Well guys, the last two weeks have been a wild ride. Sophia Joy was born on Monday, August 26th, weighing 8 lbs. 12 oz and looking adorable right from the start. I’ve had a pretty rough recovery, but I’m finally feeling good enough to make a post!

Enjoy this darling photoshoot of our sweet girl while I tell you a bit of her birth story, for those of you who enjoy that sort of thing. 😉

I started having contractions at about 4:30 Monday morning. They quickly started coming about every four minutes, but were super manageable, so we waited until 2:30 to head into the birth center.

The 1+ hour drive there was actually way better than I expected! Unfortunately the doula we hired was at another birth so she had to send a backup doula which was rather disappointing.

When I got there, they checked me and said I was only 3cm, but 100% effaced and Sophia was very low. (If you’re not into birth stuff, sorry if that sounded like another language, haha!) Since I wasn’t in “active labor,” the midwives and doula left to let us rest and labor by ourselves for a while.

The contractions quickly got super intense and so hard to manage. The next 3.5 hours were the hardest probably of my life, partly because I was so worried I wasn’t progressing and it felt like this part would take forever.

We eventually called everyone back and oh joy, I was 8cm and already in transition! My midwife later told me that I’d progressed so quickly during this crazy hard stage that I will likely have a lightning-fast second birth. O.o

They filled the tub while I paced the hall – I felt like I had to move during contractions to deal with them. The midwives laughed about it later, saying they’ve never seen someone walk so fast during labor. :P\

Before I got in the tub, they checked my hydration levels and unfortunately I was severely dehydrated at this point. So I tried to force down some electrolytes and a yogurt smoothie, since I was apparently also close to clinical exhaustion.

Pro tip: DRINK ENOUGH WATER, because my midwife said labor probably would have been 2 hours shorter if I wasn’t so dehydrated. And if my contractions hadn’t come so close together, taking short rest breaks would have helped a lot too.

I finally got in the tub, which was nice, but I was so far along at this point that it didn’t help the pain as much as I hoped. Sully sat on the side of the tub, applying counterpressure to my tailbone which helped a little. And before too long I was ready to push!

I started out in the tub but soon got too tired to hold myself up, so I got out and moved to the bed instead. Once again the midwives later had a good laugh at how easily I got out of the tub after originally saying I couldn’t do it, hehe.

The pushing part only lasted 1-1.5 hrs., but it was super hard because Sophia had a 14.5 cm head and her hand up by her face. Not nice, baby girl! The midwife said she was worried I’d tear so badly I’d need to transfer to the hospital.

At long last, she came out and Sully and I got to meet our daughter for the first time. ❤ She was all slippery and warm and surprisingly cute from the very start! Sully started crying a little bit which was adorable, and I mostly felt exhausted, but glad it was over.

Sophia had a little trouble breathing at first and had to get her mouth and nose suctioned a couple of times. But she was eventually fine, I got out the placenta, and we were all done! Labor was 18 hours altogether, which was within the range of what I expected, but felt quite long.

I did get a second-degree tear, but it was much better than my midwife expected, and honestly I feel like that was a gift from God. While I got stitched up, Sully held Sophia and she immediately calmed down. So sweet. 

She was pretty mad at the world for a few hours since she had so much trouble breathing clearly, but we got her to latch and nurse a little bit. Then we weighed her and everyone was shocked at how big she was! I did NOT feel like I was carrying an almost 9-pound baby. She was also 21″ long, which didn’t surprise me because Sully and I are both tall.

We spent the night at the birth center in their comfy bed, though we got basically no sleep. I wasn’t too surprised about that, eheh. She was still pretty mad and fussy, and we had to keep checking her breathing to make sure she had been suctioned well enough. We eventually took turns holding her while the other person rested.

As we got ready to leave with our adorable baby girl the next day, I asked the midwife to check my blood pressure since I was feeling lightheaded and weak. The reading was extremely low, and I had to lie down and eat some yogurt before I was able to go home. Even then I was so weak from not having enough food after labor that we stopped at Zaxby’s to get me some fried chicken, haha! Pro tip: EAT PROTEIN AFTER LABOR.

As we settled in during the next few days, Sully and I both spent a lot of time admiring how cute our little girl was, giving her plenty of cuddles, and getting hardly any sleep. 😀 We haven’t had any emergencies, thank God, but there have been a lot of little things that all piled up – every day was a “new adventure.”

Once I passed out in the shower and felt all weak again, and then I got a mysterious fever that lasted for five days. The biggest issue was that Sophia had a tongue tie, leading to nursing trouble and her not gaining weight. Once we got it revised, things went so much better!

We still had a short period of syringe-feeding and then bottle-feeding to supplement her food while I pumped super often to get my milk supply back. It was exhausting, but I am so happy to say we’ve now been able to go back to just breastfeeding and it’s going SO much better! Phew!

Honestly probably my favorite part of the past couple of weeks has been seeing Sully in superhero girl dad mode. He’s tended to Sophia’s and my every need around the clock, especially in the early days when I couldn’t get out of bed much. He’s changed so many diapers, calmed me down so many times, and driven us to all the appointments. Sophia couldn’t have a better dad, or one who is more in love with her than Sully is. ❤ 

We’ve been blessed with such a great support network in general. Our families and church family have brought us many delicious meals, cleaned our house, and held Sophia so we could sleep. My mom especially has spent several nights and mornings here, watching the baby while we rest. (And it’s her first grandbaby so she is absolutely delighted to help, which is just the best.)

If you’re reading this and you’re part of our support group – thank you from the bottom of our hearts! We couldn’t have done it without you. God has truly shown us his grace through your love. ❤

I think we’re finally over the hump – I’m feeling better, Sophia is eating well (albeit a little too often for our comfort, heh), and Sully has gone back to work. We’re enjoying all her little grunts and squeaks and funny faces, and exclaiming over how cute she is while she sleeps.

Despite being a little fussy, she is such a sweet, beautiful girl, and we are so blessed to have her as part of our family. I can’t believe I have a baby, guys! I’m officially a mom! 😀 It’s so crazy. I’m excited to watch our little girl grow up, and take many more adorable pictures in the future. 🙂

Thanks so much for reading, my friends, and have a lovely day!

***Allison***

P. S. I’ve decided to forego making Friday my posting day and just post whenever I get around to it. Make sure you’re subscribed to get email notifications because you never know when another one will make it on the blog. 🙂