28 November 2007

Again with the allergies


The other night we had a little bit of a scare with Sophie. She had some blood in her diaper, which became more and more prevalent throughout the night in her diaper changings. Being new parents Annie and I both freaked out and I called the on-call pediatrician from our pediatric clinic. He pretty much told me to watch it until morning and, if it was worse before the clinic opened to take her to the hospital. Otherwise, we were to wait and visit with our regular pediatrician.

Luckily that was the last diaper of the night, and we were right in to the pediatrician early in the morning. Sophia's doctor is great with kids and with parents, let me say that right up front. He very calmly assured us this happens a lot and that she simply is allergic to cow's milk proteins which are normally broken down by the breast, but in most formulas the protein isn't broken down the same.

To remedy this we have to use a special formula when we use formula and we are also supposed to watch to see if the same thing happens when Annie eats dairy. Hopefully everything will return to normal now. Luckily today Annie is good to start nursing again so I'm thinking this will all clear up quickly.

It's nice to know that we have a great doctor for our child that we can trust and that is very patient with worrisome parents such as us. He also gave us a fat book that explains a bunch of stuff about child development for the first few years of life.

27 November 2007

Visitors welcome



Yesterday my parents made it up to finally see Sophia for the first time. It was an exciting day as now all of Sophie's grandparents have had a chance to look her over and just fuss over how cute she is. Prior to my parents visit we had a few visitors, mostly family, come to see our new little one. Annie's mom was right there the whole time, and Weston and Erin were to the hospital before Annie was even moved out of the delivery room.




Annie's dad and Chris and Sarah (with Brinlee of course) made it while we were still in the hospital, as did Annie's principal and a few other faces. Most everyone else lives a ways away or were on their way somewhere for Thanksgiving while we were at the hospital, but most everyone has now seen Sophie Lou. Trent and Jessica came up with Ali a few days ago and spent the day also.





Annie's grandma, Grandma Carson, made it by to see Sophie today as well. Everyone is always so excited to see her and her tons of hair. Everyone comments on her hair. Now we're just waiting for Greg to make it up and most all the family in the area will have come to visit.




Speaking of visitors, we've been so lucky this week. Since Annie's mom left the Relief Society in our ward has provided dinners for us. They planned out enough sisters to feed us for a week and each person usually brings over enough food to feed a big family, which we definitely are not yet. But I can't say enough about how awesome the compassionate services is in our ward, not to mention delicious.


24 November 2007

Pretty big shoes to fill


I tried on the pink checkered Vans today. Of course they were way too big for such a little girl as Sophia, but I had to try them out just to see. I don't think those pants really fit yet either.




One of these days....




I have to start back to school this coming week, not really looking forward to having to leave Sophia and Annie all day every day. I hope Annie is able to get around alright with her leg still being what it is, although it does get a little bit better each day it seems. Hopefully it will be pretty much back to normal when she goes back to school in January.

23 November 2007

Back to the hospital


Yesterday was a great day, we finally got to bring Sophia home, and though Annie's leg made it a little more challenging than expected, we were ready to start being a family at our own home. Annie's mom, Dennyce, even brought home some Thanksgiving leftovers from Annie's aunt's house were her and Chris ate dinner.

The day was going great until the evening when Annie began to have an allergic reaction. The swelling began in her hands, then her face, eyes and ears. She also began to get hives on her neck, hands and around her hairline.


We tried Benadryl and tried to let her get some rest to see if that would help the swelling. I stayed out on the couch in the living room with Sophia to let Annie rest and I fed her with bottles just in case the allergy would affect the baby.

At 6 a.m. I went in to check on Annie to see how she was doing and she was not only still having a reaction, but the swelling had increased to the point her eyes could barely open. Dennyce and I immediately got the baby ready to go, and ran down to the ER.

After they checked her out, they determined that it was a reaction to something that we will probably never find out because of the amount of variables that would have to be tested to find out the cause of such a reaction, but some prescription Benadryl, and some other allergy meds prescribed by the doctor helped the swelling go down in just the few hours we were holed up in a tiny room in the ER.

It just so happened that Sophia needed a second PKU test to make sure she didn't have jaundice that same day, so it made it easy enough for me to head around the corner to get the test done. I also got my first taste of juggling everything to get her fed, changed and burped all on my own. Quite the deal to do for the first time in a small bathroom on the changing table.

The doctor finally let us go home in the afternoon and said we should probably keep the baby on formula just in case - plus Annie's mom was worried the Benadryl would make the baby groggy. This was a little hard on Annie, who wants to breastfeed so badly. To keep her milk coming she is now pumping her milk and then pouring it down the drain just to keep it coming in - also not very easy for her to do.



