Daddy and baby

Nap time!

Man oh man do I love those boys of mine! And Abe sure does love his Daddy, there's no denying that he's going to be a Daddy's boy, that's my prediction anyways :)   I feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband who truly values the small things...like taking a snooze with his baby boy ---- I just had to take a photo of this, these are the moments that I want to remember when I look back.  Yes, we're totally exhausted pretty much all the time, but it's all so worth it to have these perfect precious moments to cherish. 

And especially during this holiday season, I want to remember to slow down and just enjoy life, as each and every day is such a blessing!

We're looking forward to spending time with the family over the holidays and celebrating Abe's first Christmas! 

My Favorite Things

I thought I would share a few of my favorite cannot-live-without baby items that have gotten us through the first few months and made our lives a little easier.  It's kind of funny really, while pregnant I didn't really think about these things and I'm not sure why?  I guess our bodies are designed to handle one major thing at a time, which makes sense.  The night we brought Abraham home, and the weeks to follow we really got to know what stuff we couldn't live without.  

1.  The Boppy.  My oh my, I seriously could not have survived without this. While figuring out the whole nursing thing, it made it SO MUCH EASIER for both Abe and I! I still use this on a daily basis, several times a day.  I picked this one up at a garage sale and bought a couple new covers for it.

2.  A super-duper-deluxe Glider.  If you're pregnant and contemplating whether or not to get a nice glider or settle for a cheaper one, go for the deluxe, it's totally worth the money.  You will spend hours and hours in it, might as well make it as comfy as possible!  Oh, and make sure it reclines and has padded arms.  After testing out all the options at Babies R Us and Buy Buy Baby, we went with one at Babies R US, they are WAY cheaper for the exact same thing. 

3.  Onesies that zip.   I don't even know why some clothing companies even put buttons on onesies, it is SO MUCH EASIER to have the zippered ones, especially in the middle of the night when you're barely awake and can hardly see and the baby is screaming.  Get the zippered ones.  

4.  Rocking Cradle.  We borrowed this from a neighbor and we are so thankful to have it!  Abe has slept in this every night so far.  Because he spits up so much, we didn't want to put him in the flat crib right away.  Although now he's so used to sleeping semi-upright he doesn't like sleeping in his crib at all...hmmm....

5.  Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.   A good friend of mine bought us this book after we had been discussing our sleep issues with Abraham.  She used it with both of her boys, and said it was her "bible" when trying to figure out how to get her kids to sleep better.  It has been extremely helpful for us, and it's broken down into easy to read chapters with bullet points at the end for parents who are exhausted and don't have time to read an entire book.  Genius. 

6.  Aden and Anais Swaddle Blankets.  We LOVE these and have bought them for all our friends with new babies.  They are perfect for swaddling, cuddling, throwing over the car seat - we love the lightweight fabric and the large size, Abe loves them as well :)

7.  Nuk Pacifiers.  We tried a few different brands of passies, and the original NUK passie is the only one Abe will take now.  Oh, and I try to stash passies around the house for emergency situations - next to the glider, on the changing table, near the couch, and have a designated "pacifier" bowl, so we always know where we can find at least one.  Also, make sure you have a pacifier attacher to hook to your car seat.  It will make your car ride a lot more peaceful if you can reach back to find the passie and plug it in baby's mouth.

8.  Swing.  Abe loves his swing and it gives me some time to get things done like take a shower, make food, relax, facebook, write this blog, whatever!   Ours is a hand-me-down from a friend.  Don't forget to ask your friends and family for baby items they don't want, most people have lots they're willing to part with. 

9.  Pampers Swaddlers.  I'm sure everyone has their favorite diapers, but we prefer the Pampers Swaddlers brand for a couple of reasons.  They have the wet signifier line on the outside, the tabs don't fall off like other brands we've tried, and they just fit nicely!

