Sophia's Gabrielle's Birth Story...

Wow!!! Are we glad to be home!

I'm going to start this post with a little bit about Sophia's birth story...

We went into the hospital on Monday morning for our c-section. We were told to be there at 7:15am to get checked in, meet with Anestesia and Dr. Seager, then have the c-section at 9:15. Well - 9:15 came and went and we had not yet met Dr. Seager. I guess they are a little behind! Turns out we were bumped 3x because of emergencies. Around 12:15, they came and got me to bring me over to the L&D operating room waiting area. Around 12:40, Irene the nurse who would be in the c-section came to get me to have my IV put in and my spinal block, then she'd get Adrian and the fun would begin.

The c-section was definately an exerience... which is making me think that I might do this again! It was absolutely incredible. Little miss Sophia wasn't quite ready to come meet us, as when they went to pull her out, she scooted up higher into my ribs and they had to use the vaccuum to get her out!!! Little bugger!!

She looks just like Anika when she was born EXCEPT for the full head of dark hair!! She does have a few patches of really blonde hair in the back, so I'm sure the dark hair will fall out and she'll be blonde just like her sister :)

We are home now from the hospital and it feels so good to be a family again. Anika has tomorrow (Friday) off of school so depending on how I feel we might go get some groceries. Its important for Anika that we all do things together so we'll see what happens :)

Here are a few pictures of little Sophia... we love her soooo much!! (click to enlarge)

She's Here!

We're overjoyed to announce that
Sophia Gabrielle
has arrived
at 1:50 pm
on
October 22, 2007
weighing 6 lbs, 12 ounces
and 19" in length

Pre-Op Appointment..

I had my pre-op appointment today at the hospital. I had no idea what to expect.

They weighed me... happy to say I've only gained 25lbs total.. lost 3lbs from last week ~ must be this horrible cold that I have. She listened to my chest and said it sounded ok, but to keep up the Robitussin and Sinutab to dry everything up. They measured me, figured out my BMI (not sure why), listened to the baby's heart beat, blood pressure, then went over what's going to happen in the c-section. This is all very surreal for me. Feels like we have reservations to go for dinner or something like that. Surprisingly, I'm very calm about this. Not sure if I will remain that way the night before but I'm not worried. Adrian and I were talking the other night about how much our life is going to change. We are used to it being just the 3 of us. Picking up and going where ever we want to go. We also chatted about the sleepless nights that are ahead of us and how we aren't looking forward to any of that.. not that I'm getting lots of sleep right now, but things are going to be a changin' in the Heidinger house hold!! The nurse that did my pre-op (I think her name was Myrna) was awesome. When I left she called ahead to see if my c-section was going to be done in the operating room on the labor and delivery ward or in the main OR and its going to be done in the main OR. I thanked her for everything and she said "Give me a hug... I wish you the best of luck!!" Made me kinda teary... this is all coming to an end very soon.

I know I keep saying this, but Anika is sooo excited. She cuddled with me in the recliner chair in the basement tonight as we watched Survivor. She had her hand on my belly kinda rubbing it in circles. I asked her if she told anyone that her baby is coming soon and she said yes... but wouldn't tell me who. LOL. She also asked if she could stay home a couple of days when I get out of the hospital. I asked her why and she said I'm going to need some help. Awwwwwww... she's such a little Mom! She's going to be such a good big sister.

I have my last OB appointment tomorrow with Dr. Awadalla. If any of you read this blog and plan to get pregnant in the near future, write his name down. He is soooo awesome. I'm sooo glad that he is doing my c-section and will be doing my after care at my 6-8 week appointment. He is the kindest man you will ever meet. The other thing that I loved about him, is that I never ever had to wait more than 15 minutes (mostly because I was early) to see him at an appointment.

Anyways.. I should run. I'm pretty tired. I couldn't fall asleep last night until after 2:30 am and my alarm went off at 7:00 to get ready to go to the hospital for my appointment.