Even with all of this, we are so in love with our little girl.

22 November 2007

It's Thanksgiving, baby


Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We had an extra special Thanksgiving this year; Annie and Sophia were released from the hospital today. Sophia is doing really well, everything is going great, she's eating and all of the tests they run have come out good - as far as we know.

Annie, on the other hand, isn't having as smooth a transition post delivery. Ever since the delivery her left leg has been numb. She can't feel much below the middle of her thigh down until just above her ankle.


It makes it very difficult to walk; she has to kind of drag her leg along with her. She tries to take baby steps when she can to help it along, but that eventually led to her taking a spill in the bathroom as she was finishing up getting ready for the day. It's amazing how fast a husband can move when he hears his wife fall down around the corner. I think I was in the bathroom about the same time she hit the floor.


The doctors say the numbness is probably due to a pinched nerve, though it is possible it could be from the epidural shot (they would never say that though). They said it could last anywhere from six days to six months (not the most promising time frame), but we're crossing our fingers, hoping for six days - six weeks tops.

The nurses brought Annie a Thanksgiving dinner for lunch, and we just kept getting ready to finally get Sophia to the comfort of our home. It's still such a surreal feeling to think that Annie and I are parents. I attribute part of that to the lack of sleep.


The first night we spent in the hospital with our new baby girl (the room had a fold-out couch that I slept on both nights) we didn't get any sleep until four in the morning and were up and going early. Plus when they took her back to the nursery they brought her back every three hours to feed.

Even with these minor setbacks it is a great feeling to have our Sophie Lou here and safe in our arms. There's nothing in the world like holding your own child, fresh and unscathed by the wiles of the world. She's a miracle in every way and now she will fill our home with her pure innocence and the joy of parenthood.


To take her home we had a preemie outfit (purple pants with a purple hoodie) picked out that would be sure to fit - or so we thought. The hoodie fit fine and looked really good. the pants, on the other hand, were too short for her legs and way too big around the waist. It was almost like the pants were made for a very short and very, very fat baby.

20 November 2007

It's about time


Two days late and two days before Thanksgiving, Sophia finally decided to grace the world with her presence. Our dear girl was born at 17:05 and weighs 7 pounds 12 ounces. She is 20 inches long, healthy and otherwise completely perfect.

Annie and I are so excited to be parents. We entered the hospital for Annie's induction at around 9 that morning. They hooked her up to everything in the delivery room and started the plutocin drip to start her into labor. Little did we know that when they "start" you, it still takes hours and hours before things really get moving.


Annie had to have two epidural shots as the first one didn't really take, and though the anesthesiologist was not to excited about giving her another, she got her shot and from then on the labor was extremely smooth.

After about an hour of pushing, when she was finally far enough dilated, Sophia's head finally began to appear, the doctor was quickly paged when Annie mentioned she thought the baby was coming out. Our doctor showed up right on time to complete the delivery, and I got to cut the umbilical cord.

Immediately Annie's mom, who was there throughout the whole day as well, got to snapping baby's first photos. Besides the initial cone shape to her head (which quickly disappeared), Sophia Lou Hunt is completely perfect in every way.

19 November 2007

The time has come, finally

It's come down to the wire, and passed it. Annie's due date was officially yesterday, Nov. 18, and still no Sophia. But since we went to see Dr. Jones, Annie's OB, on Friday, and Thanksgiving is on Thursday, he scheduled an induction for tomorrow, Nov. 20. And that's going to be Sophia's birth date, since she's been feeling so nice and comfortable in the womb tht she doesn't want to come out.

It's been a long time coming (ask Annie and she'll more than agree), and we're so excited that we're about to finally meet our little baby girl face to face. It's been such a gut-churning week this past week as my grandpa was buried on Veteran's Day, Annie's grandma found out she had some bleeding on her brain (but luckily it's not even serious enough to operate on she found out) and on top of everything Annie and I have been anticipating she would go into labor and have the baby at any moment.

It makes it hard to concentrate on school work, and I'm sure this is only the tip of the iceberg. I plan on finishing up the rest of the semester on very little sleep and as quickly as I possibly can throw things together for my remaining assignments (maintaining a standard of getting decent grades at the same time, of course).

This Thanksgiving is going to be a very special, yet very unconventional, holiday for Annie and I. We finally get to have our baby, and we gte to play by ear how, if and when we get to eat our turkey dinner.

