3 Months Old!

Little Miss S turned 3 months old on Sunday. She's definitely growing like a weed! Here are her unofficial stats for 3 months:

Weight: ~12.5 lbs
Length: 24.3 inches

Sophie got to meet her Great Gram on Sunday. Great Gram is 97 years old and in failing health. Miss S did well for about 10 minutes then began to have a meltdown as we were trying to get pictures with Great Gram. Isn't that the way things always go???

She's continued to sleep through the night and is now in a fairly regular schedule. She'll go to sleep, for the night, between 9 and 10pm and sleep until 8am!

Sitting up is now one of her favorite activities. She enjoys spending time in her Bumbo seat as well as her new high chair. While she's not eating solids yet, she enjoys being at the table with Mom & Dad and playing with her toys while we eat. We purchased the Fisher Price Space Saver high chair and I have to say I love it so far! She currently sits in the partially reclined position. I love that it will grow with her as she grows. It does use up one of our chairs, but it takes much less room than an actual high chair....definitely needed in our house!

We're preparing for our first big plane trip in a couple of weeks. Her Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, cousins and many, many family friends are VERY anxious to meet little Miss S. I, on the other hand, am already wondering if I'm going to need a few valiums to not spaz out while packing and getting to the airport. I have no doubt we'll be fine once we're on the plane...it's just everything leading up to it. Moms out there: any suggestions on what is absolutely necessary or an item you couldn't have done without on your trip?

Have a great week!

Milestones Abound!

Let's see if we can catch you up since the last post. I really do need to get better about posting!

Sophie had her 2-month check-up where everything was great. Below are her stats from 1/26:
Weight: 9lbs 10oz
Length: 22.3 inches
Head Circumference: 37.4cm

She had her first round of vaccinations at the appointment. Aside from some screaming during the shots themselves, she was a real trooper. She never really ran a fever or was too terribly fussy. Later that afternoon she did have some leg pain which required one dose of Tylenol to get her to calm down.

Y and I finally had an evening out to ourselves the first of the month. Y's parents watched Miss S for a couple of hours while we enjoyed dinner. She did pretty well with them and believe it or not, I wasn't too worried. No phone calls to confirm all was okay.

We recently weighed Miss S and she's now up to 11.5lbs! Since the last post, she now has her BMs under control. The Prevacid has helped all around and we no longer have to get things moving with Karo syrup. Yay for progress!

In milestones, Sophie can now roll from tummy to back frequently. She's putting everything from her hands, her sleeves, her toys, Mommy's clothes and hands in her mouth. Sophie is now also sleeping through the night! She had been doing really well and waking only once at night, usually around 3am for a feeding. Last week she began sleeping until 6am! She's had a couple of nights where she's slept until 7 and 8am! Talk about heaven for Mommy and Daddy! While she's still trying hard to roll from back to tummy, she can now twist and squirm in such a way that she'll turn herself sideways in the crib with her feet against the side rails.

I bet you didn't know life was this exciting at 2-months old!

Probably one of the biggest developments of all is she's wanting to sit up ALL. THE. TIME. I was playing with her in bed one morning and had her partially propped up on my pillow. Next thing I know, she's using her stomach muscles and pulling herself into a sitting position! She is by no means steady at all but she much prefers sitting up to lying down. We pulled out her Bumbo seat and she LOVES sitting in her seat and watching the world.

We had a great Valentine's Day with our little love bug. She was VERY spoiled by friends and family. We had a pretty relaxed day at home and just enjoyed being together as a family. I can vividly remember last year's Valentine's Day. Y went all out, making a special dinner at home. I was on, what would be, my last round of Clomid. I was sad and depressed that we had been trying to conceive for 18 months. Y did everything he could to make me forget. Later that night, I was in the bathroom losing my entire Valentine dinner from the Clomid pukes. Of course, later that week we saw Dr. H and I told him no more Clomid...we had to try something else. Oh how I miss Dr. H. He was such a great Dr!

