Adventures with Gina Ford

Before having Sofia, friends in the UK swore that one woman made parenthood not only manageable but positively a pleasure - Gina Ford. She is the author is 'The New Contented Little Baby Book' and several other texts about training babies and toddles to do anything short of circus tricks.

So back in March when we were in the UK. I picked up her book and read it cover to cover. Ready and confident to get Sofia sleeping through the night in a matter of weeks, I was disappointed when I brought Sofia home and realized that she her schedule and temperament didn't lend itself to Gina's rules. So I put the book aside for the first few weeks and began tinkering with it again around 3-4 weeks when Sofia started to become more alert and went longer between feeds (i.e. 3-4 hours). Since then, we have tried to follow Gina's strict regime and truth be told, some days have gone well and other have not. But by 6 weeks, she was eating and sleeping well and was only waking up once between 11pm - 7am.

Then GiGi came to town... (that is my mom). Like a knight in shining armor, she arrived and took over the night shift, allowing Antony and I to catch up on some much needed sleep. I also worked a couple of days and she was more than happy to babysit. And for the first day, mom followed Gina's rules to the letter. Sofia was awake and asleep during the right times, ate the right amounts and slept in her crib during every nap. GiGi had it under control but then Sofia threw us a curve ball and went through a growth spurt -meaning that regardless of what Gina said, she wanted to eat as much and whenever she wanted! So we were feeding her absurd amount of milk so often that it felt like she was starting another bottle as soon as she finished the last! Needless to say, this all had a serious impact on the schedule and by the last day of mom's visit Sofia was eating and sleeping whenever she wanted and would only sleep at night when she was being held by GiGi on the sofa. Mom said that she was there to help us get some sleep - not to issue tough love. Too true! So now 'Mean Mommy' is trying to get her back on the schedule which resulted in spending FOUR hours getting her to sleep in her crib last night! Ouch. But at least I feel really rested and that does wonders for my patience levels.

While mom was here we went into Antony's work, only for Sofia to pee all over Antony's desk which dribbled down into all three of his drawers. We also got a photo of her smiling, which is Sofia's newest trick!

Aunt Megan's Visit

Just when it started to feel like the help had dried up - Aunt Megan flew in to lend a helping (and always appreciated) hand. Arriving on Saturday night and leaving Wednesday afternoon, Sofia and Megan had to do some power-bonding which consisted of lots of cuddling, feeding and burping. I'd love to add changing on that list but she only actually changed a couple of diapers and 'pooped out' when things started to look nasty (sorry - I couldn't help myself). Perhaps at Thanksgiving Megan can add dirty diapers to the list of her many talents.

Aunt Megan came bearing gifts including the super cute dress in the picture above and the tutu and headband also featured. You can tell that Sofia wasn't overly thrilled with being a ballerina but that fact that she wasn't wailing her head off gave us a clue that she didn't hate it either. Ann asked me to promise that Sofia would never be put into that kind of flower headband, but no such promise could be made when Megan had her say. And I have to admit, it is sort of cute similar to dogs wearing tuxedos. Definitely worth a couple of photos!

So Sofia has added yet another member to her growing fan club - who's next?

Sofia's 1 Month Birthday

Well, we three have made it through the first month! From my foggy calculations, I figure that we have changed about 250 diapers, fed her about 250 times and averaged about 4 hours a sleep per night (sometimes between us!). It is pretty amazing what you can get used to in a very short amount of time but I would be lying if I didn't admit that we had loads of help. Until just last weekend, we had either my mom or Ann and Bernard here helping out. So this marked out our official first week as a family flying solo. But Sofia won't have time to get too bored with us, as my sister arrives in just 4 days to entertain and delight. We can hardly wait!

This month has had its ups and lows but each day gets better and more rewarding as Sofia gets more alert. She now can stay awake for a couple hours at a time and likes to stare intently at our faces. Sometimes her serious concentration face is due to her trying to mimic our silly faces and sometimes it is due to other more pressing matters in the nether regions. Both circumstances are funny to us. She is also is on the verge of smiling and I think it will be any day now when she reveals her gummy grin.

For those of you who are interested in breastfeeding matters - read on; for those who are not - skip this paragraph. Some of you may be wondering how the feeding is going. Well after ordering special equipment, seeing several lactation consultants, going to breast feeding clinics, seeing my own OB and even asking my own mother in law to help me shove my boob into Sofia's mouth, I have called it a day. I made it until she was a month old, but in the end I had to give up. I am disappointed I couldn't go longer and some of you may also be a bit disappointed to hear the news, but I will only allow criticism from those readers who have also experienced cracked, bleeding nipples for an entire month!

In other news, Sofia's hips continue to improve. The orthopedic surgeon has confirmed that her hips are now back into place and now she just needs to wear the brace until her hips are set permanently. We go back for another check-up on Oct 22nd.

