One More Day Down

Sophia Sophia Sophia... she is being a preemie. She didn't take all of her bottles today. She took 3 out of 4. Which probably means that she will be at 4 bottles again tomorrow. She is also having some Brady issues. That means she her heart rate dips below 80 beats then she can't bring it up herself. The nurses have to stimulate her. She has to go 5 days without having one. She has never done that before but she has has a couple of episodes the last two days. Sometimes at 34 weeks it happens I just hope it stops soon too. I don't think she is going to come home this week. She is not on pace for it but I can hope. Otherwise, she will likely be home next week.
Sam and I went and had dinner at the hospital. Once a month they have a dinner prepared by a chef for the parents that have children in the NICU. We had salad, prime rib, potatos, beans, rolls, and for desert, berry cheesecake, and chocolate mouse cheesecake. It was good and everyone was so nice. I went back to hold Sophia for a little while and I got home just a little while ago. I am tired(as always) but I need to pump in 30 minutes. No point going to bed. After pumping totally going to bed.

Sunday is Nursery Day

Today I decided that I better stay home and get Sophia's nursery done today. My whole family went out of town including Sam so I am having Michelle come over and help me try to make some headway. I am hoping Sophia will come home this week and that means I have to get some things done. I miss her and I feel bad that I am not there but I know she is in good hands. I am thinking of it like day care but with nurses. It helps me do what I need to do. I better get going and get started. There is so much to do I am avoiding it like the plague. At the end of the day I hope we are done.
Sophia is having a good day today. She did not want her last two bottles yesterday so she is still at 4 bottles a day until she can do that constantly. I think she was just tired yesterday. She is up to 4lbs 3 oz. Can't wait to see her tomorrow. I miss her like crazy.

Saturday June 26

I did my usual routine today. Got up pumped, made breakfast and lunch, packed my bag, and headed to the hospital. I got there pumped again, changed Sophia, took her temperature, and waited for my Dad to feed her. Today was the first day my Dad got to hold her. I got a couple of pictures of it. I had a rush of love when my Dad was holding my baby girl and he had such pride on his face. We just got to sit and talk for a while. Sophia loved being held by him and I got to spend time with my Dad too. He left around lunch time but hung out while I ate. I relaxed and watched a little T.V. in the break room waiting for my pumping time again. Went back to her and started all over again except this time I tried to feed her a bottle. She was not interested it and we ended up having to feed her through her feeding tube. Sophia decided to be lazy. She is still on every other feeding with bottles. Basically 4 bottles a day. I left around 5pm to head home to relax. I am looking forward to the day that I don't have to drive anywhere.

34 weeks or 2 weeks old

Today Sam and I headed up to the hospital for family time. Sophia is a rock star. She jumped from 1 bottle to 2 bottles today while we were there. I got to feed her for the first time. Sam got a picture of it. She weighs 4 lbs 1 oz. Sam and I checked her temperature, changed her diaper (actually Sam did both of them), fed her, held her, and pumped (which was me of course). It was fun doing things for her together. I think we make a great team. Sam is heading to his brothers house tonight which means I get a couple of days with the house to myself. I am hoping to work on her nursery. Sam wants to help but I can't decide what I want to do. I am going to figure that out and when he gets back we can decide together what we want. I called the NICU to see how Sophia was doing and they gave me the good news that they put Sophia to 3-4 bottles a day. I am so excited I hope she continues to do well. If so then she might be able to be home as early as mid to late next week. Sam and I just want her home as soon as possible. Stay tuned to see what else my rock star can do. (I hope I don't ginx it).

