Here She Is...

Sophia Carol Saracino

December 8, 2009

8:41 pm

6 pounds 1 ounce

19 inches (that is up for debate!)

I know it has taken me a few weeks, but hey, I've been busy! So here is the shortened story of how this little peanut finally made her entrance into the world! So I went in for my weekly OB appointment on Friday, December 4th, and my blood pressure was getting really high, like hypertension high, and I was still only dialated to 1 centimeter (which I had been stuck at for about 4 weeks). So my doc said that if nothing happened by that Monday, she wanted to induce me. Well, Monday came, and still no baby. Yes, that put me at exactly 40 weeks! So I went in at 8:00 that night. Well, when I got to the hospital, I was already in labor and didn't even know it! I was dialated to 3 centimeters and having contractions 3-5 minutes apart! They were going to give me a pill to soften my cervix, but since I was at a 3, they decided to just start me on Pitocin. At that point, they told me to count on dialating about a centimeter an hour. That was a big fat lie! I sat at 3 centimeters for the next 11 hours or so. The contractions definitely got worse though. So at about 6:45 on Tuesday morning, I got the epidural put in. That was good stuff! Then at 7:00 am, my doc came in and broke my water. Again, they told me to count on dialating about a centimeter and hour, and that the baby should be here later that morning. Well, obviously they didn't know that they were dealing with a very stubborn child! I spent pretty much the rest of the day waiting for her head to come down. She did not want to come out! I am still convinced it is because it was only 4 degrees and a blizzard outside! Around 5:00 pm, my epidural was wearing off and I was in a lot of pain. At that point, I was only at 8 centimeters and her head had not come down at all. By this time, they had talked to my doc, and were telling me to count on having her C section. They put some stronger meds in my epidural, but that didn't even touch the pain. So they decided to redo the epidural. I finally felt a little relief. I tried to relax and get a little sleep so I had at least a little energy in me. At about 6:30, after my body finally started to relax, I started feeling the urge to push. So they came in and checked me and I was finally at 10 centimeters, but her head had still not come down! They called my doc, and she said to go ahead and start pushing at around 7:00 (hoping her head would move down a little in that time), but still count on a C section! So at 7:00, they had me start pushing. At this point, my epidural had completely worn off and I was feeling everything! This was actually a good thing because there is no way I would have been able to push if I were still numb. I started pushing, and her head was finally coming down! They called my doc to let her know it was time to come in. It took her what seemed like forever to get there! I had to stop pushing while we were waiting for her to get there. My doc finally got there! She kept saying that the baby was having a hard time getting past my pelvic bone and I needed to push harder. The baby finally got past my pelvic bone, and two good pushes later, she finally came out! What a sweet sound, to hear that cry! My doc said it was a good thing they decided to induce me because the placenta was getting calcium deposits, which means it was starting to shut down. So she was definitely done cooking!

Now here we are, almost 3 weeks later! Sophia is healthy and happy and such a sweet baby! She went in for her 2 week check up this last week and weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and is 18.5 inches long (we're pretty sure they measured her wrong in the hospital!) She celebrated her first Christmas this weekend and was spoiled ridiculously by grammie Traci! She has been such a blessing in our lives. Words can't describe what an amazing feeling it is being a mother! And besides that, how could you not love this....

And this....

5 Weeks To Go!

Yep, that's right, I am 35 weeks today! It's getting way too close, way too fast! I feel very unprepared right now. And what makes it worse, I really don't think I'm going to make it all the way to December 7th! She is growing pretty fast, and quickly running out of room to grow! So we'll see what doc says next week when I go in. Next week, I'll start going every week, and she will start doing the dreaded pelvic exams! NOT looking forward to that!

So last night, I was walking past the TV and had a holy sh** moment when I caught a glimpse of my reflection! Somewhere in the last few days, my belly blew up! I know it grows a little bit every day (as measured by the gap between my belly and steering wheel!), but honestly, this was ridiculous! So I had to take a picture...

Also, last night, we had a belated birthday party for Shay. Our girls' nights are always such a blast! I have really been needing to get away from the house and do something. I have been so hormonal the last couple of weeks and I just needed a break (I don't know what I needed a break from because I don't really have a high stress household!). Nonetheless, it was really nice to go do something! We had such a fun night, and we laughed so much (thanks mostly to Anita!)

Large....

Is a great word to describe how I feel these days! Baby is growing beautifully! Last week, I went in and she was weighing in at a whopping 3.5 pounds! She is actually a little bit small, still within normal range, but on the small end of normal. Which, as long as she is healthy, I'm totally fine with that! Makes for an easier delivery, right?!? So here are a few pictures of her that I captured from the video of my ultra sound.

This one is her face...

And this is the awesome shot of her girly parts! This is the first time she has actually given us a full view, and as you can see, there is no doubt this one's a girl!

Also, I had my first shower on October 4th. My sister did an awesome job of putting it all together! It was nice to get all of our friends (well, pretty much family!) together! Here are a few pictures of that...

Also that same weekend, Paige threw a surprise party for Courtney's 30th birthday...

