Four Months Late...

So I realized recently I haven't updated the blog at all since Sophia's birth. Poor baby! I wanted to at least get her birth story recorded, so here it is: I was due on the 14th (a Thursday), but had been dilated to 5cm since the beginning of June. Since I was already so far along, we kept thinking the baby would be coming any time. Especially since the doctor kept telling us to be prepared. But, I wasn't really having any contractions, just Braxton Hicks. The problem with being told "any minute" is that you expect the baby to come every minute of the day! Even though she wasn't even due yet, by the week I was due I felt like she had overstayed her welcome. Every day I would tell her "It's a great day to be born, Sophia!" But she was too cozy. The Wednesday before I was due (the 13th) I had some contractions that seemed a little different than usual. They seemed like real contractions except they didn't hurt. Since I had already been so far along at my last appointment, my doctor had me come in to the hospital to check things out. When we got there, they were so busy that they put us in an "extra" room, which was basically a storage closet with a bed. The doctor came and examined me and said I wasn't in active labor and that since they were so busy anyway it was probably best that I just go home and come back if it got worse. If it didn't, she would just see my at my appointment that Friday. I was really hoping not to make that appointment... But, alas, there I was at 11am on Friday the 15th. They did an ultrasound to see how she was doing and so we could figure out what the plan would be for inducing. The ultrasound looked good so we were planning to continue the waiting game. We were scheduled to see a doctor other than Dr. Eastman-Gallo, so we got all settled in the exam room after our ultrasound. A few minutes later a nurse came in. She said that Dr. EG had specially requested to see us and so we needed to change rooms. We did and when she came into the room, Dr. EG said "So, do you want to have a baby today??" She was thinking that the reason I wasn't really feeling contractions was that the ultrasound showed a very large amount of fluid. She said the contractions were just pressing on the fluid, making them hard to notice. When she did her exam she determined that I was about 7cm. So, she told Mike to go home and get our stuff and she sent me to the hospital. On our way out the door she told me she wanted to get me delivered by the end of the day at 5pm, it was 12pm now. When I got to the hospital the nurses thought I was crazy. They were like "um why are you here?" When I told them my doctor had sent me over to deliver they asked if I was in pain and I said no, but I was 7cm, making them even more suspicious. Nonetheless, they got me all settled into a room and I waited there for Mike to get back with our stuff. We called our family and then waited for the epidural. After the epidural, I wasn't really progressing, so Dr. EG came by and broke my water. There was an unbelievable amount of fluid and she wasn't at all surprised that I hadn't been feeling my contractions. She was hoping that breaking my water would make my labor progress further but I was still only about 8cm, so they decided to give me a low dose of Pitocen. This made my contractions start to come a little bit harder. Soon I was dilated to 10cm and it was time to start pushing. At about 4:45, the nurse told me to go ahead and start and she'd call the doctor in a little bit. Well I got about halfway through one push and she said "Stop! Don't push anymore, I have to get the doctor here right now." So I held off and waited until Dr. EG got there at 5:00. When she arrived, I pushed two or three more times and there was Sophia! She was born at 5:03pm and was 8 lbs, 15 oz, 21 inches long. I told the doctor I had honored her request to be done around 5! Sophia had dark hair and I was thinking she was going to be another baby who looked like Mike! I got her onto my chest right away and Mike got to cut the cord. The doctor said it was a good thing we had decided to go ahead and deliver because the placenta was really calcified and wouldn't have lasted much longer. Soon after delivery, they moved me into another room and our family and friends came to visit us there. Beth was watching Olivia so she brought her by to meet her new sister. However, Olivia didn't seem very interested in the baby, just in playing in the hospital room. That night we adjusted to having baby #2. I was in a lot of pain from my contractions, which get worse with each pregnancy, and Sophia was a very loud cryer! The nurse kept coming in to try to help us calm her down because she said she could hear her down the hallway. All in all it wasn't too bad though and we made it through our two nights at the hospital. When we came home, Beth had decorated our house to welcome Sophia and had stocked our fridge with lots of goodies to enjoy. It was both strange and exciting to be at home with our new family of four! Since then, things have been pretty wild around here. It seems like someone is always crying and someone always needs something. They both like to have all the attention, which can definitely lead to some jealousy. But, overall Olivia seems to be loving sisterhood. She is always trying to burp, feed or hug the baby. Whenever Sophia starts crying Olivia is there with a pacifier to try to calm her down and when Sophia gets her diaper changed, Olivia lays down on the floor to get hers done too. I guess that's about it for my belated Sophia update. She's in the 97% percentile for weight and growing every day. She has gorgeous blue eyes except her right eye has a little speck of brown in it. For the first few months she had an umbilical hernia, but it seems to be getting better now and her only ailment is a clogged tear duct in her left eye that leaves her eye goobers just about every morning. She loves to play with her rattle that she shakes all around, she smiles at mommy and daddy every chance she gets, she eats like a champ and sleeps well at night, and her favorite hobby (besides watching her big sister) is sitting with daddy and watching football on TV. Those big guys in bright colors always seem to calm her down. We love our little butterball and can't wait to watch her grow up!