Oh.. and I really want to thank everyone that has called to see if we need help with anything. We really appreciate everything that you have offered! Hugs to you all!

37 Weeks + 1 Day

Here I am...

Second last picture before baby is here!

I'll take one the morning we leave for the hospital :)

We have our new date!!!

Dr Awa couldn't fit me in this week, so we will be meeting our baby girl early next week! Watch your email for our announcement :)

We are sooooo excited and can't believe we are days away!!

We have...

mature lungs!!

Our little lady will be born at some point this week... still waiting to hear when.

We will update as soon as we know :)

Fetal Assessment...

I'm back from my fetal assessment. Was hit with a few bombs while I was there.

My placenta has not moved at all. Which is a little disappointing but deep down I think I knew that it hadn't as I have been preparing myself for the c-section. The Perinatologist I had was new to the hospital which was nice. He had a personality (where the last one didn't at all) and showed me where the problem was.... its on the left side. He is very concerned with me having a scheduled birth at 39 weeks (which is 2 weeks from today - yes that was my csection date - lol). He is afraid of the possibility of me bleeding out before then. Here comes bomb #1... the hospital doesn't like to schedule a c-section before 39 weeks because of the baby's lungs not being fully mature before then. He asked if I would authorize an amnio to be done to check to see what stage her lungs are at. I said that we had discussed amnio with Genetics when I got pregnant, and if one had to be done, then I would do it.... I just didn't want to put the baby at risk. So I assuming it was going to be done in the next few days, I said ok.. no problem, not realizing that he meant right then and there. HOLY CRAP... I'm so not mentally prepared for this!! The Dr and I discussed what the risks to the baby are, and he said it was nothing like having one at 20 weeks, worst case scenerio my water could break or I could go into labor this afternoon or tonight. If that is it... then ok... lets do it.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, Adrian said it was very cool watching the needle go in on the u/s screen. Test results will hopefully be back this afternoon by 4:30pm, if not then tomorrow morning. Here is bomb #2... if the baby's lungs are mature enough, I'm having her this week... LIKE IN A FEW DAYS!! If not we will do the the amnio again next week (which to be honest isn't something I want to do again), and she will be here next week.
JEEEEEEPERS!!!!
Please pray that her lungs are mature enough and that we don't have to wait to long for her to be delivered and to get her out of danger!
Time to grab a bite to eat... I'm starving.

Yay Anika!!!!

Throughout the summer Anika had tried and tried to ride her bike without her training wheels but there always a boat load of kids around which made her nervous. Tonight at dinner, she announced that she wanted to go out and ride her bike! Oh.. Ok! So the dishes were left, and outside we went...

Here she is ready to go!

Here she is riding on the grass...
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v649/KathrynHeidinger/?action=view&current=October132007AnikaBikeRiding003.flv
And then she graduated to the street...
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v649/KathrynHeidinger/?action=view&current=October132007AnikaBikeRiding007.flv
She was so proud when her friends were cheering her on! We thought she was done for the night, so we went home. All of a sudden the tears started to flow... when I asked her what was wrong, she said she wanted to practice some more! FANTASTIC!! Well... that last ride probably shouldn't have happened because she ended up crashing getting road rash on her chin.
Here's a picture of her wound!

36 Week Appointment...

I had my 36 week appointment this week, and everything seems to be going good still. Our little lady's head is down low, but not engaged yet. Again Dr. Awa let me feel here head in my pelvis... I hope its as small as it feels!

My blood pressure was good and baby's heartbeat was good. He didn't measure my belly. Not sure if he forgot or just doesn't at this point forward. I guess we'll see on Friday what he does. We also discussed the what I am to do if I go into labor before my c-section date. He said that I am to go straight to the hospital if my water breaks, or if my contrax are 5 minutes apart. He also said to let them know that I am scheduled for a c-section on such and such date, and if he's on he will do the c-section right away or if one of the other doctors in his group are on, they will do it. HUH?? What do you mean?? I thought if I went into labor on my own we were going to try to deliver vaginally. This has thrown a huge kink in to my brain. I was prepared that it was a minimal chance of me having a c-section... not a full blown yes - you are having one.