Coming this Sunday, Little Miss S will be 3 MONTHS old! Seriously, where did my tiny little baby go?! Why is time moving so quickly?! She'll have her first big trip in March when we head to visit my family in Missouri. Everyone there is VERY anxious to see her.

Where does the time go!?!

So much for staying on top of blogging.

We've had our ups and downs in the past month. While Sophie is growing more adorable and more fun each day, she's still struggling with tummy issues. We returned, once again, to the pediatrician on January 13th. Sophie had become really constipated and the prescribed teaspoon of dark Karo syrup twice a day in her bottles didn't seem to be doing much to help her. She was crying in pain any time she had to go. The Zantac, even at full dosage, wasn't helping her reflux either.

She's now on Prevacid once a day and it really seems to be controlling the reflux. Her poop issues - well, those are still there. She now has a BM about every two to three days with the aid of Karo syrup. Not my favorite solution but we're trying to solve one thing at a time so as not to really mess her up.

Sophie's mastered several milestones lately:
- she smiles, reactionary smiles all the time now.
- she squeals
- she coos
- she can hold her head up and steady for several minutes now
- she can do her mini push-ups
- she recognizes my voice and face as well as Daddy's
- she'll track her toys as we move them in and out of her line of vision.
- she's found her hands and will now suck on them and try to suck her thumb.

Other skills we're working on:
- laughing
- she's rolled from tummy to back. Once.
- she tries to roll from back to tummy. She'll get her bottom half going but can't get the top half to cooperate
- she tries to grab at her toys every now and then

My Mom was out for a three-week visit and just left on Monday. Sophie became quite spoiled with Grandma loving on her and holding her all the time. Now, of course, she prefers to be sleeping on someone rather than in her crib or bassinet. Thanks Mom.

Sophie will be 2 months old tomorrow and will have her 2-month check-up on the 26th. I look forward to seeing how much she's grown considering she was at 8lbs 8oz on the 13th!

Ack! I'm way behind!

Where the heck does time go??? Oh wait. We have a newborn now that takes all our time!

Little Miss Sophie is now ONE MONTH OLD! At her weight check on the 17th she was 6lbs 8oz. We were given the green light to keep doing what we're doing and not return until her 2 month check-up. Well.....apparently Little Miss S decided she wanted to see her pediatrician again. Off and on for a couple of weeks, Sophie has had a few crying spells. To us, it seemed like it was related to her having a BM. Last week, her fussiness was continuing to get worse and as we kept track of when they were occurring, we noticed it was always after her nursing. With her fussiness she also wasn't sleeping well. Friday, it became so bad that we had an hour of hard, inconsolable crying. She sounded like she was in pain. Nothing we did would help and she just seemed miserable. After a call to the pediatrician, he wanted to see us Monday. In hopes of making her a little less miserable and possibly determine if there was something in my breastmilk she was having issues with (this after I had eliminated all possible gas-producing foods from my diet for 3 days), we switched to formula Friday night while I continued to pump to keep my supply up. She did really, really well on the formula. Until Monday. Monday she began spitting up and having her painful crying episodes again.

At her appointment she was diagnosed with possible reflux. Our first order of business was to try added rice formula and stop nursing. Immediately after her first feeding with the new formula, she cried and cried and cried. For two and a half hours. Poor thing was so miserable. We switched back to regular formula overnight. That seemed to help but she's still having issues. Today has brought quite a bit of spitting up and more fussiness after feedings. After another call to the pediatrician, Sophie will be starting on Zantac tonight. We're to use the regular formula so we can figure out what's working. If neither the Zantac nor the rice formula (which we tried yesterday) works, we'll need to return to the pediatrician to see if there are other issues with her stomach.

In other milestones, Sophie loves to stare at people's faces. She'll try to mimick any faces you make at her - it's very funny. She can hold her head up by herself for a couple of minutes at a time. She LOVES to stare at the ceiling fans and loves, loves, LOVES her Gloworm and Soothe & Glow Seahorse. She's now up to 6lbs 15oz (as of Monday, her one month birthday). Bathtime is becoming much more tolerable for her. When we first started baths in the tub, she'd cry the whole time. Now, she only cries if she gets cold. Yay for progress!

