August 30, 2008

Last Friday night around 9:00 or so I started having a stomach pain. It was in the lower part of my tummy right under my belly button. I waited for it to just go away but ofcourse, it didn't. So I called the nurse and she said that I should lay on my side for an hour and drink a quart of water and call back if it didn't go away. So after an hour, I was in more pain than before. I called the nurse back and she sent me to the hospital to get checked out. So once again, Josh and I headed to Maternity Admissions. We got there around 11:00pm. We were taken back to a room and I was hooked up to the fetal heart monitor. Emmas heartbeat sounded good. I was having some contractions but they weren't labor contractions. So they put in an IV and started trying to hydrate me. After hours of laying there, the pain still didn't go away. It just so happened that my primary doctor was on-call Friday night and he had to come to the hospital anyway to do an emergency c-section so the nurse said he would stop by and see me. He finally got around to my room around 4:30 Saturday morning. He ordered some lab work to be drawn and also an ultrasound. He was thinking that there might be a tear in the placenta. The ultrasound didn't show anything out of the ordinary. At my appointment last Monday, the ultrasound technologist said that she weighed 7 lbs 3 oz. The technologist at the hospital said that she weighed 8 lbs 15 oz. That kind of scared me because she would be huge for her age. So after the ultrasound we got back to the room and waited for the lab work to come back. Finally, the moment came that changed our lives forever. The nurse walked in and said, we can't explain where the pain is coming from so the doctor wants to go ahead and get her out. We were already at 37 weeks which is full term and she definitely weighed enough so they wanted to c-section her. By this time, it was about 6:00am and we were thinking that they would just do it sometime Saturday. But the nurse said, "no, we are going right now". Josh and I paniced because we didn't pack anything and we didn't even have a camera. We didn't plan on having a baby when we headed to the hospital. Well, Josh convinced them to wait 30 min. while he ran home and got the camera. It also gave my parents a chance to get to the hospital to see me before going to the OR. So at about 7:15 we headed into the OR. They gave me a spinal and it numbed me from the chest down. Josh sat up by my head and at 7:39, our beautiful little Emma was born. They held her up over the sheet and showed her to us and then took her over to the heat warmer to be cleaned up. Josh then walked over and he was able to bring her back to me. All I could do was look at her. It was the most amazing moment in my entire life. To see my husband holding our little baby and then see tears in his eyes, made me the happiest I've ever been. Emma was so beautiful. Josh then carried her over to the central nursery while they stitched me back up and took me to the recovery room. Once I was in recovery I didn't get to see her until she was about 2 1/2 hours old. She had to stay in the nursery for a little while because she wasn't breathing very well on her own and they needed to monitor her. Josh was able to bring her to me for just a few minutes and I got to hold her. I stayed in recovery until about noon before they got a room available for me. Once I was in my room, they brought Emma to me and I was able to hold her all I wanted to. She was absolutely perfect. We spent 3 nights in the hospital and we came home Tuesday morning. I have to say, she has been one of the best babies I have ever seen. [not just because she is mine] She is just a really happy baby. She rarely cries at anything. She sleeps very well too. We usually have to wake her up if we want to feed her. We have been able to get atleast 5 or 6 hours of sleep every night since she's been born. We couldn't ask for anything better. She has been feeding really well too. We are trying the breastfeeding, and she picked it up really quickly. She has been just so great. Even though last weekend didn't go as planned, I am so happy that she is finally here and just so greatful that she is healthy. The first few days at home have been good too. Josh and I are just getting used to having a baby in the house. It's the best feeling ever. I just want to let you all know how amazing Josh has been. He has taken such good care of me and Emma. Since I had a c-section, I have had a lot of trouble moving around and doing things for myself and Emma, but he doesn't mind doing anything I ask of him. Emma already has him wrapped around her little finger. He is such a proud daddy. Thank you to everyone who came and visited us at the hospital and for all the thoughts and prayers that were sent our way throughout the pregnancy and the birth. We are so lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives. Here are a few more pictures from the big day. [isn't she so beautiful?]