Sonja at 5 weeks:

Elena at 5 weeks:

Halle at 5 weeks:

This is one of the pictures I’ve been holding onto in case I decided to use it in Sonja’s birth announcement.  Decided tonight that it didn’t make the cut, so I wanted to share it immediately.  :)  She’s so pretty.

This is my favorite picture from the photo shoot we had with Erica this morning:

A few more favorites:

I guess our story starts Wednesday morning, when Jason took Halle to school and I went to the doctor for my 36 week check up.  Halle had been complaining about her stomach bothering her that morning, and sure enough she threw up just before she entered school.  Elena had been sick on Monday, but Halle had been sick the week before, so we thought Halle was over it.  Apparently not.  Jason and I also thought we weren’t going to catch it, but about 7pm Wednesday night Jason got hit hard with the stomach bug.  Sick all night, thought he was going to pass out, chills, shivers, the whole bit.  I knew I was next and sure enough around 1:30 am Thursday morning, it was my turn.  By 3:30, I started to get nervous that the violent vomitting could be putting Sonja in distress and I had no way of knowing if her heart rate was dropping.  I thought I was going to drive myself to the hospital because Jason was in such bad shape, but luckily he was feeling just better enough to get up and go to the hospital with me.  So we called his parents, they came right over to stay at the house with the girls, and off to the hospital we went.

Because I was also having contractions, and I was already so far along at the doctor visit Wednesday morning (3 cm, 75% effaced, station 2), they put me right into a labor/delivery room.  They pumped me full of IV fluids, I threw up a lot, and we stayed there all night.  In the morning, the nurse came in and said I was contracting because I was dehyrdated, not because I was in labor.  And the contractions slowed down once the IV fluids got in, so I was going to be sent home.  My doctor came in about an hour later (8:30ish), checked my cervix, told me that I was now at 4-5 cm and I wasn’t going anywhere.  He broke my water right then and said, “Let’s have this baby today!”

With my previous two deliveries, the doctor broke my water and still had to give me Pitocin to get things started.  But breaking my water was all I needed this time.  The contractions steadily started picking up and around noon the contractions started to feel a little painful (about a 2 on a scale of a 1-10).  Nurse checked, I was 6 cm, so we decided to get the wheels in motion for the epidural.  Anesthesiologist came in a little while later and did a fantastic job with the epidural.  Around 2:00 pm, they checked me again and said I was 7cm.  By 2:30 I was calling the nurse button to tell her the baby was very low.  Doctor came in about 2:40 and she was out at 2:43.  Pushed her out in one contraction (4 pushes).  Literally a 2 minute delivery.

Sonja was great!  Looked beautiful, cried right away, passed all the right tests to keep her out of the NICU.  She’s following suit with her sisters by impressing all the nurses with how little she fusses.  You never hear her cry.  She makes the most adorable little noises though.  :)

Sonja Priscilla Konicki was born at 2:43 pm on January 28, 2010 weighing 6 lbs, 4.7 oz and 19 inches long.

I think its funny that since Halle and Elena were both named after my side of the family (first names and middle names), we really wanted this baby to be named after Jason’s side.  Her first name is named after Jason, middle name after Jason’s mom, last name is Jason’s dad’s, and even has her daddy’s birthday.  So I think this mission was accomplished!

Extra bonus for me was that, by being born on the same day as her daddy, she shares a special connection with my Dad too.  Halle has my dad’s name, Elena has his blue eyes, and both my Dad and Sonja were born on their father’s birthdays.

We made it through the first night half with her in here with me, and half with her in the nursery.  I let Jason go home because he really needed a good night’s rest in a real bed.  I knew I could handle Sonja by myself and I could give her to the nurses if I needed help.  She stayed with me until 2:30 am or so, then I let them take her so I could get some solid sleep from 2:30-7:30.

Couldn’t be any happier!  :)