Just as we were going over the paperwork for the surgery, he decided that we would wait until my next appointment (this coming Friday) to fill all the paperwork out because he still thinks there might be a chance of my placenta moving.... and so my fetal assessment on Monday will tell us how this little girl is coming into this world in the next couple of weeks. Doesn't that sound weird that she'll be here in a couple of weeks??? Wow... where did time go?

We still haven't decided on a name... Adrian has lists of names. Last night he stayed up until 2:30am searching the internet looking for the perfect name. I have my list of 3-5 names that I like... with one particular one that is a favorite. I even mentioned to Adrian how about I pick the first name and he can pick the middle name(s). I am quite certain that I don't want to have this baby without a name picked out, leaving her for days without a name like Anika did.

Anika is getting quite excited about the baby. She is also getting quite nervous about me not being here to pack her snack for school because of the strict guidelines. I told her that I would leave information for Daddy and Grandma on what she can take. She was also worried about knowing what time she had to leave for the bus and what time to tell them that they had to pick her up from the bus stop!! Good God... she's 5!!! She shouldn't have to worry about this stuff. So I have made "How to Take Care of Anika" notes and they will be posted inside the pantry, along with neighbor's phone numbers just incase!

Anyways.. that's about it for now :) I am sleeping much better now that I have my new sheets. I even bought myself pajama's that are the same material (Jennifer, Mom and Aunty Pat will know what I mean), and I woke up sweating so bad last night that I had to change into something a little lighter :) These new sheets are the same material as a baby's fleecy blanket... ohhhhhhhhh soooooooo nice!! Anika calls them dreamy sheets. We bought her some for Christmas ~ she's going to be sooo excited!!

Speaking of Christmas... I have already started my Christmas Shopping! I found out that I probably won't be able to drive anywhere for 3 or more weeks after my c-section so I have to get a handle on it now. So far I've bought for Micah (my nephew), and for Anika. For Anika we got her clothes (cords, 3 tops, sweater, pj's, and a jumper with a shirt), a Crayola Sidewalk Chalk & Paint Set, New "Dreamy" Sheets, and a 2 wheel scooter. We are also going to be getting her High School Musical 1 & 2 DVD's (she love's #1), and tickets to see "High School Musical on Ice" which is in February. There will lots of other things I will pick up along the way for her, but its nice to get some of this out of the way.

Anyways.. that's it for now. Will update after my fetal assessment on Monday afternoon.

36 weeks

36 weeks now.. I can't believe it! We are almost at the finish line!

I'm starting to get more and more uncomfortable... definately am waddling not only in the evening but during the day too ;)

3 pictures posted below are from the last 3 weeks...

34 weeks pregnant (2 weeks ago)

35 weeks pregnant (last week)

36 weeks pregnant (this week)

Looks like I've definately dropped which might explain the pressure that I'm feeling!

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow so I will update after that!

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We are enjoying a rainy, relaxing day today. Nothing really planned. We had our dinner yesterday with my Mom, Dave's family, along with my sister Danielle, Adam and Micah at Pineridge Golf Course. It was a very good Turkey Dinner with all the fixings :)

Thought I would update our "date night" on Saturday night.... We were able to do dinner at Siam Thai Restaurant then headed to see The Heart Break Kid. YES WE DID BOTH!! Great food and a really funny movie! We got home around 10pm, to settle in and watch a little tv and have some popcorn (we were too full after dinner to eat anything at the theatre). At 11pm the phone rang... must be Auntie Danielle :) Sure enough Anika was sad and was missing her Mommy and Daddy! So off to St. James we headed to pick up our princess!