08 November 2007

Not quite what we had planned





Nothing ever quite goes as planned. That's just a given, and it has been a constant since we began this journey called marriage. This has become even more prevalent with pregnancy. And it was again reiterated to me this afternoon when I learned of the passing of my grandfather, my mother's father.

Grandpa Johns was the last surviving of my grandparents. He had long outlived his wife and my dad's parents, he even survived the passing of his oldest son, my uncle Craig, who died this summer. He had had some health issues recently and had gone into the hospital recently for a surgery. As of yet, I have still not been informed on any of the details of his passing, just that he's with us no longer.

And making everything more hectic than it already has been with Annie being dilated to nearly a four (we're literally just waiting for the baby to come already), my attendance at his funeral is now up in the air. I can't leave Annie home alone on the verge of delivering, nor can I leave her at the hospital immediately following the birth of baby Sophia.

But to my comforting, Annie knew exactly what to say. She assured me that he went to heaven to see Sophia first. Exactly why that has a soothing effect on me I'm not sure, maybe it's just the reassurance that life after death and the role of the eternal family that are an integral part of the gospel to which me and my family grasp tightly. Or maybe it's the thought that though I never said my goodbyes, he might send his greetings back with Sophie.

Whatever the case may be, and though this turn in events is not quite what I had planned, this is going to make the arrival of Sophie that much sweeter.

About nine months into the story (part three)





Backing up a little bit, to about week 24 of the pregnancy, there was a lot of things going on outside of putting together a nursery. It was summer and though Annie was enjoying summer vacation, I was working at the financial aid office at UVSC and interning with the Provo Daily Herald newspaper for school. Needless to say I was not spending a lot of time at home during the day.

Then, as we were relaxing and enjoying our Saturday morning one weekend, Annie began to have contractions. This was definitely not a good feeling. It didn't take long before we were at the hospital in labor and delivery having Annie and Sophie monitored to make sure mom and baby were doing alright.

After three hours of monitoring, testing and probing, the results were that they weren't sure what exactly caused the contractions, but it may have been due to dehydration. We were advised to keep a close eye on future contractions and to immediately come back in if they were persistent.

It was only two weeks later that we were on our way back to the hospital with more contracting and stomach pains. This time the probing wasn't quite as extensive, and we got a verdict on the cause - Annie had a urinary tract infection. Apparently they're easy to get when pregnant and that mixed with minor dehydration was what was causing all of the pain and contracting.

The contractions, though they mellowed out quite a bit, never really went away and Annie ended up on antibiotics for an infection three times over the six weeks that followed. Luckily they didn't have any serious adverse effects on Annie or Sophie, as far as could be determined pre-delivery.

Luckily for us family were there for us during a time of uncertainty and fear. Everyone was concerned about Annie's fluid intake and she received a priesthood blessing that was a definite comforting factor for both Annie and I.

Eventually the contractions turned from being a scary thing into a welcomed activity as Annie finally reached week 34. By this time her doctor said we switch gears and start hoping for contractions instead of wishing them away. It wasn't easy to switch gears at first, but definitely during weeks 37 and 38 any contracting that Annie's belly does is more than welcomed. In fact we've probably been more watchful of contractions now than we have over he past two months of having them.



Throughout this rollercoaster that has been Annie's pregnancy, Sophia has been an extremely active baby. I can't count the times I've seen her rolling around in Annie's growing belly or heard Annie squeal as the baby kicks her in a tender spot. Feeling that living developing person inside of Annie has made all of the worry and other emotions that come and go seem minimal and insignificant to the fact that we are going to have another member in our family in no time at all.

Well, I think that's a pretty concise, yet thorough review of the last nine months leading up to now, mere days before the arrival of Sophia Lou Hunt. This is where everything is going to become interesting and everything Annie and I do, our entire lives, every move we make will be centered around our new little sweetheart.

Everything that happens in our lives for at least the next few years will literally hinge on the moment Sophie comes into our lives. Everything the Chad and Annie Hunt family will become will be because of Sophie.

About nine months into the story (part two)




Long before we learned we were going to be having a girl, we had already come up with a list of names. The names we had selected for a boy were more specific than our girl names, but we had a couple of favorite girl names. Somewhere between the time we found out we were pregnant and the time we learned the gender of our little sweetheart, the two names that stood out the most, Ryen and Sophia, became one - Sophia.

Annie thought it was the cutest name, and I was pretty partial to it myself. Sophia is the capitol city of Bulgaria, where I served my mission. I like the sound of it, too. It seems to just roll off the tongue.

We also had a few decisions to make about a middle name, if a middle name was to be given at all. Eventually we came to an agreement that Lou was a good fit. Lou is Annie's middle name and has roots in her family. It also sounds really good when paired with Sophia. And that settled it, our firstborn child, as soon as we learned it was a girl, would be named Sophia Lou Hunt.

