New Pictures

I’ve added a dozen or so new pictures today, so be sure to check them out.

Presently, Sophia is finishing up her long day of rest, so she can give us none overnight.  Thanks, little sweetheart.

Tomorrow we’re back to the pediatrician’s to make sure she’s doing well with her weight gain.  She seems a bit less jaundiced now, so we’re anticipating an overall good appointment.

Thanks for all the encouraging comments, and special thanks to family and friends who have brought us dinner the past few nights.  You’re wonderful.

The First Three Days

You’ve heard about the birth. Now behold the first three days of the life of Sophia Grace. The full range of emotions will be found.

Day One: Our Sweet, Peaceful Little Girl

After a night of very little sleep, we spent our first full day with Sophia. At Strong Hospital, the nursery is reserved for the Neonatal ICU during the day hours (7am-11pm), so new mommies and daddies get full days with their new kiddos. Sophia was a peach. She slept away most of the day, and even the lactation specialist was pleased at how well she took to breastfeeding. It seemed like this was all going to work out perfectly. I told Tricia that this was the other best day of my life. We had a great little future ahead of us. We sent her off to the nursery, since near the end of the day she was getting a bit crabby and we needed a good night’s sleep, and we prepared for our next day of bliss with our new daughter.

Day Two: War

When day two dawned, we found that Sophia had spent the night hatching a plan: she would entirely sabotage day two, just to show us what she was capable of doing. She barely slept a wink all day. After a good morning of feeding, the screaming began, and you would have thought she was dying. I bet she would have claimed a “10″ on that stupid pain scale. She was the gassiest little kid, and you couldn’t get her settled for more than 30 seconds without her waking up and demanding something to suck on. She got fussy with eating, and it seemed the only time she wanted to sleep at all was when Tricia was trying to breastfeed her.

The confidence in our super parenting abilities instilled in the first day was waning.

The White Flag: How I Became a Pacifist

Her fussyness at the very end of day one led one sort of pushy evening nurse to suggest using a pacifier. Books, specialists, and friends had cautioned us against early introduction of this little sucking device, so we resisted the suggestion. By evening of day two, however, we learned a very valuable lesson. Show me all the “percentages,” and “tendencies” you want from this or that study. Each baby is his or her own little person. A nurse (much less pushy, with the experience of five kids, all with different sucking behaviors) explained that Sophia was eating well, and a pacifier would not deter her; on the other hand, it might satisfy her need for a little extra sucking. Even more, it would give her a moment to settle and get some of that gas out; she was just making it worse by crying so much.

The nurse was right. Though she still didn’t sleep so well for the rest of the day, she was almost manageable, and she got some of that gas out. Nonetheless, two exhausted new parents were glad to see her head back off to the nursery for the night. Turns out she didn’t sleep so well overnight, either – when the nurse brought her back in at 4:30 for a feeding, they did everything they could to not take her back to the nursery. We caught the nurse rushing out of the room with her hand on the doorknob as we called out, “Can she go back to the nursery for the last hour or two?” The nurse could not avoid a look of dejection before pretending to be happy to have the little bundle of brattiness back.

Day Three: Homeward Bound

Day three was basically the first two smushed into one. We left the hospital at 10:30am yesterday with a slightly jaundiced and exhausted, sleeping Sophia. Turns out she sleeps great on car rides, too. She spent most of the day sleeping, and we finally thought we were witnessing the 18 hours a day of sleep all the books talk about.

Instead, she decided the overnight period would be a repeat of day two. Just as we were gratefully settling down to sleep for the night, and we had dealt with the fact that our little dog Bodhi would no longer be sleeping in our bed with us (that was a hard one for me), she was ready for a good 9 hours of screaming practice, just in case something bad ever actually happened to her. We were not at all prepared for this, but we managed in shifts throughout the night.

What Now?

I’m writing this on day four, and she’s been basically asleep for 14 hours, except for a few feeding breaks and a great visit with our new pediatricians. (If you’re in the Rochester area and need a pediatrician, Genesis Pediatrics is the shizzle). We’re trying to get just a little rest before she begins her little crusade against our sanity. Tonight, we’ve got 2 hour shifts planned, and if we both can’t sleep, we’ll finish Season 3 of 24. The pediatrician says it’ll take about 3 weeks for her to stop getting night and day confused.

We’re getting ourselves geared up for a long three weeks.

Sophia Grace: the Statistics

Well, things are up and running here at Sophia’s Place, and there’s lots to say. Let’s begin with the basics. Sophia Grace was born at 10:15pm on Saturday, July 22, 2006. She was 21.5″ and 8 lbs., 2 oz. After 3 and a half days of attempted induced labor, it was finally decided that she needed to be taken by C-section, and that surgery was performed by Tricia’s own Ob-Gyn, who was on call that night. I was able to be in the room with Tricia as it happened, and I watched our daughter be born. After a hectic hour of recovery, we returned to our room and fell asleep (to be woken, of course, every hour or so by nurses wanting to check vitals).  I’ll write stories about the first few days soon.  For now, just a few quick notes.

To everyone: Pictures are up – keep checking back; there will be more, and I’ll be adding descriptions and stories with each.

To all friends and family – You are all such a blessing.  Thanks for all your prayers and help.  We’re overwhelmed and grateful for you and your generosity.

To my coworkers: We wanted you to be able to see Sophia before we left, but you’d be surprised how hard it is to find time and energy when recovering from a C-section!  I’ll try to bring her by on a day off sometime.  For now, enjoy the pictures and stories.

We’re Home

We’re home with Sophia Grace.  She’s wonderful.  I’m uploading pictures, but there seems to be an error in the link.  I’ll try to fix it tonight, but if I can’t, I’ll send out some emails with pictures.

I’ll also write all about our hospital stay and the birth of our little girl as soon as possible.