And now for the best part....a few pictures from the past couple of weeks!

Enjoying the ceiling fan

I'm such a mean Mommy putting a picture up of her throwing a fit. I find it rather humorous.

Storytime with Daddy.

Two-week check-up

Here are the stats for Sophie's two-week check-up:

Weight: 5lbs 14oz (yay! gained 7oz in 5 days!!)
Length: 19.8 inches
Head circumference: 34cm

She's doing great, despite her peeling dry skin.

Two Weeks Old!

Sophie is two weeks old today!

**Note: This post was started last Saturday when she was two weeks old. Yeah, life got a wee bit busy and I'm just now getting back to it now that she's nearly 3 weeks old.**

She is becoming much more alert during the day and stays awake for an hour or so at a time a few times a day. Nights are still pretty rough with her waking every three to four hours for feedings meaning I get only two to three hours of sleep at a time - if she's not fussy in between.

We've had a few diaper blow-outs, one of which resulted in poo all over her leg and foot (and Mommy's hand when she didn't realize where the poo had gone). I laugh at the facial expressions she makes on a daily basis, especially when feeding. She has a tendency to get ahead of herself and dives for the boob at feeding time.

We had two weight checks this past week. On Monday, we returned for the first weight check since her first appointment. Sadly, there was no change. Our pediatrician suspected that since my milk didn't come in until last Friday that she had actually lost more then began gaining to end up back at 5lbs 4oz. We returned on Thursday to be sure this was the case and check that she was gaining. At Thursday's appointment she was up 3 ounces in 3 days to 5lbs 7oz. Yay!

1 Week Old!

Sophie is 1 week old!

This week has brought lots of adjustments for life with a newborn. Y and I are learning to live on little sleep. My life is measured in two-hour increments with breastfeeding. Speaking of breastfeeding, things are going much better now. I purchased a nipple shield which has been a huge help in getting Sophie to latch on. My milk finally came in by the end of the week so she's been eating well. I'm pumping when I can to help increase my supply and have some milk on hand for Y to do a few feedings.

We have hit a bit of a bump in the road. Sophie had a pediatrician appointment on Wednesday where we learned she had lost 6 ounces since birth, down to 5lbs 4oz. Since she was so small at birth, we now have to go in for weekly weight checks to be sure she's gaining as she should be. If she's not, we'll need to start looking at supplementing the breast milk. Other than the weight issue, she's healthy and doing quite well.

Things we've learned and milestones Sophie's made in the past week:
-Sophie has mastered projectile poop
-She does not like having clothing pulled over her head
-It can be 2am, you're awake, feeding, and exhausted but when you see that smile it's all worth it (even if the smile is due to gas)
-She grew a half inch in length to 19 inches and a half centimeter in head circumference to 33cm
-She loves anything that vibrates
-Belly aches result in lots of leg pumping and very loud crying
-Just like her Momma, she loves having her head and feet rubbed

I don't think it's possible to be more in love with someone as I am with her.

Introducing: Sophie Grace

The Little Miss decided to make her appearance 11 days early.

Saturday morning at 1:40am my water broke. At home. In my sleep. I had been having a few contractions that day but nothing real regular. After gathering the needed supplies and packed bags, we headed to the hospital. We arrived around 2:50am. I hadn't really had too many contractions (or so I thought) between home and the hospital. Triage confirmed my membranes did indeed rupture, checked my cervix and monitored contractions until labor & delivery was ready for me. At 3am, I was a tight 3cm dilated and 80% effaced. Around 4am, I was wheeled to L&D where they hooked me up to the monitors and got all the paperwork and questions out of the way. By 5am I was started on Pitocin. Due to my membranes rupturing, we had to move labor along so as not to risk infection. At 7am I asked for an epidural. About 30 minutes prior, I began having severe back labor. If it hadn't been for the back labor, I would have been able to hold off a bit longer. I was checked at 7 and was still 3cm and 80% effaced. The epidural kicked in around 7:30 or so. Pure bliss. About 15 minutes later, my left arm felt extremely cold, was freezing to the touch and felt weak and heavy. The nurse called my anesthesiologist and he told them to turn down my dosage. This seemed to help but the weakness in my arm continued. By 9am, I was checked again. I was at 5cm. I began getting some feeling back in my legs at this point. Around 10am, I was checked again. 10cm!!!!! Sometime between 9 and 10am, Sophie began having some problems with the contractions. She was still okay but I was asked to lie on my left side and given oxygen.