10.  A semi-organized changing station.  It's REALLY nice to have everything within an arm's reach, especially when the baby starts wiggling, move'n and groove'n.  My top items to have stashed underneath are diapers, wipes, butt cream, a couple passies, zip onesies, burp clothes, Burt's Bee's Calming body lotion, and a toy for distraction.  Oh, and I'm in love with baskets if you can't already tell, we have TONS of them in the nursery, they are awesome for storing things in a semi-organized way :)

11.  Big, Soft, over the head Bibs.  If you have a big time spitter-upper like we do, you can't have enough of these bibs, they are AWESOME! A friend of mine made these for us, but I'm sure you can buy something similar at baby stores, or try making your own!

 There you have it!  I'd love to hear what your favorite things are/were, too!  The next post I'll be sharing my thoughts/ideas/photos on a post-partum wardrobe...fun stuff :)

Lots of Love,
Amy

The birth story

Hi friends,
It's been a long time since I've written a post here, sorry about the delay, but everyone who said I wouldn't have time to blog was right, being a new mom takes up a LOT of time!  Most (probably all of you) readers know now that our healthy, beautiful little boy, Abraham James Sonnek, was born via c-section at 8:48am on Tuesday, July 31st at United Hospital in St. Paul, MN.  He weighed 6 lbs 7 ounces and was 20 inches long, and he is the love of our lives. 

10 days old

I've been pondering for weeks now whether or not to share our birth story, and ultimately decided that I needed to write it down, get it out there, and share it with you all.  Years down the road, I want to remember the details, the feelings and emotions we experienced on that magnificent yet bittersweet day.  So bear with me if the story tends to get a little long...

10:00pm the night before
The night before Abraham was born, Aaron and I lay in bed, WIDE awake of course, talking quietly and having a peaceful night, trying to think about all that would change in the next day, weeks, months and years to come.  We took a video of my pregnant belly, moving and shaking - as we wanted to remember the last moments of being pregnant.  What a journey it was. Somewhere around 1am we drifted off to sleep, woken by the alarm at 3:30am to call the hospital and check-in.  We got the green light to head in to the hospital.

Insert video here

4:00am July 31st
We were on our way to the hospital, it was a warm morning, the sun not yet up yet, with few cars on the road.  Soon enough we had arrived, walked into the Birth Center hand-in-hand (albeit slightly sweaty), pretty nervous, but way more excited than anything else.  We were going to meet our son soon! The staff had expected us, and lead us to the prep room where I changed in to my lovely hospital gown, filled out some paperwork, and started my IV.  The nurses were so great, answered all of our questions and made us feel safe and sound.  The head nurse had hand-picked our staff, as our birth was so unique, we had written a birth plan that meant a lot to us and we needed a staff that would respect our wishes and understand our story.  Cathy W. was "my" nurse, and I could not have asked for a more perfect fit.

7:00am
The surgical team started trickling in and introducing themselves, making sure we understood all that would happen during the c-section.  The last to show up was my doctor, Dr. Ahanya, who came in to do one last ultrasound (of about 80 total, I counted), checking on the position of the baby. So that was it, it hit me then that I would be pregnant for another hour at the most.  By 8am, my mom and Aaron's parents had arrived, my mom checked in with me and we shared a tear or two.  Aaron had been given his instructions on his "job" in the operating room (keeping me calm), and we were pretty much ready to meet our baby at that point!

7:45 am
My nurse Cathy came in to let us know that we'd have to wait a little longer, they were finding some extra blood, in case I needed a transfusion (which I did, so I'm really glad we waited!).  Aaron decided this would be a good time to quickly run out and greet his parents, and run to the bathroom (ahem, to do you know what).  Of course while he was out, the staff came to let us know that it was time, and whisked me away to the O.R. before Aaron returned.  I had a mini panic attack, but they assured me they would find him and bring him in before they got started.  So, into the O.R. I went, with the bright shiny lights and metal surgical equipment ready to go.  They sat me up on the table and gave me the spinal, which made me feel like I peed my pants, and then everything went numb from the waist down, I swear, weirdest feeling EVER.  Aaron still wasn't there (at that point I was thinking that I was going to kill him for taking too long in the bathroom, this was NOT the time to be lollygagging!)  Later, I found out they wouldn't let him in until I was numb, IV's in, and ready to go, but still.

