Sophie's 1st Tub Bath

Sophie got her first tub bath this morning, and it went really well. As usual, she was pretty upset when I messed with her clothes and diaper, but she practically went back to sleep during the bath itself. Now that her navel is totally healed, I'm looking forward to more regular baths for her. :o)

LAFD Museum

Jeff and I took the girls to the LAFD Historical Museum yesterday so Mia could look at all the fire trucks on display. Predictably, the plastic fire fighter helmet (or "fighter fighter helmet", as Mia prefers to call it) was a huge hit, but she had a lot of fun operating the lights as well. Jeff and I loved watching her trying to fill out the jacket and boots they put out for the little kids to play with.

First Walk in the Double Stroller

About 7 days after Sophie was born, I finally felt strong enough to start walking for exercise. I decided to take it super easy though for two reasons. First, only a couple of days prior, trying to finish a shopping trip at Target was friggin' exhausting! I had that same feeling you get when you start walking around when you're running a bad fever. It's like you're whole body tells you that you shouldn't be doing this, but you feel it all in a very nondescript sort of way. Second, I started pushing myself to soon after Mia's birth, and managed to pull an abdominal muscle that went all the way to my groin just from walking.

So the first couple of days, I just circled my block at a toddler's pace (specifically Mia's) and came home. Yesterday, I circled two blocks w/ Mia in tow. And today, I decided to load both girls up in the double stroller and venture out a bit further. We managed to walk about 1.5 miles, but I kept the pace to a crawl. (It took me about 40 minutes to get back home.) I felt good before, during, and after. And both girls did great: Sophie slept the whole time, and Mia mostly played gently w/ Sophie's feet.

I thought it was pretty funny that Mia kept asking me where we were going. It made me realize that even though I've run countless miles with her in the stroller, we haven't run at all in the last 6 months. So we haven't really had the opportunity to chat while I run or walk until today because her ability to talk has developed so dramatically. I'm looking forward to working (slowly) back to running and being able to chat w/ her more as we start logging the miles again. ;o)

P.S. I have approximately a million photos like the second one above. I think Sophie must sleep ~22 hours each day. (This figure may be slightly exaggerated...) She's up for regular but short intervals of nursing, during which time she likes to look around and take it all in. But within a few minutes she's back to sleep, and during the day this is her favorite way to sleep. Maybe I'll make a flip book of her growth & development as it occurs sideways on the Boppy...

Sophie's 2nd Doctor Visit

We all took Sophie in for her second trip to our pediatrician's office today. The main reason for her visit was to recheck her weight to make sure she's regained her birth weight and for the doc to make sure all signs of jaundice are gone. Her color was great, and the doctor was chuckling at Sophie's weight gain. :o) She was born at 8lbs 8oz, she was discharged at 8lbs even, and today she weighed 8lbs 14oz! So she's doing great.

We also decided to get the first of her vaccines out of the way today so that we'll have one less poke at her 1-month visit. I learned during the shot that Sophie can already produce tears! This may not amaze most of you, but Mia had not shed a single tear during her first year of life. We actually took her into an opthamologist to make sure she didn't have dry eyes at one point. So it's very weird for me to have a newborn who can shed tears. At any rate, Sophie was super pissed about the shot, but she recovered pretty quickly. And I'm happy we won't have to do a whole battery of shots at the next visit. :o)

Sophie Gets Some QT w/ Mia & a Sponge Bath

Here is some general cuteness I wanted to share. :o) Mia has been wanting to hold Sophie all day, but kept asking while Sophie was either napping or nursing. She finally got her chance this evening, and it was pretty cute.





Sophie also had an awesome sponge bath today. She actually seemed pretty happy about it, which really surprised me b/c this kid screams at me when I change her diapers or clothes. She really doesn't like to be messed with, but the bath went over well. And she was alert for quite a while afterwards, which was nice b/c she is normally only awake long enough to eat. (I know this will change pretty soon...)

