Our newest addition to our little family was born Dec. 12th! From before she was born I knew that she had her own way of doing things and in her time. 2 days before I had her I awoke in the morning feeling absolutely miserable. To this day, I still can't really describe it. It was like I was nauseous, light headed, extremely fatigued all over my body all wrapped up together plus I was having intermittent contractions. I somehow managed to get the kids breakfast before crashing in bed again. They joined me an I let them watch cartoons. Thankful for the easy distraction. After calling my mom, I decided to call out sick from work that day. My parents, thinking I was going to go into labor sometime that day came out and brought us dinner. Although my appetite was basically non-existent. A Jamba Juice chocolate berry smoothie sounded good. :) My mom spent the night (in case it happened in the wee hours of the morning). Saturday morning arrived without interruption. Even though my contractions were constant just not close enough. They were like every hour, pathetic I know. While I slept they decided too as well!! GRRRR So my mom and I decided that a little coaxing was needed. So off to do my last minute Christmas shopping it was!! First it was Target for a couple of hours at least. That was enough to start the contractions again. The rest of the day was spent going to different stores and parking as far away as possible so I could walk for the longest time possible. By evening they had gotten a lot closer together. So my mom came out again to spend the night thankfully!! The contractions had gotten close enough together that I was unable to really fall asleep. By around 3am I could no longer take the pain and felt that they were close enough together that I could be admitted. So I called the L & D and spoke to the nurse practitioner who felt that I wasn't progressed enough!! She said I shouldn't be able to talk through my contractions!!! Argghhhh I hate those nurses!!! She told me that my contractions needed to be 5-7mins apart lasting a minute. Um stupid lady it's my third child!!! Anyway she told me to wait another hour. Well I waited another freaking half an hour and Brandon woke to my discomforts. He told me to call but I refused because the stupid nurse didn't believe I was in active labor. So he called and the desk nurse told us to come in. We arrived around 4am with my contractions occurring every 4 mins and lasting well over a minute!! I was admitted after they did all their preliminaries!! I even happened to run into the idiot nurse who said I wasn't in "active labor." She was surprised to hear I was there!! Whatever lady, excuse me if I can handle pain better than most!! After they gathered my blood to my make sure it was safe to give me the epidural I finally got it. By now it was around 7:40am (don't ask how I remember the exact time, no clue) and the epidural was a welcomed relief. However, I think my left side got a stronger dose then the right. I was finally able to relax a little. A couple hours later, they said my contractions had slowed a little so they were going to give me some petocin. I literally got just a few drops of it and Bamb my contractions were back and in charge!! I could even feel them, although they were much more bearable. From there on it was just minutes. I began to feel the urge to push and quickly summoned the nurse who intern began getting everything prepped. She then came over and wanted me to give a little push to bring her into the right position. Well lets just say it worked a little too well and baby Emmaline was already crowning and all I did was push a little. The midwife quickly came in and got ready while the nurse held baby's head waiting for her. One and half pushes later and we had a baby GIRL!! I was beside myself with joy, and surprise as I had fully expected a little boy. She was a beautiful healthy little baby girl!! The only thing different from all my other deliveries was that Emmaline had to be aspirated a lot because she had got some of the amniotic fluid in her lungs. (We later attributed this to the breathing problem and the NICU visit.)
We love her already and her big sister and brother were so excited to see her. We weren't able to bring her home the following day because she was making some funny breathing noises when she ate or got too upset. So they wanted to admit her to NICU!! At the time, it was very difficult because no one knew why and the doctors were just being cautious. I was extremely emotional and could barely hold it together. She had passed all of her test and such. We both had our discharge papers and were basically ready to go. It was while she was with the nurse in the the little baby room doing her newborn screening that the nurse really noticed it. I had mentioned it previously when I tried nursing her but the other nurses weren't overly concerned. So our little bundle spend a day and a half in NICU while they monitored her. I hated seeing her with the IV and vitals' wires attached to her but it was just to monitor her. In the end nothing was found, she met all of their goals and she was able to come home Weds. morning instead of Monday afternoon. For me it was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do. I can not even fathom having to do it longer than I did. But I guess in the end it is for the best!! Even now 7 months later reflecting on it brings a flood of those same emotions. At the time, we were so emotional that we barely told anyway including our own family!! We both felt that she was fine and we knew the Lord was taking care of our little girl.
These next few are of Emmaline right after she was born!!
My ecstatic hubby/Daddy!!
Preston meeting Emmaline for the first time. He was very curious and gentle.
The second mommy in the house!! She adores her sister and is elated to have her.
Trying to get this one to smile for the camera was impossible. But I happen to like this one anyway! Shows his little personality!!
No mommy!! No more kisses!! (evil cackle hahaha)
Preston holding Emmaline for the first time with Grandma Anne's help of course.
Grandpa Mickelsen holding Emmaline for the first time!
Grandma Anne holding a cranky baby Emmaline, (in fact that part hasn't changed. Don't let anyone get between her and the food or you have the above exhibit.) LOL
Getting ready for her very first bath in the hospital!! Below is a picture of my curly haired little girl!! She has more hair then Lillian did at birth and Lillian wasn't bald!! LOL
Taken the next day in the morning!! Such a doll!!
Daddy all freshened up. He went home to be with the kids and came back late in the Monday morning.
Just hanging with my little baby girl!!
As it turned out we learned about a month later that she has reflux or gerd as it is sometimes refer to. We believe as does her pediatrician that this was part of what caused the funny breathing the other being the aspiration of her nasal passages!! Of course it seems like their always has to be some extra doctors visit as a prerequisite to being a part of the this family so this is by no means the end of the story. My little miss Emmaline feels the need to make sure her presence is known!! Keep a look out for more Emmaline updates!!
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