A Few Details...

Parents: April and Wayne Kinker
Baby's Name: Sophia Paige Kinker aka Sophie
Birthdate: September 30,2003 at 3:48am
Weight: 1 lb 12 oz
Length: 13.5 inches long

Current Stats:
Age: 5.5 yrs old
Weight: 44 pounds
Height: 45 inches

Sept 18,2003(23wks) It all started at 4:30am.
I woke up to use the bathroom and noticed a blood clot. I freaked out and called my OB. He said to head to the ER. We got to the ER about 5am and they sent me right up to Labor and Delivery. When I got there they hooked me up to the monitors and did a pelvic exam on me. I wasn't dialated or anything but there was no explanation for the bleeding. They had called my dr and he wanted to keep me there for observation.

Later that morning I had an ultrasound. It was then that they found out that my cervix was starting to dialate on the inside. It was funneling and that was pulling my bag of water down. So dr decided he was going to put in a cerclage. That means that he was going to stitch my cervix so it couldn't dialate anymore.

That was done on Friday,Sept 19. They took me to surgery and did a spinal. I was awake for the surgery.

During my stay they had me on terbutaline to stop any contractions, but it made me too shaky and made my heartrate too high. I also had to have a blood transfusion on Sat because my hemoglobin dropped and so did the oxygen levels.

I stayed in the hospital until Tues. Sept 23. Mom took me home and I was on strict bedrest. Could only get up to use the bathroom and shower.

Around 5pm, I started cramping again and having spotting. It wasn't too bad and I figured it was just because I wasn't used to walking and had to walk up the front steps. I fell asleep around 10pm.

At 10:30pm I woke up and didn't feel right. I felt very heavy in my abdomen and I went to the bathroom and had more spotting. I called my OB and he said to head back to the hospital.

We got to the ER and my L&D nurse that took care of me the night before was just coming on shift so she took me back upstairs. I was readmitted to the hospital that night! I was also put on strict bedrest..I couldn't even get out of bed to use the bathroom! That sucked! LOL

I had several ultrasounds done throughout the week and there was no more funneling of my cervix. Dr decided he was going to keep me in the hospital for the rest of my pregnancy! All I kept thinking was..OMG...I'm going to be here for another 3 months!!! Boy was I in for a surprise.

On Friday I started having contractions and they started me on magnesium sulfate. I was also on Stadol for pain. The stadol kept me pretty knocked out for the most part.

Sunday night they thought I was going to deliver, but they put in a catheter. I ended up producting 1000cc of urine and that stopped the labor!

All day Monday I was having contractions and the nurses told Wayne I would deliver within the next 12-24 hrs.

Monday night around 8:30pm they gave me another dose of Stadol and I went to sleep.

Tues, September 30: I woke Wayne up at 12:30am with contractions. They were 10 minutes apart. He asked the nurse if I could have another dose of Stadol and she said yeah but it did NOTHING for the pain! LOL..didnt even knock me out like normal. They then gave me another pain shot in the hip and again nothing!

By this time the contractions were coming 5 minutes apart. By 3am the contractions were coming right on top of each other and they hurt! By 3:30 I was ready to push, but they wouldn't let me because the dr wasn't there yet! I finally let Wayne call my mom at this point!

At 3:45am the nurses realized the dr wasn't going to make it and they let me push.

It only took one push and Sophia Paige entered the world at 3:48am!

The neonatologist and his team started taking care of her and as soon as they did, my OB dr walked in! LOL I didn't tear or anything so I didn't need to be stitched. The only thing my dr did was remove the stitch he had put in my cervix...It didn't work!

Wayne and I didn't even know if we had a boy or a girl. They never told us! They took her to the NICU so fast! The nurse who delivered her went to find out for us!

I cried when she told me it was a girl!

All the nurses were hoping it was a girl because they do better when they are preemies!

It was almost 2 hrs before we got to see her for the first time! They took me down in a wheelchair and I was soo weak that I nearly passed out! But she was gorgeous! so pink and tiny!!

We had lots of visitors that day! I finally passed out from exhaustion around 9pm but I kept waking myself up!

The next day wasn't so bad. I had a few people from the hospital come talk to me.

Chaplain Pat came and walked down with me and we had Sophia baptised Wed Morning! Mom and I were there for that!

I finally came home from the hospital Thursday night! It was nice to sleep in my own bed, but I missed my baby girl!

5 months later she came home! and it's been a wonderful time ever since!!

So there you have it! The story of Sophia's birth and all the excitement leading up to it! It will be quite a story to tell her when she's older!