Wordless Wednesday: Super Ethan!

When Ethan met Sofia

Ethan didn't visit until the second day because I was hooked up to so many things and we didn't want him to be upset by seeing me that way. We wanted him to come when it was just the four of us as well so we could have some time to ourselves as a family.

Besides holding Sofia in my arms for the first time, the other thing I was most looking forward to with Sofia's arrival was Ethan meeting her. We had no idea what his reaction would be. We were pretty confident that he would be excited but didn't know if he would be jealous as well. We completely underestimated him because he just radiated love from the moment he laid eyes on her. It was just perfect and exactly how I had hoped it would go in my mind.

My heart is so full!

Born to be a big brother!

My whole life!

Already doting on her!

I can say that Ethan is completely in love and obsessed with his sister. She is the first thing on his mind when he wakes up. He wants to help me out doing everything for her. I've just been amazed at how well he has handled the transition. It is the sweetest thing to watch and I will enjoy it for as long as I can because I'm sure before we know it they will be fighting over a toy or tattling on one another, HA! Here's some sweet shots of my them together over the past couple of weeks.

Sofia's Birth Story

Sofia's birth story was certainly less eventful than Ethan's, which is to be expected since it was scheduled. I was pretty excited to not have to go through a 30+ hour production again. My scheduled c-section surgery date was Wednesday, October 1 at 1 pm. We needed to get to the hospital at 11 am to get prepped for surgery. They hooked me up to monitor the baby and put my IV in. I had to answer a bunch of questions, meet with the anesthesiologist and just wait for my OB to get there.

I actually wasn't feeling too nervous. Then I walked into the operating room. It's very intimidating to walk into a room where you know they are going to slice you open. The first thing was the spinal block, which was the part I was most nervous about. They had some difficulty finding the right spot so I got stuck quite a few times, which was unpleasant, but they eventually got it. Once the spinal block was done I went numb almost instantly. Once I was fully numb they put up the curtain and let Michael in and they started the surgery.

The surgery was so much better this time than last time. Last time I was shaking the whole time because my body was in shock. This time we actually talked during the surgery. They told us when they were getting close and when they could see her and they could actually see she had a lot of hair through the sac. Finally we heard glorious sound of her cry and it was the best feeling. They brought her around and we immediately said she looked just like Ethan. She was crying so hard and so loud, way louder than Ethan was. The best part was that they brought her over to me right away to do skin-to-skin. I didn't get to hold Ethan for 3 hours because I was shaking so bad so it was wonderful to get to hold her right away. It was really funny too because she was screaming like crazy and as soon as they laid her on me and I started talking to her, she stopped crying immediately. She knew her Mama!

They kept her with me for a little while and then Michael took her and went with the nurse to get her cleaned up and evaluated. She was not too fond of this part as you can see!

Getting some Daddy/daughter bonding time in.

When Michael left they did my tubal and sewed me up. Then I went into recovery for about an hour and a half. I got to hold Sofia the whole time.

Once I got the go ahead to go to my room we headed up and I unfortunately got sick during the ride and threw up. Luckily I only got sick that one time. I got all settled and got to soak up our baby girl. We didn't have anyone come to the hospital the first day because I didn't get into my room until late afternoon, I was still completely numb and hooked up to machines and monitors. It was nice to have some time with just the three of us.

The next day, Thursday, my sister Arla was our first visitor of the day. She got to have Sofia all to herself for a while!

Later that afternoon Ethan finally got to meet his little sister! I'm doing a full post on their big meeting tomorrow.

That evening Michael's parents and grandma came to visit.

On Friday my parents came to visit Sofia.

Saturday I got released from the hospital and we got to take our little princess home!

Rich, Tif, Jacob and Makayla came over to meet Sofia that afternoon.

Overall, this c-section was even easier than my first. I felt pretty great the next day after surgery and didn't even need pain killers besides ibuprofen a couple days after surgery. I'm almost 3 weeks out and feel awesome. I'm pretty much back to normal activity except I still can't workout. I'm itching to run so I can't wait to get clearance to do so.

We are so thrilled that Sofia is finally here and our family is complete. We feel so blessed to have 2 healthy children after everything we have been through.