Last update...this week, Scott and I decided to take a drive up the canyon to Logan to see some pretty fall colors, just to get out of the house. That didn't really work out like we were hoping, since all of the pretty fall colors have pretty much turned brown up that way! We still got some pretty awesome pictures though!

So that's just a few of the best pictures we got on our little trip. I'd put more on, but I hate uploading pictures on here! It takes WAY too long!

Ok, so I think we're all caught up now! So October has been a pretty busy month, and November is only going to be busier! I have 4 showers coming up in November, so I'm sure I'll have many more pictures to post! Until then....

I Forgot....

I never posted any pictures from my mom's party! So at the beginning of September, My dad, sis, and me planned a surprise party for mom for her 50th birthday! We had it up at East Canyon. And in case anyone is saying "hey, nobody ever invited me", we were very limited on how many people we could invite. The most we could have was 50 people, which we maxed out on just after inviting family! We invited about 80 people and I think 49 showed up! Also, there were a few people that never got their invites! So I don't even want to hear of any whining because someone didn't get invited! (Yes, this has already happened!) Anyway, here are a few pictures from the partay!

The weekend really was a lot of fun! So many people came from FAR away just because they love my mom, and it was awesome to see her face light up when she saw people that she never expected to see!

We took the 4-wheelers up the canyon the day after the party so the boys could go out riding with my parents, Brad & Trishell, and Mike & Cyd. Scott had been dying to take the 4-wheelers out, but I can't ride them while I'm pregnant, so it has kind of been a no-go all summer. So when the opportunity arose, he was pretty pumped about it! So while the boys went out riding, my awesome sis stayed behind with me and we went and hung out at the pool all day. It was so nice of her to stay and hang out with me, plus it's always nice to get to spend some time with her when she's in town!

Still Growing!

So this is my belly at 26-ish weeks! That was 3 weeks ago, and from my perspective, I have doubled in size since then!

I don't really have much to tell right now, other than things are still just goin'! I had my glucose screen about 3 weeks ago. Everything looked good! No gestational diabetes for me! Woo hoo! My iron is a little bit low. She wasn't too concerned about it for the time being, so neither am I. Baby's head is small....a miracle considering Scott and I both have gigantic heads! Again, the doc wasn't really concerned about it. She said I'll be grateful for it when it's time to deliver! As of that appointment, she weighed about 1 pound 15 ounces (amazing to me that they get that from an ultra sound!). And they say that in your 3rd trimester (weird to think I'm in my 3rd trimester!) they start to grow almost a half a pound a week! So I'm gonna be bustin' at the seams before too long! I already feel like I am! I just told Scott tonight that I think I'm going to have to pass on the shaving thing until after the baby is born. It's too uncomfortable! We finally got the nursery all painted and started moving stuff in there. We don't have furniture yet, other than a couple of shelves. I did get all of her clothes put in her closet. So, if nothing else, she has a cute closet! I have another appointment on the 30th, so more to come on this venture, as always!

I really don't have much else to tell for now! Anyone want to hire my husband yet???

Two Months Later!

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's been two months since my last post! Times are crazy! We have a nursery to make! What a nightmare of a project we started! Our house has 3 bedrooms, all on the top level. One of the rooms is the home of our three (that's right, I said THREE!) computers. Well, obviously, we have to turn that room into the nursery. So we have been moving the computer room downstairs into the living room area. The living room area is significantly smaller than the bedroom that orignally housed our computer/geek crap! So we have had to condense. In order to condense, we had to "dejunk" our crawl space to make room for more junk. Step one, project "dejunk", finished! Next step, box up my M&M/Pez dispenser collections to make room for the computers. If you know me, you should know that tears were involved in this process! But, it's all for a greater good, right?!? Step two, done! Next step, moving the computers. Holy hell! The actual "computer moving" process was not too awful. It's the cleaning out the rest of the junk in that room that has been hell! So, two trailer loads to the dump later....step three, done! So today, Scott had to tear out the wood paneling (tacky that it even still existed in our house, I know...but some things I have no control over...yet!) He got the wood paneling off the walls and what do we find behind it??? WALLPAPER!! Not just any wallpaper, but wallpaper with gigantic pink flowers all over it! VOMIT! So, to add another step to this already-taking-too-long process, tomorrow we get to pull down wallpaper! After that, hopefully, we will be able to paint! The worst part of this whole process is that Scott REFUSES to buy any baby stuff until the room is cleaned out and painted! I can understand that, but come on...does he have any idea how hard it is to resist buying anything right now?? End of that story for now!

So here are some pictures of my ridiculously cute baby (I know I haven't met her yet, but I can already tell she's got some spunk!) I love her!

This is a great shot of her little leg!

This is a 3D view of her face (I think this one is a tad creepy!)

This is a 3D of the side of her head, her little hand is covering her face!

This is another 3D profile view, her little arm is covering her face!

This is a 3D view, curled up in the fetal position, her legs tucked into her chest

Another 3D in the fetal position, she moved her legs down and she is resting her head on her hand! Love this one!