Today Was A Good Day

Last night I missed a pumping session. I was so tired Sam couldn't wake me up and so he just let me sleep. I am hoping I don't do that once Sophia comes home. Although if it does I have Sam as a backup plan. He has been so great through all of this. He was up with me for my 5am pumping and talked to me. It was nice not to have to be up by myself. I felt better this morning not having to get up at all the pumping times. I had my doctors appointment this morning. The doc gave me some pills to help my milk come in. My body is not wanting to produce what it has been. I am hoping it comes back. Besides that I see her again for my 6 weeks visit to give me a clean bill of health.
Sophia is rock star. She took a little bit of a bottle last night. The nurse this morning said she was alert and really hungry this morning so she decided to try and feed her with a bottle again. She took the whole 35cc. I am so proud. The doc said she could go to 2 bottles a day after she heard that. I hope she continues at this pace but I am sure she will it a patch at some point. I am holding out some hope that she will be able to come home in 2 weeks.
Nana stopped by today with Miss Denise. I finally was able to let my Mom hold her for the first time. She was in heaven and I was proud as well. I have pictures with everyone. It was a good day!

Another Day in the New Life

Sam, Sarah, and I headed to see Sophia today. She is doing well and has gained some weight. She is 3 lbs 15 oz.. They tested her for feeding from a bottle today. She took 15cc out of 32cc. So they are going to start feeding her from the bottle once a day and move up from there. We didn't stay too long today just a couple of hours. Sarah held Sophia for a good hour. She was a natural and I asked her if she would like to babysit some time. I held her for a little while as well then we left to have lunch. We brought Sarah back to the house to show her the nursery and all the lovely gifts we have gotten from everyone. I think she liked it.
Tomorrow I have my two week doctor's visit. I am interested to see what she has to say about me. Plus I have A LOT of questions that I can't wait to get answered. Then on to see Sophia. The highlight of my day.

Still Exhausted But Still Going

It has been a week and Sophia is doing great. She has put on weight and is needing no assistance of any kind. She is in what the doctor calls "The growing feeding stage." In order for her to come home she needs to be able to maintain her body temperature and feed from a bottle or breast 8 times a day. They are planning on testing her last this week to see if she is mature enough to be get the suck, swallow, and breath. If she is not ready than they will wait another week to test her again. I hope she passes so that she can come home soon. She is so cute if I do say so myself.
On Saturday Sam and I had our baby shower. We had almost everyone show up for it. It was so much fun. I was sad that I was not pregnant and didn't get to play the normal shower games. My Mom's friends had other games to play that were fun. It turned out better than I ever could have imagined. They out did themselves.
Sunday was Father's Day and I ended up sick. I have been pushing myself too much and it finally caught up with me. Sam was so sweet. It was his day and all he did was take care of me. He ended up going to the hospital by himself and seeing Sophia while I took a nap. He got a present from Sophia(i.e. the nurses) it was a picture frame with her footprints that said Happy Father's Day Love Sophia. He loves it. He put it on his nightstand. Such a proud papa he is.
Today after a break yesterday I headed up to the hospital. I have a little more energy today. It was good to see her after two days away. She was so sweet today. I got to hold her twice and still managed to run an much needed errand after the hospital. I had to go get a nursing bra. That was sooo much fun. Sam is such a gem. He stayed at the house and ran all the errands for me today. He is being so great and supportive. He makes sure that I take needed breaks and makes me sit down if I am doing too much. Bless him. We are doing good. We just want to be able to take Sophia home soon.

I am so Exhausted

I am coming to the conclusion that I am not taking good care of myself as I should. I am very tired and can't relax. I am suppose to be taking it easy trying to recover from giving birth. I also get the added stress of not being able to have Sophia home. Instead I am cleaning the house running around etc.. you get the point. I am running myself ragged and I am about to fall over in complete exhaustion. I went up to see Sophia today as I do every day. It was the most relaxed I can get these days. I got to hold her for 2 1/2 hours. She just slept on my chest and we were both content. I was sad to have to leave her. I am hoping I don't have to continue to have that feeling for too long. My hope would be to be able to take her home in the next 2-3 weeks. Until then I will continue to go to the hospital every day to see her. She is small but a joy.
I am having a time pumping for milk. It hurts pretty good. It is getting less painful every time. I had pretty good luck today for milk and I hope it helps Sophia grow strong and healthy faster. Besides that I had dinner with the folks and ran some errands. I am waiting to do my last pump for the night and then I am hitting the hay. Can't wait to see Sophia tomorrow.

