Sophia Grace Z is here!

On February 25, 2012 at 7:38 am we welcomed our second daughter into the world. Weighing 7 lbs, 5.2 oz and 19 inches long. Almost half a pound bigger, but almost an inch shorter than her big sister.

Grab some popcorn, this may be long

Friday the 24th started like any other day. I woke up, got Emmy ready for school and headed to work. I was tired. I barely slept the night before and continued to have a dull constant back ache. I had a department meeting in the morning, and then had a couple of things to wrap up before the weekend and then decided to head home to lay down. I just felt tired, no labor signs, just sore and "off." I hadn't had a pedicure in a while and decided I would treat myself to one before Sophie got here and then I was going to relax for the rest of the afternoon. And I did just that. That night Zig's parents brought us dinner. I had a salad, but couldn't finish it all since it didn't take much for me to feel full at that point. We put Em down for the night and I headed to bed. I read for a while, before I fell asleep around 9:30 ish. At 11:00 I woke up in serious pain. Shooting pains down my back and around to my pelvis. I didn't want to wake Zig up, so I downloaded a "contraction timing" app on my phone (man do I love my I-phone) and I started timing the pains as contractions. They were consistently 30-50 seconds long and less than 5 minutes apart. They say to head to the hospital when they were a minute and 5 minutes apart so I was just waiting for them to regulate and get to that point.

Around 12 Zig woke up to see me hunched over the end of the bed. He asked if I was ok and I told him that I was in tons of pain and that I had been timing the contractions for about an hour and told him how close they were. He jumped out of bed, threw the last of the things we needed into our hospital bag and called L&D to see if we should head down. At this point we also called Rich and Rebecca so they could come stay with Emily. The doctor on call said if I was in pain, and since it was my second baby, I could come down whenever I felt ready. Boy was I ready. Rich and Rebecca showed up at about 1:15. By this time the contractions were a minute long and less than 5 apart so we headed out immediately. I was in serious pain. My back was killing me and talking through the contractions, other than a lot of cussing, was impossible. Thank God Zig woke up when he did because I probably would have waited a while longer before waking him up to go.

We live about 15 minutes from the hospital and I was SUPER glad that it was 1:30 and there was no one on the road. We found a close parking spot and walked as fast as we could to L&D triage, stopping twice along the way. Since it was late, everyone going into the hospital was supposed to stop at security, but one look at me and the security guard waved us past. We made it to the 5th floor and there was no one in triage. I quickly changed, they hooked me up to the monitors and checked to see how far I had dilated. I was 6, almost 7 cm dilated at this point. Holy crap. Going from absolutely no labor signs what so ever, to progressing to that point was insane to me. The first question out of my mouth was "It's not to late for an epidural right?" The nurse responded with, it all depends on how long it takes to get us checked in. To which I said, "You better get on it. No one wants me to have this baby med free." Hey I know my limits people. I was impressed I made it as far as I did, but I didn't want to test my limits anymore. Especially since Zig's hands were turning purple as I squeezed them and I may have told him to shut up a few times during my contractions too. (I love you honey :) and thanks for taking that beating). While the nurse was not as fast as I was hoping she would be, they got me all checked in and in my room in about 20 minutes.

They started my IV, and gave me some meds to take the edge off (AWESOME, but it was only meant to last less than an hour because it crossed the placenta and they didn't want it to affect the baby.) It relaxed me big time, which made getting the epi a little better, since I get serious anxiety from needles. Honestly, getting my IV was way worse than the epidural. My mom showed up just before I got my epidural. She is the kind of lady you like to have around during any medical procedure. She asks lots of questions you wouldn't think of and I was glad that she was able to be there with us this time. With Emily, Zig and I wanted it to be just the 2 of us in the room and since we had a lot of family in town for Thanksgiving and a full waiting room, it made it easier for it just to be the 2 of us. This time, since we went in to labor so late, Zig's parents were already long asleep, and Rich and Rebecca were home with Em, it was a lot more low key, so my mom joined us in the room.