The Girls' 1st Christmas Together :o)

We had an amazing Christmas yesterday! It was so special to have both girls to share it with. The whole family came over to celebrate with us. My mom and Pat made a french toast casserole, along with tons of bacon and scrambled eggs. My grandma and brother-in-law met Sophie for the first time, and Mia had spread "Christmas" all over the house by the time anyone got here. ;o) We hope your & yours had a great Christmas, too!

Merry Christmas!

Welcome, Sophie!

We are so excited to have welcomed Sophia Grace Sketeris to the world on December 21 at 1:29am! Our little girl was born perfectly healthy and gazing directly into our eyes. She weighed 8lbs 7.6oz and measured 20.5 inches.

Labor & Delivery
After putting Mia down for a nap on Saturday afternoon, Jeff and I settled in to watch Elf. About half way through the movie, I started having pretty mild contractions. I'd been laying on my side watching tv, and after the movie I decided to stay on my side in the hopes that the contractions would "stick". Every time I'd had any contractions in the last few weeks (and I'd had a lot!) they would stop if I changed what I was doing. So I moved to bed and stayed on my side for a couple of hours. Around five pm, Jeff came to check on me and I was still contracting, and they were coming about every three to five minutes. Jeff called the doula to tell her that we might be calling her later in the night to come over, and she told us not to get too excited unless the contractions stuck around after moving around and changing positions. She promised me that I would eventually go into labor but suggested that for now I get up and try to ignore them.

So...Jeff came into our room and announced that we were all going to Costco. This was not exactly what I wanted to do, but it was probably one of the best things we did all night. By the time we got to Costco (only a 10- or 15-minute drive from our house), Jeff was starting to wonder whether we should continue our little trip or turn around and go back. Not only was I still contracting, but they were last about 45 seconds and coming about every three minutes. I decided we should go ahead because, if nothing else, walking around the store would kill some time. ;o)

Jeff pushed Mia in the cart, and every three minutes I stopped him so I could lean face-first into his back and breath through a contraction. We finished a very short shopping trip and went back home. Around 7pm we called our doula back to tell her where we were at and ask her to start heading our way. She was out in Balboa and told us to expect her by 9pm. We then called my mom and my sister and asked them to head over, too. After Heather got here, she took Mia to stay w/ her husband for the night and then came back.

Around 9pm, Jeff, my mom, my sister, and our doula (Yvonne) were all helping me to relax through each contraction and to resist fighting them. Around 9:30 or so, Yvonne suggested that Jeff and I go for a walk down the street to look at Christmas lights. The contractions definitely became more intense, but my bigger problem became walking in general. Sophie had been sitting on a nerve that runs down the front of my left leg for weeks, and now my leg basically gave out on me during each contraction. So Jeff helped me get home so I could sit down on the birth ball some more.

At this point Jeff decided to call the OB on call and let her know that we were in labor and would be heading to the hospital later that night. When Jeff told her that I was contracting for just over a minute and that they were coming every 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 minutes, she told us we should get to the hospital now. I shook my head and told Jeff to tell her I wasn't ready yet. They were long and close together, but since I'd done this before I knew they weren't nearly intense enough yet to suggest I was close to delivering, and I really didn't want to spend any more time at the hospital than I had to. Our OB got a little testy at this point and warned us if we stayed home beyond this point, we were risking having the baby at home or in the car, as well as the possibility that the doctor simply wouldn't make it to the hospital in time to deliver. We were comfortable w/ that "risk" b/c we all knew I really wasn't close yet.

The birth ball was a God-send during the rest of my labor. Sitting on the ball was the only position I found tolerable during each contraction. The funny thing (to me, anyway) was that between each contraction I was in absolutely zero pain. This was such a stark contrast to my labor w/ Mia b/c of the back pain I'd had w/ her, that even this late in my labor I was worried it might not be the real thing and would just stop suddenly. Well, that didn't happen.

