our helper

the girls in matching jammies when Sophie was 3 weeks old

When we came home from the hospital Ella's whole world had changed.  She loved her baby sister, but didn't love that Sophie got Mom and Dad's attention too.  Ella acted out in every possible way.  Within the first week she stopped eating anything that had nutritional value, cried about everything, threw countless tantrums, bit me because I wouldn't let her keep a Barbie shoe in her mouth, asked to nurse, wanted to get in the crib, had me change her diaper on the changing table, and did just about everything else I feared.  She hated when I nursed the baby.  Absolutely hated it!  I don't know if it was just because the process was new and strange to her, or if it was because I spent so much time doing it, or if it was because Sophie had one on one time with Mom doing something that Ella couldn't. Through this difficult period of transition Ella has always loved Sophia and has wanted to help her whenever possible.  Sometimes she wants to help too much.  Ella believes that giving Sophie her pacifier is always the best thing to do.

 When people asked Ella if she helped Mommy she simply said, "No."  It was the truth.  Fortunately the more she adjusts, the more willing she is to help me out.  For Christmas Laz and Allie gave Ella a lawn mower.  She loves mowing the lawn with Daddy.

I am happy to report that now, in Sophie's 8th week of life, Ella is back to normal!!!  She sleeps well, eats about as well as can be expected, and has stopped acting out more than an average 2 year old.  The second our "normal" life changes she starts to act out, but I'll still take it!

two weeks

 It is amazing how much I've forgotten about newborns!  At this point we are just trying to figure out eating and sleeping.  Sophia is a good nurser.  The only problem we've really had, besides initial discomfort on my part, is that she wants to eat more than she can handle.  Sophie seems to have a little bit of reflux so we are just trying to help her deal with that.  Sleep on the other hand hasn't been quite as easy.  I forgot how sleep deprivation affects me!  It is so hard not to sleep (especially since my headaches are back!)  After Ella was born I read about every book and article I could get my hands on about sleep and I've forgotten so much of it that I've found myself re-reading favorite books and trying to decide how strict I want to be this time around.  We are also trying to train ourselves to sleep through her grunting!  She is the loudest baby I've ever heard! In general, Sophie seems to be an easy baby.  I realize it is still too early to tell much, but she seems to be a pretty content girl. 

 We took Sophia in for her two week appointment and were excited to see how much she has grown.  She is so long and skinny!  We thought she looked like Ella at first, but we are noticing a lot of differences the bigger she gets.

Length: 21 inches

Weight: 8 lbs. 1 oz.

Head Circ: 35 cm

 Sophie doesn't love being swaddled.  She works as hard as she can to get her arms free so she can turn and sleep on her side.  I think she looks adorable!

ice cream

 

 

She's here! (including birth story)

Sophia was born July 13th at 1:53 am.

She weighs 7 lbs 14 oz.

She is perfect.

I went in for my 37 week appointment on July 12th and found out that I was already dilated to a 5 and the baby was at 0 station.  So she was half way here!  The doctor told me that if I was uncomfortable he would send me over to the hospital.  I told him I was fine to wait.  He then spent the rest of my appointment impressing on me the importance of getting to the hospital at the first sign of labor- consistent contractions for 30 minutes, my water breaking, or ONE really painful contraction.  I told him that my fear was getting Ella situated with a babysitter and then being sent home from the hospital.  He reassured me that no one would send me home considering how far along I was.  That evening I found myself having consistent contractions.  They were 4-5 minutes apart, but not really painful so if I hadn't talked with the doctor earlier that day I would have waited to go in.  I decided to be safe and found comfort in the fact that Dr. Jones promised that no one would send me home so we called Gustavo's mom and I finished packing a few last minute items.  By the time we got to the hospital it was 7 o'clock and I had been having consistent contractions for an hour and a half.  I was check and the nurse told me I was still at a 5 and 75% effaced.  The doctor on call said that the only way he would admit me was if I dilated more within an hour.  I was devastated when an hour later I was 85-90% effaced, but still at a 5 with contractions coming 5 minutes apart.  The nurse advised me to walk around the hospital for an hour and then get checked again.  Gustavo and I raced around the hospital for the next hour.  I was having really consistent contractions that were getting increasingly painful.  I was sure something had happened.  I was wrong. The baby had dropped lower, but I was still at a 5.  I just started crying.  I was embarrassed and frustrated.  At this point it was 9:00.  Ella had been with Abuela for almost 2 hours and I really thought I was going to have the baby that night.  I called my sister through tears and asked her what she thought I should do (the nurse had told me I could go home and come back in the morning, or stay for another hour).  I decided that I would just go home because I didn't want to risk waiting even longer and still get sent home.  Gustavo called his mom and we planned to get Ella at 7 o'clock the next morning so she could make it to work on time.  At that point the nurse came in and told me that my contractions were only 3 minutes apart and that she wanted me to stay and get checked in another hour.  At about 10:30 I was checked and had finally dilated so I was at a 5+ or 6.  I quickly got admitted and the anesthesiologist came in to give me my epidural.  That didn't go very well.  I had no idea what was going on!  The first time I got an epidural it was quick, easy, and practically pain free.  This time I felt like he kept poking me over and over again.  I had pain shooting down my legs.  When he finally told me I could lift my head I immediately had the worst headache I've ever experienced.  I was grabbing my head as the doctor explained that he had messed up and spinal fluid had leaked.  He said the headache would last for 7 days.  The only thing that alleviated the pain was lying flat.  I was the unlucky 1% of patients who have this happen.  The anesthesiologist left and Dr. Watabe (not my OB, but the OB who was on call and who also delivered Ella) came in.  He broke my water and was on his way.  Due to the problems with my epidural the head nurse just took me off the pump and told me that hopefully I would have the baby within 2 hours because that's how long it would last.  I didn't inquire about it because regardless of what I said, she jumped on me and acted like I was the most annoying person she'd ever met.  It was easier just not to talk.  Well, I started to feel pressure and have more feeling in my legs at 1:20.  By 1:40 I could move my lower body and was feeling amniotic fluid as it leaked out.  At 1:45 the nurse came in and told me it was time to push.  She got Dr. Watabe and we were all set.  I was super uncomfortable and really nervous because I had full feeling in my lower body.  When it was time to push I felt everything. Sophia was born at 1:53am so fortunately I only pushed for 5-7 minutes.  With Ella I did not feel anything so I was not anticipating this experience nor was I prepared for the pain I felt.  When Sophia was laid on my chest I couldn't believe she was here.  I had been so focused on the pain and being done that I forgot that the end result was my beautiful baby!  I quickly told Gustavo that she looked so tiny (this was funny to me because when I first held Ella I said "SHE'S HUGE").  Sophia weighed 7lbs. 14 oz. which is one ounce bigger than Ella was.  The labor and delivery was so much different than I expected it would be, but I left in great shape.  This time I only had second degree tears which are about 10 billion times less painful than the third degree tears left by the forceps with Ella's birth.  The headaches were really masked by the pain medication I took at the hospital, but they came back with a vengeance on Sunday when I decided to stop taking medication. They were miserable for 2 days, but by Wednesday afternoon they were gone and now I feel great.  Things are going so much better than I ever could have imagined.  We love our little girls and are so excited Sophia decided to come 17 days early (especially considering how big she was!)