Our nurse was great. She definatly had a sense of humor. Once the epi kicked in, the doctor came in and broke my water. By then I was at an 8. When the doctor checked me she also said Sophie was sunny side up, which explains the immense back pain I had. The epi did slow my labor down a little bit, but I didn't really mind because it gave us all a little bit of time to rest. It was around 3:30 or so when the Epi kicked in and they broke my water. At around 5 they came in and told me my contractions had pretty much stopped. To avoid the risk of infection since my water had been broken, they recommended a really small amount of pitocin to get them started again. I was at about a 9 at that point, and only had one cm to go. I really didn't want any pitocin, I wanted to dilate and contract naturally, but when the doctor explained why, I gave in. My contractions started right away and in no time, I was fully dilated. It was close to 7 and shift change for the nurse, and I wasn't feeling "pressure" at this point, so the doctor told us we would wait to push until the new nurse team came on. She was originally supposed to leave at 7 as well, and my doctor was supposed to come on, but she had told Dr. Solis the night before that she would stay till 8:30. I was a little bummed because how awesome would it have been to have my OB with both pregnancies deliver my babies (My OB with Em was there for the delivery), but I really liked the night doctor and didn't mind.

Around 7:25 or so it was time to push. I pushed through 3 contractions and Sophie was here! So much easier this time around compared to last. During one of the pushes the doctor turned Sophie so I didn't deliver her face up. All I have to say is thank God I had time to get the epi. I can't imagine what that would have felt like otherwise. They put Sophie on my chest right away and she stayed there for over an hour. I was even able to get her to latch for about 10 minutes, something that was important to me. I loved this time. If you haven't read my birth story with Emily, things were a little more dramatic since I had a fever when she was born and Emmy had to go to the NICU. This time, everything was much more relaxed. I did have a minor tear again this time, but was happy I was able to hold my baby while they fixed me up. They checked her vitals, weighed her and then we spent the rest of the morning snuggling with her waiting for our room.

Sophie looks so much like Emily and act so much like her as a newborn, it's crazy. Sometimes I have a hard time calling her Sophia, because she doesn't really look like a Sophie to me, she looks like an Emmy! She has lighter hair and doesn't have Emily's dimple, but in person they look so much a like. It's so hard to tell at this point though, but they will for sure look like sisters.

Emily came to meet her sister later that day. She had been preparing with Auntie Becca and Uncle Rich all day and was really excited to meet her. She held her for a little bit with my help and then kind of moved on. She asks lots of questions when Sophie is crying or eating, but doesn't really seem overly jealous. She does want more attention and is a little upset that I can't pick her up (doctor's orders for at least 2 weeks) but she is adjusting well. We just make sure to give her lots of attention.

We are home now. We were released on Sunday and came home to Emily with a fever. :( Later that night she started to cough and we knew right away it was croup. Long story short, we went to the doc because we had to take Sophie anyway on Monday and wound up finding out Em had strep and croup, so Monday was a rough day for us.

Sunday night Sophie wanted to be held. All.Night.Long. so while I tended to her, Zig took care of Emily. We were very sleep deprived, but Monday I stayed upstairs all day and Emmy stayed downstairs with Zig. She was able to go back to school on Tuesday, but then Steph and Mike came down with the flu, so she has been home yesterday and today. We are doing surprisingly well adjusting as a family of 4. Now that Emily is feeling better, everything is really just amazing.

I feel great. I didn't, or at least haven't, gotten the baby blues like last time. I literally cried for weeks after Emily was born while my hormones regulated. And breast feeding is 10 times easier this time around. I am not nearly as stressed as last time. I am not saying one is better or worse, they are just very different experiences. Sophie really has the same demeanor as Em. I will knock on wood before I type these next sentences, but she is a great, calm baby. She is very sleepy. She does not cry that often and when she does, she is easily consoled, and she is now sleeping great in her crib. Last night she actually slept 6 hours straight. I was supposed to wake her up after 4 hours, but I must has slept through my alarm. I woke up panicked, but went in to feed her at 4:45 and she slept in till 8. Can't complain.

All in all, we are so happy to be home and enjoying our time as a family. Things are going great so far. I love my snuggle time and watching her sleep. Sorry for the longest post ever. I wanted to get all this down before the details started to fade. I like going back and reading about how we felt after Emmy was born, so I look forward to looking back at this as well. Here are a million pictures to make up for the length.

Big sister getting ready for baby to come home!

Weight

She has some amazing nail beds.

Daddy and his new little girl!

Brand new!

She is finally here

Tiny feet



Meeting her little sister for the first time






Looking pretty after her first bath


Settling in at home