As the contractions got more intense, I took a warm shower to help ease the pain, and that was a big help. Shortly after getting out of the shower, Yvonne kept reminding me that I really needed to relax through the contractions and that I couldn't fight them. I realized that I couldn't do that anymore b/c I could actually feel Sophie moving down each time I did. I think I realized I was getting close and that I needed to get to the hospital. So we all packed up and caravanned over to Arcadia Methodist around midnight.

Since it was the middle of the night, we went in through the ER. They brought out a wheelchair to wheel me up to Labor & Delivery, but I had to hop out twice to sit on my ball to get through two sets of contractions before I made it to my room. When I finally got settled in, they put a PICC line (sort of like an IV tube, but not attached to anything) in my arm and check my dilatation. I held my breath and prayed that it was a really high number (and not, say, a two...). I think we all almost cheered when the nurse declared that I was "8 almost 9" centimeters dilated. I've almost never been more relieved.

Yvonne let me rest in bed through a few more contractions before insisting that I get back up and sit on the ball to finish dilating. One of the nurses looked at me said Yvonne was right and that I should get back up. So I sat on the ball and leaned on the bed through several more contractions. My water finally broke while I was on the ball, and a little after that they checked me and told me I was fully dilated and asked if I felt like pushing. I seriously could not believe we were already at this point!

The best part of the whole story is that it only took 4 contractions over 10 minutes to push her out! (Such a contrast to the 2 1/2 hours it took to get Mia out!!) She was born at 1:29am, just 1 1/2 hours after we got to the hospital. (So much better than 13 1/2 hours.) We had asked them to delay all the routine newborn procedures for a while, and we all were amazed at how alert Sophie was immediately. She was lying on my chest and stared directly into my eyes and was just looking me over and over. She nursed for a bit and we took turns holding her before the nurses finally took her to assess her and finish the newborn procedures.

The First Couple of Days
It was about 4am before the three of us finally all made it upstairs to settle into the maternity ward for the night. Jeff slept on the pull-out bed, and Sophie mostly nursed throughout the night. Early in the morning, Jeff went out to get us some coffee and to bring Mia in to meet her little sister.

Mia absolutely understood who Sophie was from the second we introduced them. She no longer pointed to my belly when we asked where Sophie was; instead she pointed to the bassinet and said, "She's right der!" We helped her hold Sophie for a bit, and listened to her sing the ABC song to her about 5 or 6 times. That was about the cutest thing I've ever seen. :o) We also had to restrain her a bit as it was clear that she didn't really get that Sophie was a fragile human being and not just a really cool doll.

We learned late that morning that Sophie was Coombs positive, just like Mia had been. This means that my and Sophie's blood types were incompatible, putting her at risk for becoming jaundiced immediately. This is was happened with Mia, and she had to spend her first 48 hours in a phototherapy bed to bring down her bilirubin levels before she could be discharged. Luckily, they watched her blood levels over the next 24 hours, and they never reached a level of concern, so ours was only a mild reaction. In fact, they discharged us early (at our request) as long as we promised to return to the pediatrician's office the next day for a follow-up.

So yesterday around noon, we all took Sophie in for her follow-up, and she got another clean bill of health. :o) She had already regained an ounce of weight, which didn't surprise me at all since she's been nursing like a two-week-old since birth! We don't have to take her back in to the doctor until next week.

Unfortunately, however, Jeff found himself right back at the pediatrician's office only fours later. Mia woke up very early from her nap that afternoon wailing. Neither one of us could calm her down, which is really unlike Mia. When we finally got her tell us (through tears and hiccups) what was wrong, she said, "I need boo-boo pack in my ear." The pediatrician diagnosed her w/ an ear infection and prescribed a 10-day course of antibiotics. Woo hoo... The first time we've *ever* had to take Mia in for a sick visit is two days after giving birth. What timing. ;o)

Today, on the other hand, has been a great day for everybody. Sophie slept in a four-hour block and a two-and-a-half-hour block last night, so I actually got some pretty decent sleep. (Julie, if you're reading this, please don't hate us...) Then we all got dressed to head out to the park around 10am, which is right when our Stroller Strides class ends. Mia got to run around the playground w/ Jeff and some of her friends, and I got to visit with some of my friends and introduce them to Sophie. Then the four of us went out to breakfast at The Peach, which was delicious (as always). Now we're all home and getting ready to set out some cookies & milk for Santa this evening. My mom, Pat, grandma, sister, and brother-in-law are all coming over to celebrate Christmas with us tomorrow. Merry Christmas!!

