Sophie is turning 3 tomorrow. I don't think I've written her story on here. Ted's will come closer to his birthday. I'll just say they were two of the most polar opposite experiences of my life. This is rather lengthy. This is meant more as a thing for Sophie to read someday down the road.
I found out I was pregnant in September 2007. It was a few short weeks after taking the Family Ministry Director position at River Ridge. I was doing double duty as FM Director and Office Administrator. When I found out I was pregnant, I encouraged Matt and Ted to get on the stick finding someone to replace me as Office Administrator b/c I knew it was only a matter of time before I got sick. I told Jessie I would train her for 2 weeks.
I started throwing up on Ted's 2nd birthday. Right in the middle of Jessie's training. The second week I laid on the office floor a complete mess. I asked my doctor for drugs. He obliged. I started Phenergen which made me loopy. My system quickly adjusted and I didn't spend much time hanging over the toilet. But my stomach was a complete wreck all the time. My days revolved around food and what the plan was for the next meal. Protein and grease were what helped me the most - preferably a combination of the two. It was not uncommon for me to go to Burger King for breakfast for a ham, egg and cheese croisann'wich, Long John Silvers for a 2 piece chicken meal for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner for a soft taco supreme and a nacho supreme with no beans. Sunday mornings I went to Tudor's for biscuits and gravy. Inta Juice was also very helpful. Thankfully there were multiple locations of each of these around the Charleston metro-area so I rotated as to not seem like a total crazy lady. It's a miracle I didn't weigh 500 pounds.
Poor Ted. I have no idea what the child ate. Everything made me sick. I would lay on the couch and he would climb all over me. He didn't play on his own or watch tv yet. I remember putting him to bed at 6:59 every night when Ben wasn't home. I didn't care that he would get up early in the morning b/c I knew that Ben would get up with him. Thankfully he wasn't real crazy. There were several times I would be changing his poopy diaper and have to run to throw up. I'd come back and he'd be laying there with a diaper wide open having not touched it. God blessed me with that.
That went on from the middle of October through mid-February. I remember thinking I was good and not refilling my prescription sometime in January. I called Rachel Sawhook and asked if I could have some of her meds until my prescription was refilled. That was kind of a scary thought for me. We went to Florida for the 2008 All Staff Conference. The whole first day I spent scoping out my food options for different times of the day. We had to go to Animal Kingdom b/c I couldn't ride rollar coasters. BORING! My usual ASC massage was a complete disappointment too!
I remember feeling ok for roughly 6 weeks. It was in that 6 week time period RRC went from 1 to 2 services. Thank the Lord for good timing.
I was prepared to have a baby anytime after 32 (of 40) weeks (that's when Ted was born). Spring break was 28 weeks for me. Ben finished painting Ted's new room and we spent the weekend cleaning, rearranging, and stuff like that. That Sunday, I realized I hadn't felt Sophie move in awhile. She was a real mover and groover. (Keep in mind we did NOT know if she was a boy or a girl.) I went to the hospital after church. They said the baby was fine but asked me if I knew I was having regular contractions? I did not. It was very reminiscent of Ted. They sent me home on bed rest. My doctor put me on Terbutaline and told me to take it easy.
I had to slow way down. It was not easy. Thankfully, by that time, Ted was able to entertain himself a little more. We had Noggin and it was my saving grace. It would take me until Tuesday to recover from Sundays. I sent Millie to New Martinsville b/c I couldn't keep up with the vacuuming.
My doctor told me to stop taking my terbutaline the Tuesday after Memorial Day (37 weeks). We went to Power Park for our annual staff development day. That night at Arby's I started feeling regular contractions. Wednesday morning I had a regular doctor's appt. I thought my contractions were getting a little more regular but they didn't seem that intense at all. The doctor hooked me up to the machine (which I had been hooked up to once a week) and said, "Do you feel those really big ones?" while pointing to the contraction reader thing. He gave me a pass to go straight to triage in labor and delivery - along with a scolding for eating breakfast that morning.
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The OR was so different from Ted. It was calm and peaceful. The nurses and anethestitists were so excited that we didn't know if the baby was a boy or a girl. They wanted to know my plan of how we would know if it was a boy or girl. Would the doctor hold it up over the curtain? Would the doctor just tell us? What? I had no idea. The devised a plan (which I don't remember) and several of them stayed even though they didn't have to.
Sophie came in at a whopping 7 pounds even. She was so big to us. But so petite at the same time. Skinny little arms and legs. She had a head full of dark hair. She was beautiful. Ben got to help with all the weighing and measuring. It was great! It was calm. It was special. We decided on "Sophie". I had loved the name for a long time and even put it in Ted's ear which really strengthened my cause. Ben always insisted that Sophie was a dog's name. I neglected to tell him that our friends the Shaak's had a dog named Sophie until after the fact. (They have since acquired another dog named Theodore - but they call him Theo). Lauren is her middle name. (Not to be confused with Sophia Loren.) Lauren is half Laura, half Ben. Again, thank you Rachel Sawhook!
So, there you go Miss Sophie. You were worth all of this!
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