This is supposedly the picture that confirms 100% for sure it's a girl! Don't ask me where she sees the girl parts, but I'll trust the woman, seeing how she looks at these things for a living! You can see her cute little toes though! Gotta love that!

So that's really all the interesting goings on of my life these days! Just truckin' along! Crazy to think that 3 months from now I will have a little baby in my hands! It is really going by so fast, and I'm dying to meet this little one!

P.S. Anyone want to hire my husband yet?

I Suck...

At this whole blogging thing! Actually, it's not so much that, as my life is just ridiculously boring! Scott is still job hunting. Anyone hiring yet? The whole job search is just frustrating. He has submitted application after application, been online everyday looking at job postings, and he hasn't heard back from anyone, other than a few rejection letters. It is very stressful and very frustrating. It worries me, with the baby coming and all. We really need the benefits. I know it's still a little ways away, but it still freaks me out! So, in the meantime, we got a new pup!

This is baby Mia! I know...she is the cutest thing you ever saw! She is seriously one of the sweetest puppies ever to grace the face of the Earth! I just love her to pieces!

We celebrated our 2 year anniversary on June 16th. I can't believe it has already been 2 years! It flies by! So for our anniversary, Scott took me to Wendover. Sounds lame, but I have never been there before! We had such a good time! And without even drinking! We left on Tuesday morning. Got there and checked in to our hotel room. Then we went for a drive on the ridiculously HUGE Wendover strip (haha) to try to find us some lunch. Then we went back to the hotel and gambled for a little bit. Scott tried his hand at playing the tables. He loves Texas Hold 'Em and has been dying to try the tables ever since we went to Vegas. So he finally did it, and he LOVED it! Now he is constantly bugging me to go back! Anyway, after gambling we went and at dinner at the buffet in the hotel. Then we went back to the room. We got a mini suite and it had a jetted tub out in the room area, so we sat in the jetted tub and watched TV for about 2 hours! Ha ha, nice anniversary, right?!? Then we gambled a little the next morning and came home to deal with the joys of parenthood (that's another story, another time!). We had a such a good time! It was so nice to get away, just the two of us. It's not something we get to do very often, and I'm positive it won't get any better after the baby comes! Here are a few pictures from the trip...

I love my hubby so much!

Next up, I'm sure everyone is wondering about the babe, since I have only posted one picture of the cute little peanut! So here are some updates.

This was at my appointment on April 29th (or sometime around then). This was at about 8 weeks along.

This was at my appointment on May 27th. You can actually see a fetus in there, instead of just an embryo! So so cute! I put it upside down because I think you can make it out better when it's upside down!

We didn't get a picture of my most recent ultra sound. But this one was the biggie! So the baby was not as cooperative as we would have liked. Legs were crossed for the entire ultra sound! Modest little thing! We did get a fairly good view of "the parts" and it is definitely looking like a little girl! The doc didn't want to say she was positive it's a girl just because of the legs being crossed, but there were definitely no little boy parts sticking out anywhere in there! So she said she is about %80 sure it's a girl. So we will see if she cooperates a little better with my next ultra sound, which is July 22nd. If not, I have a targeted ultra sound, which is a very in depth ultra sound, scheduled for August 5th. She said we will know absolutely for sure by that ultra sound. So in the meantime, my mom better keep all of her receipts just in case! So cross your fingers that she stays a girl! Ha ha!

So that pretty much sums up our lives over the past month or so! Hope everyone is well!

My life....

Has been quite eventful these days! Well, it seems like it to me, but in reality, just 2 major events in my life that I can really think of! This is the order it goes....

#1 - I'm pregnant! Yes, believe it or not, there actually is the beginnings of a baby in this picture!

#2 - Scott got laid off from his job. Impeccable timing, right?!?

So, baby is due December 7th, which makes me nearly 9 weeks. Almost out of the "danger zone", I do believe! Good news for me because I have a 45% chance of miscarriage because of my polycystic ovaries. Awesome, I know! So I have now already had 3, yes you heard right, 3 ultra sounds within the last week! So my baby is already getting ridiculous amounts of attention! I'm totally fine with that!

On the other news, I'm trying not to talk too much about that because I just cry! We kind of knew it was coming, but they didn't give him any notice. They told him, and then he had an hour to turn in his badge and computer and leave the office. So that is making it kind of tough. But, we'll figure things out...we always do! Just kind of scary right now, with a baby on the way and the job market like it is right now. We'll get through it though! So, anyone hiring??

I don't really have much else to tell! These rather large events seem to overshadow the many great small events, such as the March of Dimes walk, and lunch with my mom and lifelong friends...but those small things are not forgotten!

Because....

It has been a few weeks and I don't have anything to even talk about! Life is boring lately! Here is a cake I just made.

I haven't had Gage over in about 4 weeks! I miss him! Last time he was over, we went to the Polaris dealership up the road and let him play around on the 4-wheelers. He had such a good time! We asked him if he like the 4-wheelers and his response was "HELL YEAH!" So, I would say it's a pretty safe assumption to say he had fun!

Did I mention that I love that kid??

Oh and I know it has been weighing on your mind...No, I'm not prego yet!

Ok, night!