I'm in Labor!

We'll keep you posted!

Officially 41 Weeks Today

Jeff and I went back to my OB's office today, and I had another NST. Before we went, we took Mia out to breakfast so Sophie and I could have three pancakes smothered in syrup. (Got my Rx in this time!) I got my intended result, and Sophie was super reactive during the NST. I was excited about that until the OB came in and was still all over the induction talk. Her preference was to induce me now b/c I'm at 41 weeks. We compromised on letting me go through the weekend and coming back in Monday for another NST. If I make it that far (God forbid!), then I'll probably be heading over to the hospital for an induction afterwards. My OBs really don't like the risks associated with going past 41 weeks, and they really want to set an end date. Grr. Come out, kid!!

41-week Appointment...and a Visit to Labor & Delivery

What a day it's been so far... I had a routine visit w/ my OB this morning that triggered a very busy afternoon. The good news is that I've managed to get to 2-3cm, which is awesome. However, Sophie slept during my entire non-stress test. If a baby doesn't move at all during a non-stress test, you can't really measure how well her heart reacts to movement. And then your doctor freaks out that maybe the baby isn't moving at all. I tried assuring them that Sophie had participated in some sort of wrestling match last night, but they were unconvinced.

In fact, the next thing she said was that she wanted to induce me b/c the baby had failed the NST. But she also said she knew how strongly I feel about inductions and said she was going to give me a chance to head over to the hospital for two tests to makes sure that the baby and the placenta were still doing well. She warned me that if either test didn't go well she was going to have to induce, so she told me to take my labor bag w/ me.

So I called Jeff to come home from work so we could head to the hospital together. Jeff ducked out of a holiday work party w/o saying anything (b/c he didn't really know what to say and didn't want to freak people out), and we dropped Mia off to hang out w/ my friend Tracey and her two kids.

Once we got to L&D, I changed into a very sexy hospital gown, and they wheeled me up to radiology for a biophysical profile of the baby. Thankfully that test went perfectly, and the sonographer told us that Sophie looked perfect, was moving around, and was breathing during the entire exam. As a bonus, we got to see the most amazing pictures of her little face, including her little pouty lips. :o)

Then I was wheeled back to L&D for a contraction stress test. During this test they were looking to see how well Sophie's heart rate responded to three induced contractions. Our nurse said that her responses were perfect, and she sent the results over to my OB to get confirmation that we could go home. Luckily my OB agreed, and we are home! :o) We are scheduled to head back to the OB's office first thing tomorrow for another non-stress test to keep an eye on things. I'm really hoping that I just go into labor before then so we don't risk a repeat of this afternoon's events. Either way, keep us in your prayers b/c it looks like we're getting close...one way or another.

40.5-week Appointment

Today's was a long appointment for little news. I tried to talk my OB out of the pelvic exam today b/c at this point "uncomfortable" barely describes it, and I don't care what the #s are, b/c they don't mean anything. But since I'm overdue, she insisted. Cervix is still 0cm and 0%, but at least it's "soft". I also had another non-stress test this morning, and baby was fine. In the rush to get the dr's office, I forgot all about my pancake Rx... So I had to have a Hershey's kiss before the test. Sophie apparently loved it b/c the test came back totally normal. I'm scheduled to go back in on Thursday. We'll keep you posted!

40-week Belly Shot

This is a shot of me & Jeff (and Sophie!) after our Breakfast with Santa at 40 weeks and 1 day. Hopefully this will be our last opportunity to post a belly shot...

You be calm down!

