Sophie

Sophie is now 3 and a half months old. She was born on February 18th, weighing 3.05 kilos and gained a perfect 10 on her APGAR score after 1 and 5 minutes...
The pregnancy went well until the final month when my blood pressure shot up and refused to go back to normal. After a couple of weeks, with swelling and protein in my urine, the gynocologist decided that we were dealing with pre-eclampsia and that I would have to be induced 2 weeks early. At that point, our little Sophie took the initiative, my waters broke and, following a short induction, she was born. I will expand on my horrific hospital experience another time...

She has already grown to over 60 cms, and now weight 6.5 kilos - so is perfectly on track for her age. She has wispy blond hair, bright blue eyes like her mum and the cheekiest toothless grin you can imagine. Recently she has started giggling when you tickle her and reaching out for her toys. When she can't quite get her little hand around them, she gets really annoyed and demonstrates her feisty little attitude by squealing and turning purple. Insomma, she is absolutely adorable. More perfect even than I had imagined through those long pregnant months!

We have moved back into the city and are currently surrounded by boxes, workmen and dust but Sophie is a real trouper and has slotted into the family like she was always here. As tough as these past 3 months have been (and at times they have been TOUGH!), we just can't imagine life without her...

Prima visita!

I don’t know why, but by the time the doctor called me into her office for my first pregnancy appointment, I was physically trembling and my now ever-present all-day nausea was threatening to throw me over the edge. I’m not good with doctors; I don’t like to be poked and prodded – much less in the old ‘stirrup’ chair (if you know what I mean…) so, having waited the customary 50 minutes (she’s great but always running way behind), it was with some trepidation that I dragged myself into the consulting room and “made myself comfortable”.
The visit started with a half hour chat about how I’m feeling (sick!), what I should and shouldn’t eat (not an issue at the moment as I can hardly bear to let anything pass my lips!), what I should and shouldn’t do, and my fear of the dreaded complication (which shall remain nameless, but which has wreaked havoc for the women of my family for generations…). The doctor was - I have to say - fantastic. She put my mind at rest about a lot of things, saying things like “you don’t have to worry because if you do have complications, they are not your problem anyway; they’re my problem” and (talking about the illness) “if you invite her to the party, she might just come….. If you don’t invite her then she probably won’t bother, but if she does, try slamming the door in her face….”. A quick exam, a pregnancy certificate and a prescription for some anti-bacterial capsules, and I was done. Oh, she also gave me a two-month supply of folic acid to be getting on with, as well as some insider information about what goes on at the local hospitals – just so that I was properly informed. All in all I was pleased with how things went. I now need to organize my 12-week scan in Sardinia (we’ll be on holiday there for most of August and I hit week 12 on the 17th) plus a round of blood tests to do more or less straight away. Next gyno visit if all goes well will be at the beginning of September. Now I just need to get rid of this damn nausea and I’ll be much more capable of functioning like a normal human being…