First Day Back

Today was the first day I had to drive and see Sophia. It is weird to have to go all that way to see my baby. It feels like a job sort of. It makes me feel saner if I look at that way. I am going to bring my baby home. She is doing so good. The doctor is letting me kangaroo with her. Basically, she lays on my bare chest. It is suppose to really help her grow and get home quicker. The skin to skin is a miracle(the docs words not mine i hope it works). I held her for over 2 hours. It was so nice. She slept and I slept, I didn't want to leave but I wasn't planning on staying that long. I will head back up tomorrow and do it all over again. My milk finally started coming in. It HURTS!!! Tiffany was over today when I started pumping and I started laughing/crying. She and Sam started laughing at me it was not fun. I have some ducts that are clogged so I have to massage to get the milk. I love my life. I would do anything for my little girl. Who would of thought?

Surprise!!!

Ok so those do not know Sophia is here!!!
I will make this short and sweet because I am tired and I will give a longer version at some point. Ok Thursday 3rd of June Sam and I were heading back from having dinner with my family and my water broke. We drove to the hospital to see how bad it was and they told me instead of a leak I hemorrhaged. At that time I was 30 weeks 6 days. The hospital was not equipped to handle a baby that small so they transferred me to a different hospital down the road with a NCIU. I got to ride in an ambulance for the first time. When we got to the new hospital they got me in a room and monitored me and the baby for 3 days. I was not allowed to get up and go to the bathroom. After I was stabilized I was able to take a shower and go to the bathroom in the actual bathroom. It was heaven. Anyway, on Saturday 12th around 2-3am I started having contractions they have me two shots to try and stop the contractions but Sophia wanted to see us. The contractions were so painful. I had to wait for the drugs because the guy was in a C-section. I was throwing things and not being very nice. Once I got the epidural I was in bliss and didn't feel a thing after that. I progressed very quickly and painlessly. In the end I pushed for about 30 minutes before the doctor came in. Once she got there I pushed 3 times and she was out and screaming. My parents and Sam never left my side. Sophia was born at 2:49pm, weighed 3 pounds 6 ounces, and is 16 1/2 inched long. I was 32 weeks to the day. She is super baby and is doing great all on her own with our any assistance. I stayed my two days and was discharged today. I had to leave her at the hospital but I am hoping she will be able to come home in a couple of weeks. Until then I will be driving up to the hospital as much as I can. I need to pump and go to bed because it has been a long week and a half. I can't wait to sleep in my own bed.

Week 31

One more week down Only 9 more weeks to go. Sophia is growing like a weed. She has finally put on some weight. She should be around 3 1/2 pounds and 14-16 inches long. I am feeling more tired, clumsy, and even a little bloated. I can't wear my wedding ring anymore. I am trying to get the energy to go walking everyday but it has only happened once in three weeks. I am going to make a good effort today to walk 2 miles. It shouldn't be a problem but it is just so hot outside. Although all I have to do is walk to the gym which is about 50 yards away. Woe is me it is so hard to be me right now.

Another Week Gone By

The holiday weekend is over. Sam and I had a good time swimming. It helped my back out not having all the pressure on it. It was hard getting out of the pool with all the pressure of the weight. Still it was worth it and I might just end up in the pool for the rest of the summer because of my back. Today is same ol' same ol' cleaning, laundry, errands, cooking, etc... Counting down the weeks to Sophia arriving. I can't believe tomorrow is another week down. It seems to be going by so quickly but slow at the same time. Sleeping is getting harder and harder. I am tossing and turning more. My back is hurting more but besides that I am as happy as a clam. Not much else to report.
I forgot to add my doctors appointment last week. Everything is fine and I am in good form. I am suppose to go to the doctor every 2 weeks for the next month and then every week for the last month. My next appointment is Tuesday. I am going to head out of town after that for a little while. Have a girls trip before I have my girl. Can't wait! Until then keeping busy.