A few days ago I was having a tickle war with Mia, and after a few rounds of some serious tickling, she looked at me very sternly and said, "Mommy, you be calm down!" I was laughing so hard I don't think I could have tickled her again if I'd wanted to. Then the next night, we were out at dinner and Mia was acting up a bit. Jeff leaned in close to her face to correct her, and she responded with a stern, "Daddy, you be calm down!" Apparently we've told her to calm down a few times... It's funny during a tickle war, but it's hard to keep a serious face on while parenting when she tries to parent us right back. ;o)

D-Day

However, "D" is for "due" and not for "delivery"...

I'm still here! I've once again made it all the way to my due date, and it doesn't look like Sophie is getting claustrophobic yet. I have to admit that, though I am extremely anxious to get this show on the road and meet Sophie already, I'm feeling okay. Especially compared with how I felt at this point the last time around. I have almost no swelling in my legs or feet, I'm still very mobile, and I've gained about 12 pounds less than last time. I'm also still teaching my Stroller Strides class, which probably helps with all three.

What is very different this time is that I'm contracting all the time, and have been for the last few weeks. Some times they last for an hour or more, and then they just go away. I can see why if you've never been through labor before you would think it was the real deal. I never had any contractions w/ Mia that I would have described as more than "amusing" until I actually started labor. Last night I contracted through an entire episode of House and then through and entire shopping trip to Babies R Us afterwards (with none in between, either). And, as I have for weeks now, I contracted through my entire Stroller Strides class this morning, and nothing since.

I did have my first crazy nightmare yesterday... I'm hoping it was triggered by hormones surging to start labor for real soon! (I remember having at least one very vivid dream shortly before Mia was born.) Let's just say that I dreamed that I was attacked by a toothbrush on a very old pirate ship, if you can extend the meaning of "attack" to include "peering ominously under a closed door". All I know is that said toothbrush got such a reaction out of me that Jeff shook me awake, telling me that I was either in labor or having a nightmare. Unfortunately, it was B. ;o)

40-week Appointment

Turns out my OB still has my "official" due date as 12/12, so I'm due in 2 days instead of 4. Doesn't mean much, but I'll take it! ;o) On the other hand, he also said there's nothing going on w/ my cervix. So much for the 1 cm I heard about last week... Since I'm basically at my due date, he also had me do a nonstress test while I was there. It was pretty cool to watch her heartbeat hang out around 130 and then spike to about 160 every time she started moving. When my OB looked at the printout of her movements and heart rate along w/ my contractions, he said that everything looked perfect. So, assuming I don't go into labor first, I head back to the OB's office on Monday morning for another NST.

My favorite part of the visit was that they specifically told me to have a good breakfast before Monday's test, "like pancakes with lots of syrup." Why have I never received an Rx for pancakes before?? ;o)

Still here.

Yup, I'm still pregnant.

We had our prenatal meeting w/ our doula over the weekend, so I'm feeling pretty confident now...for whenever Sophie decides to make her appearance. ;o) Our doula is going to come hang out w/ us at the house once I'm in "active labor" until it seems like the right time to head to the hospital. Her plan is for me to get there at about 9cm dilated! Jeff and I decided to look into hiring a doula b/c we both think that part of the reason my labor w/ Mia lasted so long was that I was sooo tense the whole time. That is, until I slept for an hour after a shot of narcotics and dilated 3cm in that time, after spending the previous 26 hours dilating to only 4 cm!

Plus we learned from our Bradley Class and our doula that sitting in a reclined position (or laying flat on your back, for that matter) can cause the baby to flip so she's facing away from your spine, which is what causes back labor...and extremely long labor. So I've been sitting perfectly upright or leaning forward a lot. I've also been doing a lot of floor exercises to "encourage" Sophie to flip (or stay flipped) toward my spine. I can tell that she is positioned much differently than Mia was at this point, I just didn't get that Mia's position was a bad one at the time!

