Welcome Sophia!

Sophia Emily Stanley - December 2, 2009 – 8:56pm – 7 lbs 9 oz – 19 ½ inches

Dear Friends and Family- Jeremy and I are now very proud parents to a beautiful baby girl. The past weeks have been an amazing and wonderful profound change for our marriage. We could never have anticipated this experience and are so grateful to have Sophia in our lives.

Sophia – I cannot believe how much she has changed in just 4 weeks (almost). She gave us a couple of worries when she was born because she had the cord around her neck, was born with a couple of skin tags on her ear which can be associated with renal problems and was slightly jaundice. Fortunately, after testing we know that all is okay with her renal system and the skin tags are just cosmetic that can be removed in a couple of months. She was treated under the bili-lights at the hospital for the jaundice. (This is actually really hard to go through because they cannot be wrapped up and are supposed to stay under for 3 hour periods. Sophia cried through most of it. It was one of the hardest things I had to endure with her. The feelings of helplessness when your child is hurting are indescribable)

The first week at home was amazing, overwhelming and I cannot believe how quickly it went by. She had several nights of inconsolable crying and we soon discovered that she was not getting enough to eat with just breastfeeding. Although we had wanted to breastfeed exclusively, I am quickly learning that I cannot control everything. We now supplement feed and she is doing much better. As determined as I was, I have had to back off some with my efforts to feed as much breastmilk as possible. I was nursing, bottle feeding, and pumping at every feeding, which took about an hour and a half each time and it became too much. So I am now just nursing and pumping in the mornings and evenings and letting her take bottles in the day. I am still obsessed with tracking everything and can tell you how many ounces she has received via bottle of breastmilk, formula and minutes nursed. As well as the number of wet diapers, poopy diapers and ounces pumped. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to throw away my log book and trust that I know what needs to be done to take care of her.

Sophia has a lot of traits from both her mom and dad. However, my mom pulled out a newborn picture of me and there is a very close resemblance between us. She definitely has the Williams’ (Thurgood) forehead, eyes, nose, hands, fingers, feet and toes. I think her chin and mouth are Jeremy’s and a lot of her expressions come from Jeremy too. We are amazed at how much personality she already has. Like her daddy, she values her sleep and does not like to wake up. I have to wake her for most feedings in the day and it usually takes about 15 minutes of stretching, yawning and finally giving in. She is really a pretty happy baby, but when she lets us know she needs something…there is very little patience in waiting to receive it. Sophie has found her voice and usually bypasses crying and goes straight to screaming if we are not quick enough.

Me and Jeremy – Having Sophia has definitely changed our relationship and made it stronger. Jeremy continues to impress me everyday with what a great dad he is. He has far exceeded my expectations and helps with just about everything. I am so grateful to have such a great husband and am amazed at how well we work together. Not to say that we do not have our moments, but I have never been so much in love with him as I am now. Hopefully Sophia will think we are great parents. My only wish is that we can be an example to her and teach her how to have healthy relationships and love herself.

Labor – A lot of people ask about the labor. I will try to give an overview (without TMI). My labor was a very fast and intense experience. I actually went into labor at work, but did not realize it was real labor until I was driving home on the 51 and started having painful contractions. When I got home, Jeremy started timing them and they were coming every 1-3 minutes. I had spoken with both the nurse and my midwife and they told me that it would likely be awhile since this was my first pregnancy. However, after getting home the contractions quickly became much more intense. I was hesitant to go to the hospital or admit how painful the contractions felt because everyone kept reminding me that 1^st labors take a long time and not to go to the hospital too early. However, at this point I said to Jeremy that if this was not “real labor” then there was no way I could do it if it was going to get worse. So Jeremy finished his pizza, packed up my bag for me and loaded us into the car to head to the hospital. By this time I was unable to speak through the contractions and was basically writhing on the floor.

At the hospital we found out that I indeed was in labor and as a matter of fact was far into the labor. Upon arrival I was already 6cm, 100% effaced and 0 station. I was also in a tremendous amount of pain and unable to get a break between contractions. And although I had been determined to have a natural delivery, I was demanding any kind of pain relief possible. However, I was to deliver without an epidural because there was no time. 1 hr and 15 mins after arriving at the hospital she was born. Not a single thing went as I had outlined in my birth plan! If anyone wants more details give Jeremy a call. I learn more about the labor everytime I hear him describe it.

Okay--- This has gotten pretty long. There is so much more to share, but I guess we have a lifetime for that now. We would like to give one more big THANK YOU to all of our friends and family. We are so blessed to have such wonderful support.