She has also now received a Social Security Number and an official birth certificate making her a real person and now longer just a figment of our imaginations. More news later...

Love, Rachelle, Antony & Sofia

Pictures of Sofia

Sofia Update

I thought I would send out a quick update on Sofia. Things have been pretty crazy in the Pereira household with trying to produce enough breast milk, getting her to sleep at night and keeping up with the never ending laundry (the laundromat next door is getting some good business from us). Antony and I (and my mom too) are truly sleep deprived but still enjoying her (almost)every minute. But this week has thrown up some new challenges.

Because she was breech in the womb she has been diagnosed with hip dysplasia which means that her hips were out of socket when she was born and the hip isn't developed enough for it to go back into place. We went to the orthopedic surgeon yesterday who confirmed the diagnosis and put her into a body brace that will help to correct it.

The good news is that there is a very, very high percentage of full recovery and Sofia will never remember being treated for this. She also isn't in any pain. The harness doesn't hurt except for where it has started rubbing on her delicate skin.

The bad news is that she has to wear this brace full-time for the next 2-3 months and part-time for another 6 weeks afterwards. I have attached a photo so you can see what it looks like but needless to say, I have shed many tears over this. Poor baby! To make matters worse, she can't wear a single item of her 0-3 months clothes and instead I need to buy her tent style dresses that will be able to fit over the harness. What a heartbreaker that all of the little outfits that I bought for her when I was pregnant she will never be able to wear.

But given all of this, we are going to stay positive, hope she is out of her brace by Christmas, and are already planning a 'Free Sofia 2009' party for when the brace is finally removed.

Thanks always for your warm wishes and support from both near and far,

Rachelle, Antony and Sofia x

Sofia 'Peanut' Emily Pereira's Debut

Home at Last!

Well, this news is five days old but on Monday morning, at 11:30am, we had a lovely little girl that we named Sofia Emily. She was 7 lbs 6oz, 20 inches long and full of vim and vigor with a very strong cry. The c-section was a strange experience to say the least. After the spinal went in (which took 4 painful tries) and Antony was able to enter the OR, Sofia arrived in less than 10 minutes. The second the doctor pulled her out I experienced an amazing weightless feeling, like a welcomed emptiness. Sofia was then taken by the pediatrician to be checked out, weighed, cleaned and so on and in 30 minutes the three of us were being taken into the recovery room.

After a couple of hours in the recovery room, Antony took Sofia to the nursery and left me to get some more rest. While he was away, I noticed some commotion around me. Nurses were putting monitors on my chest, the OB was called in to take a look at me, a cardiologist arrived and everyone around me was talking about what needed to happen with me, without talking to me directly. Feeling very confused and doped up, all I could understand was that the medical staff were telling me that I had an arrhythmia and that meant that I needed to be transferred to cardiology to be monitored for 24 hours. All I heard was that I would be separated from Sofia for that length of time. I said that I didn't want to go, they said that I was 'refusing care' and the arguments began. Being alone in the recovery room, trying to make sense of the mess was both scary and disorientating. Eventually Antony came back to the recovery room to find me crying and the doctors frustrated. And once the story was revealed and Antony calmed me down, I was wheeled down to the general medical ward for the night.

The 10th floor was filled with sick (and crazy) people. Throughout the night, I heard patients moaning, wailing and sometimes screaming. The nurses, while very nice, had no idea what to do with a post-part um c-section patient and I could tell that they were feeling there way through dealing with the aftermath of birth, much like I was. In the morning, I had an echo which checked out how my heart was functioning and afterwards I was taken back to my empty room. I felt so separated. I wasn't with my family, my husband or my baby. When Antony came back to check on me he showed me pictures of Sofia being help by the grandparents and himself and it was like looking at someone else's baby. What this really my baby?

It wasn't until 4pm that day that I was cleared by cardiology and was able to be moved to the post-part um floor. They suspected that the heart irregularity was due to drugs given to me during the surgery and they were satisfied that I be moved to the post-part um ward on the condition that I have a follow up in the coming weeks/months. So at last, I was reunited with my daughter and we started fresh, getting to know one another.

We were in the hospital for four nights and luckily my experience on the 12th floor was amazing. The nurses and the doctors were so helpful and friendly. I was so happy to finally be where I belonged that I felt grateful for every moment I was there. And on Friday, (I can't believe that was just yesterday), with teary eyes we were discharged. We slightly expected someone to handcuff us and charge us with baby-nabbing as we took Sofia out the hospital front doors, but no one did and we arrived home feeling happy but 100% clueless.

I have to admit that we are in love with her and can't believe that we made her! The last 36 hours have been wonderful, trying, tiring and generally mind-blowing. Stay tuned for more on this adventure and our beautiful Peanut's progress.