swimming lessons

I decided it would be fun to take mommy and tot swimming lessons with Ella this summer before the baby came.   Some days were rough, but other days were really fun.

We knew it would be more fun to take lessons with friends so we went down to Pleasant Grove to be with Makaylee and Alysha.

 Ella's favorite part of each lesson were the last 10 minutes when we went to the shallow end.  She loved to walk around and jump.

 About half way through our lessons she discovered the rope that sectioned off the shallow end and became obsessed with it.

 The girls really liked showing us how big they were by climbing out of the pool all by themselves.

 On the last day of swimming lessons all the kids got to go down the water slides.  Since I'm pregnant Alysha was sweet and took Ella down.  Amy, our swimming teacher, offered first but Ella was too afraid to go with her so Makaylee went with Amy and Ella went with Alysha.  Despite wanting to go down the slide every day previous, after going with Alysha Ella didn't quite know what to think and decided she did not want to go again.

Ella received her certificate of completion and a sucker from Amy on the last day.  Ella really enjoyed swimming lessons and I'm glad we did it.  We still need to work on all of the skills:

• blowing bubbles
• floating on her stomach and back
• using superman arms when she floats
• jumping in the pool
• going all the way under water
• monkey crawling along the wall
• ice cream scoops (or swimming like Sebastian as we called it)
• kicking her legs

It was great to go swimming every day for two weeks in a row.  This summer has been full of playing in the water and this was a great way to start it off.  It definitely made Ella more comfortable and she loves to talk about her swimming lessons so I know she had a great time!

Fourth of July

We had our annual Kramer family 4th of July party at my parents' house this year.  All of my sisters were there- even Megan who is currently living in Africa.  I was pretty tired and didn't get pictures of the playing and swimming, but I got a few pictures of Ella's first experience with fireworks.

 

 We started out with no fire.

 Daddy decided that she could handle it as long as  she was right by him.

 She took safety very seriously- look at the fully extended arm.

She loved the sparklers as well as all of the other fireworks she saw this 4th of July.

progress

36 weeks

Part of me can't believe how close I am to my due date and another part of me is anxious to see how everything goes the second time around.  On Sunday night I realized how quickly she just may come.  At midnight as I was laying down to go to sleep I started having really painful contractions.  I tried to just rest thinking they would go away.  They were so painful that I couldn't sit still and I was fearing that I might have really been in labor.  I decided to go and get a few things done just in case.  My contractions continued.  They were at least a minute long and seemed to be occurring within 5 minutes of each other.  At 2:40 I decided I would try to lay down because although the contractions continued to happen frequently, they were only lasting about 30 seconds.  I fell asleep at around 3 in the morning and woke up contracting again at 5, but after that I didn't have anything else.  I was so relieved that I hadn't gone into labor, but curious to go get checked at my appointment this week.  I went to see my doctor today and found out that the baby is head down, but still pretty high.  I am dilated to a 4, but only 50% effaced.  I'm trying to make sure that I get as much done as I can in case she comes soon, but also trying not to get too anxious!