Shortly after 10am, I was asked to do a few practice pushes. The L&D nurse helped me hold one foot while Y held the other. By 10:20 or so, I was ready to start pushing for real. The epidural had mostly worn off at this point and I could feel most everything. (OUCH!!!) Each push went well and at 10:59am on Saturday, 11/22, Sophie Grace was born. Y cut the cord and not long after, the placenta was delivered. The post-delivery was VERY painful. I tore in two or three places - one 1st degree tear and two second degree tears. Because the epidural had worn off, I could feel the stitching. They eventually gave me a local but it still hurt like heck.

Sophie was 5lbs 10oz and 18.5 inches long. Her head measured 32.5cm and chest was 29cm. She has a head full of black hair and, currently, has dark blue eyes. Sophie quickly breastfed and did well the first two days. Now that we're home, however, things aren't going quite so well.

38 Week (and 2 days) update

And a trip to Labor & Delivery. 12 Days to go!

Here's what's happening with development this week:
The Little Miss has really plumped up. Babies vary in weight at this point and could weigh anywhere between 6.25 and 7.5 pounds. The Little Miss is now over 19.5 inches long, about the length of a leek. She has a firm grasp which we'll soon be able to test when we hold her hand for the first time. Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

We may not be able to tell what color eyes she'll have right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. The reasoning for this change is because a child's irises may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they usually won't get "lighter" or more blue.

Appointment Update, including the Labor & Delivery visit

First, let me start off by saying everything's fine, BUT....

This week's appointment brought a bit of adventure. First some key measurements: I was down a pound and a half from last week's visit. My belly was measuring at 34 cm - about where it's been for a couple of visits now. The Little Miss' heart rate was great and I was still 3cm dilated. We don't, however, know how effaced I was because....I was having a bit of a blood pressure issue.

One of the first things the nurse does when I come into the office is take my blood pressure. Normally, there are no issues so I was a surprised when the nurse said my pressure was a bit elevated and she wanted me to lie on my side for a while before she returned for a recheck. The first reading came in at 126/86 - not terrible but not real great either. The second check came in at 133/88. While I was told to stay on my side, another nurse came in a few minutes later to check me a third time just in case my nurse was having an issue. Nope. Third reading was even higher at 138/100. Oh boy.

My OB came in a few minutes later where she was quite concerned with the high blood pressure readings. My urine sample showed I was dumping protein into my urine - those results came in at +1 protein. While my Dr. was doing the internal exam she was unsure whether or not The Little Miss was actually head down. So, she decided to send me to Labor & Delivery for monitoring and some labs. While I was there, she also wanted them to do a sonogram to make sure that The Little Miss was head down and there was still plenty of amniotic fluid surrounding her. If my blood pressure didn't go down or any of the labs came back with adverse results, I would be admitted and induced.

We got to the hospital around 1pm. They took two vials of blood, another urine sample, attached me to the heart rate and contraction monitors, and took my blood pressure every 15-20 minutes. My first BP reading was a little high at 126/84 but each consecutive reading went down. My last reading was around 111/69. I was having contractions while attached to the monitors but nothing that warranted the start of labor. All lab work came back completely normal, in fact, I had no protein in my urine. The sonogram went great. The Little Miss IS head down and my amniotic level was at 12. Anything between 6 and 22 is normal.

So that's that. We're back in the waiting game and stumped as to why my BP had been high. I return next Tuesday for another check-up if I haven't delivered by then.

Wordless Wednesday: Wishes