Anika is heading off to a play date with Keely and Brenna Hughes this afternoon, Daddy is going to transfer what is on the tape on the video camera to a hard tape so we have a free tape for when our little lady comes :) I'm going to make my grocery list for the next couple of weeks, figure out dinner for tonight and veg out.

Happy Turkey Day to everyone reading this... Hope you all have a relaxing day off :)

Date Night

Tonight Adrian and I are going on a date! We are hoping for Dinner & a Movie... or vise versa. The big question right now... Will Kathryn make it through both without having a nap? Anika is going to her Auntie Danielle's for dinner and a sleep over. This might just be our last time for us to be out as just adults for a very long time :)

The plan... A Thai restaurant called Siam and then to the new Ben Stiller movie - The Heart Break Kid - or something like that.

Oh and Anika told me that she's happy that I get to sleep in my bed tonight and not have to go into her's when she makes her way into ours during the night... she also said "You and Daddy should sleep in tomorrow... " LOL... Thanks kiddo - I appreciate your thoughtfulness!

35 Weeks

We are now on the downward swing of things. Our little lady will be here in hopefully no more than 3-4 weeks! Can you believe it! I'm in the month that my baby will be born!

Anika is getting really excited about her sister's arrival. She asked me today when she is born, could I bring her scooter to the bus stop when I come to get her, and she could give the baby a ride home on her back! LOL... I really don't think she realizes how little her sister is going to be!! Her and I also have cuddle time each night and we chit chat about what has gone on in the day. I then lay behind her and cuddle her while she falls asleep. The other night, we were laying there, I knew she was almost drifting off as her foot stopped rubbing the sheets (I think this is a Gzebb or Balderstone thing because I do the same thing)... then she let out the loudest giggle! I said "What are you doing? You were almost asleep??" "The baby keeps kicking me in the back!!" LOL... so now we try to figure out what part of the baby is poking out of my belly when we lay down. She will even sing to her sister the odd time to get her moving... AND.... she has been known to lift up my shirt to give her sister a kiss! Sweet huh!?!

Now back to me!!

I have been feeling pretty good, except for the need for sleep. I am extremely tired and require a nap every afternoon. Adrian told me to make sure that I am taking advantage of my quiet time in the afternoon because soon I won't have it. I have also been having some mild cramping in the evening when I am relaxing, that are accompanied by my belly tightening almost like it is shrinkwrapping the baby (braxton hicks). I'm sure all of things are getting my lower area ready for labor.

This pregnancy has been so different than the one I had with Anika. I am carrying way different (all in my belly), where as with Anika I was carrying everywhere - legs, butt, belly. I don't have any cravings, or much of an appetite, where as with Anika I had to have Adrian's special popcorn everynight etc. Adrian said that if we didn't know we were having a girl, he would think for sure that this one is a boy. We still think that even with the 5 fetal assessments we've had where they have confirmed it being a girl and showing us the girl bits, we wouldn't be surprised if she was a he!! LOL

Anyways.. I must run. Its nap time and if I don't lay down soon I won't get it in. Anika starts swimming lessons tonight... she is sooo excited!!

Here is a picture of me at 35 weeks ~ taken this morning!

The Baby's Nursery

Here are a few pictures of our nursery.

Two feet down from the ceiling is a light cotton candy pink, and below that is a chocolate milk color. We decided to use the same bedding that Anika had, except my Mom recovered the glider rocker, the comforter, and made a pillow or 2. When we were at the fabric store picking the fabric out, we found these beautiful drapery panels made out of a taffita that has beautiful detail with sequins. We bought 2 of them, and used one as the crib skirt.

Here is the change table, and this picture show's the art work we did on the wall in dark chocolate circles and pink daisies.

Here is her closet that is ready with clothes. The bottom rack is clothes that are hand me downs from Anika, and the top rack are gifts from friends and Oma & Opa :)

Here's the corner where late night feedings will take place

This show's the art on the wall... must say for someone who doesn't have an artistic bone in her body, I think I did a pretty good job!! LOL...