sophie's story

i will warn you now, this is long. and there are lots of pictures. but, they are of the cutest baby you'll ever see! so, even if you don't want to read all this, you should at least look at this girl! you'll love her!

all day at work monday i was getting nervous i wouldn't be back on tuesday. i was working like mad all day to get as much done as i could, but i just couldn't get enough finished before i had to leave for the ultrasound. i left feeling stressed and determined to come back and finish tuesday. i thought if the ultrasound didn't turn out good, they would probably schedule me for tuesday morning, or maybe even wait until my appointment wednesday. i thought for sure they wouldn't send me directly to labor and delivery. i was wrong.

i had the ultrasound monday afternoon and i got to see baby k while she was inside for the last time. and i loved it! they took all sorts of measurements and then i had to wait for the perinatalogist to look at the images and come talk to me. i knew it wasn't good when he came in. he said it wasn't looking good for her growth because she was measuring pretty small and he felt it would really be best to just get her delivered. she was only measuring 35 weeks and 2 days and i was 37 weeks and 6 days. she was almost 3 weeks behind in size. they guessed she would weigh about 5lbs 9oz. he also decided to do another non-stress test and make sure she was doing ok in there. she passed the non-stress test just find, but wanted to call my doctor and see what she thought. the decision was to send me directly to labor and delivery and get me started. he said he didn't want to wait even a couple more days. yikes, i was having a baby. there was no turning back. that thought was kind of scary.

jd was on his way home from work and i called to tell him we were having a baby. it really hit me. i had to sit down in the lobby for a minute before i could drive myself anywhere. as i drove myself right back to the hospital, i called all my family to tell them. i couldn't believe what i was telling them. was i ready for this? it was a little scary driving myself to the hospital. i got all checked in and paced around my room waiting for jd to come. i wasn't sure what to do with myself.

since i was only dilated to a 1 and about 60% effaced, they decided to just give me a few doses of cytotec to get me ready. that was the worst 12 hours. 7pm to 7am i had terrible cramping and hardly got any sleep. i was too afraid to take any morphine because i had made it 38 weeks without barfing once and i certainly wasn't going to now. i decided to just tough it out until the epidural.

finally, 7:30am rolled around and they decided to break my water and started pitocin. yikes. within about 5 minutes i could definitely feel the contractions stronger. about 8:45 i decided to get the epidural. the anesthesiologist had a full day of c-sections so it was kind of now or never. i went for now. wow, it made me so much more comfortable and relaxed. i was definitely glad i got it. the rest of the day waiting felt like a breeze. little baby k had a bit of a hard time with the pitocin. they kept having to turn it on and off because her heart rate was all over the place. they ended up having to put an internal monitor in her head to monitor her heart rate more accurately. at about 2:oopm the nurse told me i was ready to push and she would be back in 20 minutes. that really scared me. i was so terrified to push. pushing was actually going to bring this baby here and make it real.

i started pushing at about 2:30 and sophia nicole kitchen was born at 3:40. she weighed a tiny 5 lbs and 1 oz, 18 inches long. pushing wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it would be. i was just exhausted by the time she finally came. i was so overwhelmed when i saw her. we had waited so long for this moment and it was finally here. i was also a little shocked because she was SO tiny. i knew she would be small, but she was really small. we were shocked she had so much hair. we thought for sure she would be bald. she almost had to leave us for the nicu because she was breathing pretty fast, had a hard time keeping her temperature up and had low blood sugar. they laid her on my chest and she immediately warmed up and slowed her breathing. that was the best. snuggling with my brand new baby, skin to skin. she was perfect. jd and i spent the next 2 days at the hospital fighting over who got to hold her and visiting with family and friends.

we came home from the hospital thursday and are so glad to be home. sophie is such a good baby. she LOVES to sleep. all the time. she even sleeps pretty well at night. and she loves to snuggle. we absolutely love having her in our family!

just before i was ready to push

5lbs 1 oz

getting cleaned up

warming up with mommy

our first picture of the 3 of us

first picture with daddy
i felt so bad for jd. he didn't even get to hold her for about 30 minutes while they cleaned her up, tried to warm her up on me and took her to the nicu to test her blood sugar. he just wanted to see his little girl.

sophie's first bath at the hospital

she loved being in the warm water

getting her hair scrubbed

the hospital onesies drowned her.

since she gets cold so easy, they put another onesie on her legs.

her legs are in the arm holes.

just after we got home from the hospital.

she looks so tiny in her car seat.

she had to pass a test to be able to go home in it because she's so small.

cozy in her jammies

she loves to be wrapped up in her blankets to get warm

and she loves snuggling and napping with mommy...

...and with daddy

she also loves her hand up by her face

first bath at home with grandma

she actually liked the bath more than she looks like here