8:30am
I'm all set, Aaron is there by my side in his blue scrubs and mask, the "relaxing" cd is playing, and the team is ready to go! This is where it gets slightly hazy for me, as I felt some tugging and pulling on my abdomen, heard some cutting and clinking, got sick a few times and finally heard the words from Aaron's mouth "he's coming...he's almost here...they're taking him out right now!"...followed by his next sentence..."He's going to the bathroom everywhere!"...instead of "he's perfect", or "beautiful" or "he's breathing and doing great", it was "he's going to the bathroom!"...haha, as I think back on that moment, it makes me smile every time. 

8:48am
This is it - our miracle baby boy is born.  This is true love in it's finest form.

Abraham's very 1st photo, just seconds after birth

At that point, one of the nurses brought him around the curtain so I could see him, my amazing beautiful son, for the first time.  I had told the team that I REALLY wanted skin-to-skin contact with him as soon as possible, and they made it happen.  Here's me holding him for the first time (tears of joy, of course)

Mommy holding Abraham for the 1st time

Daddy holding Abraham for the 1st time

First Family Photo

Annabelle Grace
Many of you don't know this, but I carried our sweet sweet baby girl, Abraham's twin sister, who we named Annabelle Grace, in my womb until the birth day.  There was no other option, in order to save Abraham, we had to do it, and so it was.  This is why the birthday was so bittersweet, as we said a final goodbye to one baby and welcomed the other into our lives.  We did get to hold our daughter, which I am so thankful for.  I will never ever forget that moment as long as I live, her tiny little body wrapped in the light pink handmade prayer blanket.  In the recovery room, I got to hold both babies for a short time, and Abraham somehow knew his sister was there, as he opened his eyes for the first time with her there.  There are no words for describing how emotionally wrenching it is to lose a child, it is just horrible.  But we carry her with us in our hearts, and know we will meet her again in heaven one day.  And we continue to believe that she is Abraham's guardian angel, and that a little piece of her lives in him.  We will never forget you, Annabelle.  I'll always be your mommy, xoxoxoxo. 

Annabelle's Tree (planted in our backyard)

9:30am, the recovery room
Aaron and I have some quiet time with our new baby, say our final goodbye's to Annabelle, and the family meets Abraham James for the fist time!  Grandma Kathy, Grandma Deb and Grandpa Tom, Uncle Ben, Uncle AJ, and Ian are all there to share in our happiness and meet our brand new little bundle of joy.  The feeling starts coming back in my legs, but I'm feeling exhausted, excited, emotional and oh so happy to be holding this little miracle on my chest, the best feeling in the world, no doubt about that.      

pure joy

Man oh man are people right on the money saying that you really can't prepare for what life will be like with a new baby, you have to experience it for yourself.  Babies are absolute miracles, they really are.  I feel SO fortunate and thankful that I am able to cradle a happy healthy boy in my arms day and night.

I want to take a moment to thank everyone, and there are lots of you, who helped us along through this difficult pregnancy and birth by sending your prayers and good thoughts, as I know many of you did on a daily basis.  I am humbled and amazed by the power of prayer, it truly is magnificent.  We could NOT have made it through is experience without your kindness and love and we are so so thankful for each and every one of you.

"thanks for your prayers, everyone - I love you!"

Thank you thank you thank you, we love you all.
With all our love,
Amy, Aaron and baby Abraham

35-week bump pics

I'm 35 weeks pregnant today and I can hardly believe it.  I have to admit, I'm pretty emotional about it; it's been a long long pregnancy journey of ups and downs, and it's nearing the end.  But, we have an exciting new chapter about to begin, with a brand new baby!!! We can hardly wait to meet this little guy, and as the temps hover around 100 degrees nearly every day lately, it's getting harder and harder to get around, that's for sure! 

My mom came over the other day to snap some photos of Aaron and I plus baby bump, I think they turned out great!  Thanks, mom! xo

Beautiful Lilou, Blueberry pickin' and a birthday!

Hey folks!
It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in the Sonnek house.  I woke up early and turned on my favorite radio show "United States of Americana" on MPR, made a cup of tea, and settled in on the sun porch.  The heat finally broke here and it feels good to be able to move around without feeling like a giant beached whale!  I have a lot to be thankful for as of lately - first and most important, my beautiful niece, Lilou Alice Cellai Johnson was born on July 3rd!  And she's perfect.  Ben, Emilie and baby are doing great! It will be so fun to have cousins that are so close in age, how precious is that?!?!

