After I got the call from mommy, I booked a flight to Seattle. But I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it for your birth because it was going to take me 11 hours or so to get to the Swedish Hospital. When I finally arrived I figured I'd see Sophia all wrapped up in mommy's arms. But what I saw was mommy in bed with a big belly still. You hadn't come out yet. You had waited for daddy to get there. Mommy tried hard to give birth do you but you have a big head like both of us. After a while the doctors decided to give mommy a C-section. Which is good because it saves you from having a squished head. So all your pictures after the birth show you with a nice round head. The picture on the right is when they had just wheeled mommy into the surgery room and were prepping her.
After you finally came out around 2AM, you were all pink and instead of screaming you were kind of muttering. You muttered for the whole time and the doctors started laughing after a while. We were so happy. You had dark hair that was very curly when you were born - lots of it!. The doctors weighed you (7lbs 10ozs) and measured your height (21.25 inches) and poked and prodded you for a while until they knew you were all healthy. Mommy and I just couldn't stop staring at you. Then you were bundled up and we were sent to a room that looked like a hotel room. You were very calm those first few hours, but you were still muttering. A nurse came in to bathe you and take a few more measurements. After you were washed, your hair wasn't as curly and it was lighter in spots.
We then just took it easy for the next few days in that room. Mommy tried to breastfeed you, but we had some problems and after a while you got very hungry and very cranky. So we started to give you a little milk formula through a tube while you were breastfeeding. This helped a lot and you finally calmed down again. Mommy had to better from the surgery so we stayed a total of 5 days before we were ready to go.
You had some visitors during that time. Your grandparents on mommy's side came to visit you. Your grandmother would say "Pretty lady" over and over again to you. I thought she would say "Halmony" because she used to say that to your cousin when she was born. Halmony means grandmother in Korean. Then Jackie and Craig Hajduk came by during one of your screaming periods and they had looks of shock on their faces because your scream can make everyone squirm :).
We also had a little fun with you. I made a milk moustache on your face while we were giving you some formula. After you would eat you would get so sleepy. You just turned into a ball of jello and we could do anything to you and you wouldn't cry. That was our favorite moment because you seemed so blissful.
But we also made you look very cute too before we took you back to Mommy's apartment. This was the day you left. We were glad to be leaving the hospital. We had been there for 5 days. We had a lot of visitors then - Som & Tanya Palacanda, Ty Ueland, The Hajduk's again, your doula Michelle, and David & Michelle Harnett. Each day I would say "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" so you might remember me and 'imprint' my face in your memories. The reason I did that is I would only stay with you and mommy for another week and then I had to go back to New York which was very hard for me. I wanted stay and hold you but I had to go to work again. But you weren't going to stay in Seattle for long either. You were going to Arizona...
After I got the call from mommy, I booked a flight to Seattle. But I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it for your birth because it was going to take me 11 hours or so to get to the Swedish Hospital. When I finally arrived I figured I'd see Sophia all wrapped up in mommy's arms. But what I saw was mommy in bed with a big belly still. You hadn't come out yet. You had waited for daddy to get there. Mommy tried hard to give birth do you but you have a big head like both of us. After a while the doctors decided to give mommy a C-section. Which is good because it saves you from having a squished head. So all your pictures after the birth show you with a nice round head. The picture on the right is when they had just wheeled mommy into the surgery room and were prepping her.
After you finally came out around 2AM, you were all pink and instead of screaming you were kind of muttering. You muttered for the whole time and the doctors started laughing after a while. We were so happy. You had dark hair that was very curly when you were born - lots of it!. The doctors weighed you (7lbs 10ozs) and measured your height (21.25 inches) and poked and prodded you for a while until they knew you were all healthy. Mommy and I just couldn't stop staring at you. Then you were bundled up and we were sent to a room that looked like a hotel room. You were very calm those first few hours, but you were still muttering. A nurse came in to bathe you and take a few more measurements. After you were washed, your hair wasn't as curly and it was lighter in spots.
We then just took it easy for the next few days in that room. Mommy tried to breastfeed you, but we had some problems and after a while you got very hungry and very cranky. So we started to give you a little milk formula through a tube while you were breastfeeding. This helped a lot and you finally calmed down again. Mommy had to better from the surgery so we stayed a total of 5 days before we were ready to go.
You had some visitors during that time. Your grandparents on mommy's side came to visit you. Your grandmother would say "Pretty lady" over and over again to you. I thought she would say "Halmony" because she used to say that to your cousin when she was born. Halmony means grandmother in Korean. Then Jackie and Craig Hajduk came by during one of your screaming periods and they had looks of shock on their faces because your scream can make everyone squirm :).
We also had a little fun with you. I made a milk moustache on your face while we were giving you some formula. After you would eat you would get so sleepy. You just turned into a ball of jello and we could do anything to you and you wouldn't cry. That was our favorite moment because you seemed so blissful.
But we also made you look very cute too before we took you back to Mommy's apartment. This was the day you left. We were glad to be leaving the hospital. We had been there for 5 days. We had a lot of visitors then - Som & Tanya Palacanda, Ty Ueland, The Hajduk's again, your doula Michelle, and David & Michelle Harnett. Each day I would say "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy" so you might remember me and 'imprint' my face in your memories. The reason I did that is I would only stay with you and mommy for another week and then I had to go back to New York which was very hard for me. I wanted stay and hold you but I had to go to work again. But you weren't going to stay in Seattle for long either. You were going to Arizona...
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