Of course, the day we found out we were having a Sophia, we had to inform family and close friends. And any reaction less than ecstatic would have been unacceptable. Ecstatic was definitely the word to describe the reactions we received, at least that was the impression we both got over the phone.

With announcing the eventual arrival of our little girl out of the way, preparing the nursery was the next big thing to tackle. As I mentioned before, Annie had come up with a few ideas for the nursery, all of which involved painting the room darker to accentuate the white furniture we had collected. The final decision on color came with a theme - the color was a bright green, the theme was fairies.

Getting permission to paint one room in our apartment was fairly easy since the owners just happen to be Annie's grandparents. When she asked permission from her grandma, the response was, "As long as it's not something like bright purple, then yes."

Grandma was definitely in for a surprise when she came over and found Annie and her mom putting a bright coat of green paint on the walls. Once a second coat went on, the color evened out, once the paint dried and once we put the furniture in to accentuate the green, the room was amazing.

And, while on the subject of furniture, I can't forget about the crib. The crib situation has been something else. It began during the summer of 2006 while we were living in Minnesota. While at a flea market with some other ladies, Annie found an antique rod-iron crib that she fell in love with. So much so that she bought it and we hauled in our car all the way back to Utah.

The crib was set up in what became the nursery from the moment we moved in to our apartment in American Fork. But as it stood there in the corner of that room, it became more evident each day that, though it was an exquisite piece of antique furniture, it wasn't as functional as we had hoped. The bars on were far enough apart that Sophia could have easily stuck her head right through them, and probably wouldn't be able to get it back out.

We decided that a new crib would be in our best interest, so we went crib hunting. We found a nice crib for very little money at Deseret Industries that we both thought looked nice - with a few changes and a fresh coat of white paint of course. The same time Annie and her mom were painting the nursery green, they also painted the crib white. Only one problem: There was still a coat of varnish on the crib and the paint had to be applied thickly to stick to the crib. Also the weather was making the paint apply very unevenly.

From the moment the paint began to dry on the crib Annie was disappointed with it. So much so that it weighed on her mind until eventually she began looking into buying a new crib that would require no handywork aside from putting it together. By the time October rolled around, she had decided on which crib she really liked. This crib was an antique white one at Target. We noticed the display while we were shopping for a car seat, and Annie had to have it.

Unfortunately, they didn't have any in stock. Neither did any Target stores in the state of Utah we found out soon after. But Annie would not be deterred. She checked the availability of the crib often and eventually the Target store a few blocks away reported a "limited availability" of that crib. I ran over and we were able to get the one crib of that model that the store had received (There's plenty more that goes along with that story, but it's irrelevant to what I'm talking about, so perhaps another time).

to be continued...

05 November 2007

About nine months into the story (part one)





It was right around the day of our second anniversary when we finally got the positive test result telling us we were going to have a baby. Annie and I had been trying for over a year to conceive.

The news was more than welcome, and news from other family members (my sister Sarah and Weston's wife, Erin) and friends (Jordon and Kyle) that they were with little ones came right before and after the news that we were pregnant as well.

Things went quite smoothly at first, Annie became very excited and quickly had calculated online that the due date for our little one would be November 18, the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Annie went in for her first doctor's appointment during her 14th week of the pregnancy and everything went smoothly.

A few weeks after we felt the baby move for the first time. It felt like popcorn popping in Annie's belly. This was the first, but definitely not the last time the baby would make it's presence felt. Around this same time, at another doctor appointment (the first appointment I went to with Annie), we heard the baby's heartbeat. It was an intense, exhilarating experience.


Between weeks 19 and 20 (just before Independence Day) we went in for the ultrasound to see how the baby was developing, and most importantly, to determine whether we would be having a boy or a girl. Either way Annie had already caught the shopping bug and had purchased a few articles of clothing for either sex (I was myself pretty excited, I'll admit).

At this point I was almost convinced we would be having a boy, Annie's mom, of course, knew that the other must be true - she had some intuitive feeling that her little girl was having a little girl. And, as was to be expected, mother knew best. The growing fetus in Annie's belly had already developed and blossomed into a little baby girl.

Once we knew we were having a girl, we went straight out to pick out cute little outfits and things for our baby-to-be. I had already picked out a pair of little checkered Vans slip-on shoes and we quickly found a number of onesies and other things for her to wear within the first year of her life. The baby's closet began to fill up fast and Annie also quickly began making plans for a nursery.

to be continued...