I love this photo of the Cellai-Johnson family, just precious. 

We had a little champagne toast to newest addition to our family :)

The proud papa showing his baby girl off!

Grandma Kathy holding the baby for the 1st time

Mama and bebe

Aaron and I discovered a blueberry farm just around the corner from our house in Stillwater.  So we loaded up our buckets, put on a sun hat, and headed out one evening after it cooled off a little.  It was so much fun and the blueberries were so delicious - like nothing I've ever bought at the grocery store, that's for sure!

 Lastly, Ben and I celebrated a birthday a couple weeks ago - we had a lovely evening of  cocktails on the deck (well, mocktails for Em and I), dinner with the family, then our favorite homemade lemon dessert from Grandma Viv!

Mom and her twins

Good times with good people!

The server made us "prego-tini's"

I'll be 34 weeks tomorrow, unbelievable!  Time is really flying by, that's for sure.  Only 3 weeks to go!!!! Today we're going to install the car seat (hopefully we can figure it out), visit baby Lilou, and do some relaxing...

xoxo
Amy and Aaron

C-section date set!

We have pretty exciting news, we've set the c-section date for Tuesday, July 31st - that's only a little over 6 weeks away!  It kind of took us by surprise at our last dr appointment when the nurse said, "well, we should probably start looking at dates to have this baby and get in on the calendar".  Our team of doctors recommended I deliver at 37 weeks due to all the complications, which we are fine with.  It's obviously not my first choice (a natural delivery whenever the baby decides to come), but as long as he's healthy and the doctor's feel it's the right choice, and we're comfortable with it, then I think we should be good to go.  Aaron and I keep saying to each other "it seems so real now"! --- not that it didn't seem real before, it's just different when there is a big ol' circle on the calendar with "BABY TIME - 1:30pm" scribbled in huge red letters.  We couldn't be more excited to meet this little guy, and we've been working away at getting the house ready for his arrival...

Project #1 - Nursery closet shelves

Aaron has been quite the wood worker lately, he bought a hand-me-down wood table saw and has been working away at building this amazing shelving system for the nursery closet - it's finished now and it turned out great, wouldn't you agree?!  Now I can go buy more cute little outfits for baby :) haha

Aaron's custom-built nursery shelves! (the other side of the closet is identical)

Project #2 - the "perfect" sound track for baby's arrival

I've been working on putting together some songs to play in the operating room to welcome baby to the world.  When we took a hospital tour last week, the nurse that showed us around said a lot of couples do this to help relax and also to diffuse the sounds (euuuw) and make us feel more comfortable.  Needless to say, I loved the idea.  If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them :)  preferably no heavy metal, hard rock, or gangsta rap please....we want happy music! 

and a very special thank you to Kelly Martinka for helping me with this project :) 

All that said, I do realize this little guy could come at any time now, and we may not have the perfect birth soundtrack ready, the shelves plump full of the cutest and softest baby clothes, diapers bought, or hospital bag packed, but that's okay - we'll welcome this little guy with all the love he needs.

Thank you all for your continued love and prayers,
Amy and Aaron 

28 weeks and lots to think about...

Well, we've officially made it to our 2nd major milestone of 28 weeks!  Baby boy is kicking away and doing great!  But it feels a little bittersweet to be honest, as I get closer and closer to the due date, I can't help but think more and more of our sweet little baby that we lost.  I look ahead 10 weeks and wonder what the birth day will be like, will it be mostly happy with a little bit of sadness, bittersweet, difficult or pure joy?  I'm sure it will be a mixed bag of emotions, that's for sure.  We met with a birth plan counselor today who helps parents in similar situations deal with their emotions, questions, and helped us form a birth plan for when that day arrives (most likely late July or early August).  She was extremely supportive and caring, we're both so glad we met with her, she really helped calm our nerves, was able to answer our questions and provide much needed guidance at this time.  But man oh man, it was REALLY difficult to talk about it, that's for sure.  But she said that moms who cry are good moms so I can definitely check that one off the list!  I've been trying so hard to focus all my positive energy into baby A and keeping him safe and sound, the other stuff kind of slipped away for a little while.  But Aaron and I feel it's really important to keep a positive attitude, while at the same time acknowledging all that's happened and like I always say..."just keep swimming"! 


