned for this by means of internet hijinx that made it disappear. Besides, you really wanted to see pictures anyway, not hear the gory details.

Here are the bullet points if you're interested. If not keep scrolling to see pics.

5/5 8:00 p.m. To hospital to start inducing due to mom's high blood pressure. Start misoprostol.

5/6 2:00 a.m Start Cervidil

2:00 p.m. Start Pitocin drip

8:00 p.m. Starts getting noticeable contractions. Screaming doesn't start for a few more hours.

5/7 2:00 a.m no progression for hours past 7 cm. Encouraged to take an epidural or other narcotics to relax a little and see if it encourages dilation. Or possibly because Steve and the nurse are worried I'll wake everyone else in the hospital. Take the lowest dose possible.

5:00 a.m it worked. Time to start pushing.

7:30 a.m Good pushes. Head stuck at 0 station for over 1/2 hour. Baby heart rate stil okay, but taking longer to recover after each push. Bring in other doctor for consult. Agrees, no progess is being made. C-section is best option. Off we go.

7:56 a.m. Look to my left. Steve tells me we have a daughter!! Welcome Sofia Louise!! 7 pounds, 8 oz and 21 inches.

Turns out the nuchal cord was around her neck which is why she hadn't gone past 0 station. A test of the blood gasses in the cord blood would also later reveal that she was about 20 minutes away from NOT doing well. We made the right decision.