2 Months

Little Sascha is two months old. We took you to have your first set of vaccinations. A total of 3 shots in your thigh, you cried so much and it was so hard to see you so upset, but it was over before you knew it, and you dozed off to sleep shortly after. You weighed 8 lbs 10 oz, but your height was 21.75 inches and your head circumference was 14.25 inches. Your weight and head are still in the 5th percentile or less(you're so little), but your height is in the 25th percentile. I did notice that you were definitely getting longer, and it will be only a matter of a few more months until you outgrow the bassinet. Dr. De Freitas did say she wanted to see you gain some more weight, so she recommended to try and give you a bit more milk after you're done nursing. The first time I tried doing that you spit up quite a bit, probably most of what I gave you - about 1 oz, so you definitely didn't need it, but a few other times you did happily take more. Especially since for about a week now you have gone to 6 feedings instead of 7, we dropped your late night feeding, because you started to sleep for longer than 7 hrs, so now I feed you around 10pm and you sleep until about 5:30 or 6:30am. We are so lucky you let us sleep. You have just been such a good baby at night, of course you still have your fussy times around 7 or 8pm, while definitely staying awake more and more during the day.

You have gotten quite good at holding your head, it's still a bit wobbly, and I have to watch out because you have head butted me a few times while I try to burp you. Also you have discovered your hands, I often find you holding them together, also sometimes you self soothe by putting your fingers in your mouth, although you are still a big fan of the pacifier. You smile so much now, especially when we talk to you or make "Oh" sounds and expressions with our mouths. Also you try to coo or talk back as well, it's so cute. We love seeing you smile and talk, it's so wonderful. We started watching some Baby Einstein DVDs and you love them, you stare at the bright colors on the TV and your eyes get really big. I've noticed that even when I change your diaper and the TV is on, you will completely turn your head and watch whatever is on. So funny! Other things that seem to entertain you for a while are the bouncy seat, your play gym and the tummy time mat. Pretty soon I think it will be ok to put you into the jumparoo. You still love taking walks with me in the Baby Bjorn. You love getting baths now, I knew you'd come around. Till next month, here are some fun facts about your birthday.

Fun Birthday Facts

Your baby's birthstone is Turquoise (Prosperity) Your baby's Astrological Sign is Sagittarius Your baby's Flower is Narcissus or Holly (Indigo, Green, Greenish-Blue) Your baby was born in the Chinese Year of The Pig Your baby will start kindergarten in 2013, be old enough to drive a car in 2023, finish high school in 2026, and will graduate from college with the class of 2030, give or take a year.

1 Month

Wow, can time go by any faster? You are now 1 month old and this month  just flew by.

You've been a wonderful baby so far. The first few days were tough and you decided you wanted to be awake between the hours of 2 and 5 in the morning but the next day we introduced a pacifier and it was a miracle. It soothes you 99% of the time, and now you have been sleeping anywhere from 3 to 5 hours at a time during the night. Yay! I have to say that you have been very good to us with sleep, I don't even really have to nap during the day, because you let us sleep a good amount of time during the night. When you were about 2 weeks you got little bumps on your face, baby acne, but it's pretty much gone now. You have been eating pretty well, however you don't gain 1 oz/day like the doctor said you should. You weighed 7 lbs 6 oz at your 1 month check up, so you have grown over a pound since your birth weight. She said that you're just petite and will be just fine, all of your stats are under 10 percentile, so you are still a tiny little munchkin. You are starting to smile, yesterday you smiled at grandma when she was talking to you and sometimes I see a little smile after you're fed, cute little thing! You've been pretty good about not spitting up, it does happen sometimes, but it's not too bad. I think sometimes it's my fault and I don't burp you long enough. 

You're not very fond of baths at this point. It took over 3 weeks for you to lose your belly button stub, so we had to wait to bathe you after that. You were screaming pretty good the first time, and the second time around you were better, so may be you're starting to like them more now. I think you got cold and you weren't positioned comfortably on the bath sling. Your hair is so cute when it's all washed, it's even softer than usual. I love that you have so much hair and I don't think it's going to fall out either! 

