She's here!! 5 and a half weeks early, totally unexpected, quite the birth story, 5 lbs, 5 ounces, 17-3/4" long, 2 weeks in the NICU, and now... we've made it home!!!
I'll get you caught up to speed...
here is me, 34 weeks, last picture of me pregnant (minus laying in the hospital bed after my water broke)
at 2:10am on the morning of June 10th, I was awaken by a flood! My water had broken! I was a little scared for the baby, because 34 weeks is a little early for a healthy full term baby. But we called our friend Corrine to come over to watch the boys, then we headed off the the hospital. Since Hudson was born in 52 minutes from the time we arrived at the hospital, we were expressing to the staff that this baby was probably coming fast!! Well... apparently little "Lu" had different plans. at 7:00am I was only dilated to 4cm and she was still not ready to come. But I was given an epideral by 3:30am so I was pretty content...as you can see in the picture. This picture was taken before everything turned from calm to chaos!
by 9:50am I was dilated to a 7. Shortly after that the contractions got stronger and much closer. I also felt fluid gushing (sorry if that's t.m.i) and assumed it was more amniotic fluid. as it turned out I was hemorrhaging! as soon as this was discovered the panic began! baby's heart rate fell to 60 and the nurse hit the emergency button, rushed to the door and started yelling for anyone and everyone to help! I instantly had an oxygen mask on, and afraid for the baby, I breathed as deeply as I could, thinking that if I breathed deeply that I could help her. I tried to stay as calm as possible, just breathing and praying. within about 2 minutes they were moving me to a gurney and wheeling me to the OR. They said that if things had stabilized when we got down there that I may be able to try to deliver the baby myself, but otherwise we were going to have to do a c-section. Things didn't stabilize and within 4 minutes of being in the OR they had knocked me out (they didn't have time to do anything else so they had to give me general anesthesia) The last thing I heard before I was knocked out was the doctor saying "Let me know as soon as I can cut!" within the next 30 seconds, before I was even intubated, Emerson was born! She was okay! phew! She had swallowed some blood and was having a bit of a hard time breathing, but she was okay. She was still taken up to the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit) and after the doctor assured Matt that I was okay, he followed them up there.
I woke up in recovery an hour or so later and the first words I heard were "your baby is okay" what a relief! It was such a scary time!!
This picture is me meeting her for the first time, 9 hours after her birth!! I was recovering from the general anesthesia and on morphine so it was nearly impossible to keep my eyes open. Everyone was quite entertained by my lack of ability to open them. So it is not for glamour, but for laughs that I put this photo in here!
Since the baby was supposed to be born after Julie had gone back to Belgium, it was a nice surprise that she got to meet her and even spend a few evenings with her!
the next morning I got to hold her for the first time, and attempt nursing her. They hadn't given her any food due to the blood in her system and having to pump her stomach. I was so excited! Since I'd missed the birth of her, I sort of felt like I was just in the hospital recovering from surgery, until I was able to hold her that morning! It just sort of put all the pieces together! I was thrilled!
I was upset, to the point of tears, when after 1 hour of holding her they told me it was time to put her back in the incubator! I thought "how can these people tell me when I can hold my baby and when I can't!" But, I grew to understand their reasoning behind everything.
at one day old she was stable enough to be moved to an incubator. Hudson loved sticking his hand in the little hole and touching her. He had his own little door to her world. It was so sweet!
this was the first piece of clothing they put on her, probably day 2 or 3.
This was the last picture we took before her feeding tube went in, on day 4.
Life in the box... here she spent the next week of her life...
The boys got to visit several times during our stay. They loved holding her and touching her and kissing her.
after I was discharged from the hospital on Saturday, I moved in with Emerson. I was so thankful to have a NICU that had private rooms! It was amazing to be able to stay with her 24/7! That was not always the plan, I originally thought I'd go home at night, but she was nursing so well that it didn't make sense to leave for half of her feedings. So... I stayed.
Life in the NICU...
We had 2 movie nights with the boys while we were there. Matt brought dinner and a movie. It was a fun family evening.
Her door... fully decked out... Hudson made a sign that you probably can't read but it said "I love Emerson She Rocks Love, Hudson (Her big brother)" It was so sweet! then each of the boys filled in a little sign the hospital gave them and a craft nurse made the girly one in the middle. They also took her picture and made a fathers day card to hang on the door too!! so decorated!
Here we are doing some skin-on-skin time. This was a great way to bond, but also great to get her temperature up. For the first 10 days or so, she struggled to keep her temperature high enough. Matt and I both got to do the skin on skin time and loved it :)
We had a couple of "blow outs" that shocked the nurses! apparently she can really poop! that's not very lady like! but, she impressed them all! the first one in the incubator, the second all over the wall!! I had to take pictures! I knew it would impress some of the boys in her world! :)
a picture of her room, well, half of her room... the other half was the bathroom, my bed and the cabinets, tv, etc...
if you look closely, you'll see that her feeding tube is now on the other side of her nose. Yes, she pulled it out, not once, but twice! it was awful watching them put it back in again and again! :(
Her first 'real' bath...feeding tube is GONE!! this was the day before we got to go home! 13 days old!
Blowing kisses to his little sister
her carseat test, given the night before we left, to make sure she could breathe okay for 1 hour in her seat. passed! phew!
Getting ready to walk out the door... I mean, RUN...before they changed their minds!
WELCOME TO THE WORLD LITTLE MISS EMERSON! This was moments before we walked out the door into the REAL WORLD!! :)
