The Emmy Story

February 3rd:

It started off like any other day. 

When I woke up that morning, the last thing I thought was that 12 hours later, we'd be in the hospital having a baby.

But. . . have a baby 6 weeks early we did!

I went to my 34 week doctor appointment that morning, and reported that everything was great, and I wasn't having any contractions. 

I was feeling good.

So good, that I decided to invite the new family over for dinner and family home evening that night. And so good that I offered to watch my friend's boys, and to bring her dinner too.

But, 4 hours after my appointment, right in the middle of cooking pork chops, playing trucks and trains with 4 kiddos, and planning a fun lesson for FHE, the contractions started. 

Call it denial.  But took me a couple of hours to realize that the pains I was having every 3 minutes were in fact contractions.  I eventually called to cancel dinner, had Ammon drop dinner off at our neighbor's, figured out somewhere to drop off Scout and Porter and we were off to the hospital.. . just like in the movies:)

At this point, I could go into a lot of detail, but instead, here's the cliff note version:

1. Contractions coming every 2 minutes

2. Tried to stop contractions with oral medication, and when that didn't work, brought the big guns with a shot that made me crazy.  And by crazy I mean I felt like my heart was going to literally jump out of my body.  My heart rate, and blood pressure shot up, I couldn't stop shaking, and felt like I had just run a marathon.  Failed.

3. Doctor came in a did a ultrasound and found that the contractions RIPPED my stitch out, and in the process ripped thru my cervix as well.  Yes... it felt just like it sounds.

4. Next came 30 minutes of my very own version of hell.  For Reals.  My doctor needed to get the remains of the stitches out, and . . . fill in the details.  It was bad.  Real bad. Immediately after, I dilated to a 5 and the doctor announced there was no stopping this baby. I was admitted into labor and delivery.

5. For the next 9 hours they let us wait. And wait. And wait.  They didn't want to do anything to help the labor progress since I had gotten a steroid shot for the baby, so the longer the baby was in, the better.  My water will never break (water bag of titanium), so for hours I was dilated to a 9, but we just had to wait until the doctor felt ok with breaking my water so the baby could come. 

6.  3 failed epidurals later, 17 hours of contractions, and lots of time to worry about how our 34 weeks baby would be. . . and the doctor agreed to break my water.

7. Water was broke at 7:45, 3 seconds of pushing, and by 7:49 we were holding our baby GIRL! (Remember we didn't know what we were having?)  

Best part of the story is that when she came out, the doctor held her out to Ammon and said, "It's a . . . " (waiting for Ammon to finish the sentence).  I'm waiting, and I just hear a long pause.  Well, you know everything doesn't quite look normal when these little preemies come out, with swelling, and semi-underdeveloped baby-parts, so Ammon paused, not quite knowing how to finish the sentence. 

I will always remember hearing the doctor say, "Ammon.  It's a girl.  You've got a girl."  I'm sure she'll love that story when she's older.

 

We were so blessed for how healthy little Emmeline was considering how early she was.  As soon as she was born, there were 4 NICU doctors ready for the worse case senario, and ready to wisk her away, but she was really good, and they even let me hold her right away.  She never needed to be on oxygen, which is one of the main concerns with 34 week premies.  

What a little rockstar she was! 

 

And then began our NICU Adventure.

 

The 6 days of:

Hormones out of whack, (aka this mom an emotional wreck).

Worry about our baby girl.

Missing Scout and Porter, especially since they were sick and sad at home.

Stress about how much this little stay was going to cost us.

But also, 

6 days of: 

Being head over heals in love with our new daugther.

Uninturrupted snuggles in the quite of the NICU.

Holding our little girl without any interruptions that come from being at home. 

LOVE, and overwhelmed with how blessed we were. 

Excitement that our baby girl was here and healthy. 

It was a 6 days we will never forget. 

 

Both of our moms were amazing, and we seriously could not have made it thru the week without them.
Lori was a champ and picked up the kids from a neighbor's after she got off work at midnight, got them back to sleep that night, wrestled to get Scout off to school the next morning, and even tackled the gigantic mess our house was. 
It seems like normally you at least have an idea your baby might be on its way (i.e. you are close to your due date), so you get things ready for your mom (or mother-in-law) to be around.
We did not have that luxury, and poor Lori got the brunt of it.
Our house was a disaster.  Remember I said I was watching neighbor kids and cooking dinner? Well, that translates to every boy toy we own was in the living room, and the kitchen was a pork chop bomb explosion.  I am pretty sure I had even left some raw pork chops out on the counter. 
How's that for sanitary?

Then my sweet mom hopped in the car, and started driving here as soon as she heard the news.   She made it here by the time little Emmy Sue was 7 hours old.

It's time like these that I am SO glad that we both have the best moms, and especially that our moms are good friends.  Together, they tag-teamed our little rug rats at home, and held down the fort.
Didn't help that Scout came down with a fever the day after Emmy was born, and within a couple days, Porter had it too. 
It was such a blessing to know that while we were at the hospital taking care of our newest little bundle, that we didn't have to worry about Scout and Porter at home.

The hospital, doctors, and nurses were all amazing, and made our time there in the NICU easier.

We have done the NICU/ICU thing before (We are 4 for 4 with our kiddos being hospitalized).  I had also been warned about how hard it is to have a NICU baby with other children at home.  I think I thought that since I knew that it would be hard, that maybe I could somehow bypass all the 'hardness,' that accompanies a NICU baby. 

 But.. that wasn't the case. 

Looking back, it was a really hard week.  Emotionally, physically, and spiritually draining.  Even though I knew Emmy was going to be okay, and I knew that Scout and Porter were fine at home, and I knew Heavenly Father heard all of my desperate prayers,  it was hard, at times really really hard,  and I am so happy to have it behind us.

(and check out my sausage fingers in the above picture.  Craaazy!  My feet, face, and hands swelled up like waterballoons.  Never had that before, and also happy to report that I have my ankles and wrists back)

Emmy is already over a month old, and she still isn't technically due until next Saturday. 

She is eating and growing perfectly, and a little more alert each day. 

We are all head over heals in love with her sweet little spirit, and feel so blessed to have her in our family.  

Everytime Scout is by her she says, "I just can't stop looking at her!!!  She is just too cute!" 

That pretty much sums up how we are all feeling in this family about our sweet little Emmeline.