You love going on walks with me around the neighborhood, I tried the sling for a while, but you don't seem to be very comfortable in it, but the Baby Bjorn you love! You fall right asleep in it. Till next month!

Sascha's arrival

On the evening of December 5th I started feeling some contractions, but I thought that they were just Braxton hicks. After 11:00 pm I decided to start timing them and they were about 15 minutes apart. I tried to sleep but of course that was impossible, so around 2:00am I decided to get up and take a shower... just in case, after a long shower I felt a lot better and thought it was probably false labor and went back to bed. At 3:05 am, I ran to the bathroom and told Jeromey "My water just broke". By then there was no doubt, this was the real thing, she was really coming.  To back track to my time spent before that, I had enjoyed a very long walk on Torrey Pines beach, made it all the way to Flat rock area and back in about hour and a half. Then we went out to eat to our favorite Thai restaurant - "Taste of Thai" and I ordered Spicy Noodles, Jeromey's favorite spicy dish... just not quite as spicy as he gets it. So I think those two combined probably helped our little girl come a bit early. :)

By 4:45 pm we were at Scripps Memorial Hospital and I was getting hooked up to all sorts of monitors. My contractions started being a lot closer together, 4 to 2 minutes apart, but I was only 2 cm dilated.  At 6:00 am I was 3 cm, and I got an epidural and felt so much better. In another hour I was 4 cm, then Dr. Marshall came to see me and said that she would be back in the afternoon in hopes that I would be closer to 10cm by then. Well things progressed a little quicker than that. By 10:00 am I was 7 cm dilated and when they checked at 11:30 I was already 10 cm, so they paged her to come deliver sooner. The nurse said to get ready to push even though Dr. Marshall hasn't come, she said that since it was my first baby it will take some time to get the baby all the way down. When I started to push, she said she already saw the head and that we need to stop pushing and wait for the doctor. She said I was a very good pusher. haha

The doctor came at 12:15 and we started pushing once again, I pushed through 3 contractions and the baby came right out. She had the cord wrapped around her neck, but in just a matter of seconds we heard her first cry. She was born on December 6th, at 12:35pm weighing 6lbs and 1 oz and 19 and 1/2 inches long. Healthy and Happy we are now a family of 3.

Growing belly

Here are the pictures we've taken, which I've put together to see the progress. I was trying to do them on a monthly basis since 4 months, and that's not exactly how it worked out, but close enough!

The doctor said that I was still only about 1 to 1&1/2 cm dilated. I gained about 25 lbs. I felt a few contractions last night, but they weren't regular so it's pretty safe to assume that they're just the Braxton Hicks or fake labor.

Week 38

Yet another week has gone by. Last week the doctor told me that I was 1 cm dilated and everything is going well, she has definitely dropped some more. I am done with work so now and I am just waiting for her to come!

When will you be here? :) We want to meet you!

Here is how big my belly has gotten at 38 weeks. It's amazing that there is still space in there for her to move which she does quite often.

Week 38 Development:

Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she's over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you'll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.

Wondering what color your baby's eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she's born with brown eyes, they'll likely stay brown. If she's born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she's 9 months old. That's because a child's irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she's born, but they won't get "lighter" or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)

Week 36 and 37

She's almost here! 3 weeks left. I am seeing my doctor on a weekly basis now. Last visit I mentioned that the baby has moved and I was feeling her hiccups on the side now, which for me was an indication that she was no longer head down. After the doctor felt around, she wanted to make sure with a quick ultrasound and the baby did move back head down so I think she only stayed in the breech position for less than a day or two which is good. Also even though I am measuring small, she assured us that they don't really let patients go too much over their due date, may be just a few days, so I am willing to bet that she'll be here before the 20th of December.

Week 36 Development

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

Week 37 Development

Congratulations — your baby is full term! This means that if your baby arrives now, his lungs should be fully 

mature and ready to adjust to life outside the womb, even though your due date is still three weeks away.

Your baby weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don't be surprised if your baby's hair isn't the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.

Our friend Abtin and Erin came over during Thanksgiving break and he snapped this photo of us.