Here's a photo of Aaron and I from our maternity photo shoot that we did Mother's Day weekend with Ben and Emilie (they are due June 30!!!), it was such a fun day! Thank you Wink Photography!

Love you all and thank you so so much for your continued love and prayers :) xoxoxoxo

Labor inducing meat?

Hi everyone,
So, I have a theory that there's some kind of suspicious labor inducing product in the burger meat at the Freight House restaurant in Stillwater, MN.  My theory is backed up by 2 hospital-bound incidences that happened within 2 hours of eating a cheeseburger at the said restaurant.  Now, thankfully both incidences did not result in me going into full on labor, and baby is doing great (I had my 27 week check-up this morning - baby Sonnek is look'n good!)...but still...it's just a little bit too weird to be just a coincidence...

Cheeseburger Incident #1 -  Slightly embarrassing story but oh well...
A few months back, Aaron's parents were up from Fairmont for a visit, so we decided to show them around Stillwater, since we'd be moving into our new house there soon.  So, we walked around for a little bit (obviously this is in between bed rest phases), and decided to get some food at the Freight House, which is a restaurant right on the St. Croix river, lovely views. Food?  eh, not the greatest.  So, we all order - I got a cheeseburger and fries.  Everyone else ordered various sandwiches, salads, etc.  When we finished, I wasn't feeling that great so I asked my mom if we could just go back to her house so I could lay down (she lives very close) and then Aaron and his parents could walk around town a little more.  We agreed that was a good plan and mom and I drove back to her house.  I lay down on her couch and a few minutes later I feel this splash of wetness, you know where, and of course my first instinct is "oh my gosh, did I just pee my pants?", so, I go upstairs to the bathroom, still thinking that I peed my pants (which I've read isn't SO uncommon in pregnant women), proceed to find my mom's blow dryer and dry out my pants.  Meanwhile, my mom is downstairs wondering what the heck is going on as she can hear the blow dryer on full blast and knows I didn't take a shower or anything.  So, I finally dry out my pants but something just still doesn't feel right, so I call the on-call doctor and she said to immediately get in the car and drive down to United hospital, that my water just broke.  Now, this is a very serious issue and it could have been much worse, but in the end it turned out I had a premature rupture of membranes (known as pPROM in the medical world) and had "sprung a leak in the amniotic sac" - it sealed over a day later, thank God. 

Cheeseburger Incident #2
Last Tuesday night our friends Becca and Dave drove out to Stillwater to check out our new house and grab some dinner in Stillwater.  We had planned on going to the pirate bar (Smalley's Caribbean BBQ) but the electricity was out, so instead we headed next door, to the Freight House.  Thinking in the back of my head about the last time I was there brought a little chill to my spine, but that was months ago, and everything was going so well now!  So, anyways we sit down at a booth and order our drinks and food, I order a cheeseburger and fries (same as last time).  We chat for a while, everyone eats their food, and around 9pm we head home.  Great night with great friends so far!  Aaron and I get ready for bed about an hour later and at 10:30pm I start feeling some contractions.  I had felt a few before, maybe once or twice a week, but nothing like this.  So, I lay back down thinking they would go away, but they kept coming every 15 minutes or so, about 3-4 an hour.  I tried to get some sleep that night but it was pretty difficult, so at 5 in the morning I called the on-call doctor and told him what was going on and he instructed me to drive down to United hospital once again, just in case.  They weren't super worried, since apparently at 26 weeks gestation up to 6 contractions an hour is in the safe zone (doesn't that seem like a lot?), but anyways, I was steadily contracting every 15 minutes for about 10 hours, so they gave me a shot to stop the contractions, which helped, and then I was sent home after a few hours of fetal monitoring.  Baby was looking great and healthy, which is the most important thing :)

 I couldn't help but wonder, was it the meat?