At any rate, we'll keep you posted. I just found out that our hospital has free Wi-Fi now, so we should be able to get some pictures up pretty quickly. And for those of you on FaceBook, I'll probably update my status once I do go into labor. (I did manage to get an email off to update the blog on our drive to the hospital last time!!)

Today's OB Appt

I had another OB appt today, and -- holy crap!! -- I'm actually dilated one centimeter! It's not that I think that detail is any indication that I'll go into labor any sooner, but rather that it took me 20 hours to dilate 2 centimeters when I went into labor with Mia. So I've already done, what, 10 hours of work towards delivering Sophie? I'll take it!! ;o) Otherwise, the appt was non-interesting, which is also good. Though, she did (once again) wrap things up by saying, "See you next week, if we don't see you sooner!" Ugh.

2 Weeks and Change to Go

It's hard to believe I'm already so close to the end! I really can't believe how quickly this pregnancy has gone (at least compared to the last one). But I am sooo ready to be done. I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions all the time. I had them occasionally with Mia, and they were never painful. More like amusing. These ones suck. I usually wake up at least once a night w/ a solid one that gets me thinking for a second that "this might be it." And I've had a few while walking around during the day that have stopped me in my tracks for a minute or two.

I'm also really looking forward to getting my bones back. If it weren't for my chiropractor, I'd be a very sad person right now. (Why, why, why did I not think to go to a chiropractor during my first pregnancy? And why did it take me 30 weeks to think of it this time??) I now go twice per week, and he reassembles my low back and pelvic bones each time. I always feel like a neanderthal limping into his office, and then I walk back out like a fully evolved homo sapiens.

I had an OB appointment today, which was really unremarkable except for the fact that I'm two pounds lighter than last week. That disturbed the nurses a bit, but didn't seem to bother the doc in the slightest. And for the first time this pregnancy, when I scheduled my next appointment for next week they said, "See you next week, unless the baby comes first." Uh huh. I'm not letting them get my hopes up this time. If this ones goes like the first one, I've got a little over three weeks left.

Just a Few Weeks to Go!

I've been back to the doctor twice since I posted about an OB visit. Last week I met the new OB. I felt like I probably should have asked her a million questions to get a feel for her, but at some core level I was too tired to do it. (Yay, pregnancy.) I did bring up a couple of issues to get some sense of her, and she seems very medical... For example, I had cleared being able to drink actual fluids while laboring at the hospital with another doctor in the practice a few weeks earlier, and when I mentioned it to the new doc, she looked sort of puzzled and said, "But we can always put you on an IV if you get dehydrated...?" I thought that was a pretty interesting suggestion considering that I plan to labor again as naturally as possible, and drinking when thirsty seems more natural than not drinking, and certainly more natural than an IV.

So this week I met w/ the main OB in the practice again and had a normal visit. I decided it was a good time to go over my Birth Preferences. ;o) I like this doc the best b/c his philosophy seems to be just to stay out of the way of a pregnant woman unless he sees a good reason to get involved. So he read through my list of preferences, signed off on them, and faxed them over to the hospital. Done. :o) We're using the same basic list as last time, plus two things I added in.

First, I added: "Please do not ask me to rate my pain." Once we got to the hospital when I went into labor w/ Mia, one of the intake nurses seriously pulled out that smiley face chart that rates pain on a numerical scale, and she asked me to rate my pain. Then when I glared at her and told her I didn't want meds, she said, "I'm just concerned b/c it looks like you're in a lot of pain." Seriously? Have you seen a woman in labor before? Yes, it hurts!

Second, I added a line requesting that the hospital delay all the routine newborn procedures for an hour (barring fetal distress, obviously) to give Jeff & me a chance to bond w/ Sophie. Following Mia's birth, the nurses spent at least ten minutes giving her a bath and spent half the time doing silly things like combing her hair into a mohawk. Jeff and I prefer that we get to spend that time bonding w/ our new baby...instead of the nurses doing it.

Anywho, the most important thing for now is that baby and I are doing well, and that we could go into labor anytime between now and five weeks from now. Can't believe we're already here again!! :o)