Well, I’m not pregnant anymore, and that in and of itself is a reason to celebrate. My sweet little Emerlynn finally made her debut on Thursday, July 10th (due date July 18th) at 4:37 am weighing in at an itty bitty 4lbs 9oz and measuring just 16 inches long. Labor was great, just as awesome and easy as Logan’s was.
I started contracting here and there on Wednesday, and I was hoping that maybe it would be the day, even though it was 9 days before my due date. Towards the end of the day they were maybe happening once every 30-45 minutes. If you remember Logan’s labor, my contractions were 10-20 minutes apart the entire duration of my labor, so I was thinking that maybe this one would be the same. I told the boys that maybe I’d have the baby that night, and Teagan said, “Well, we did get her some lovely shoes.” And that is true, we did.
After putting the kids to bed, I figured I might as well try to go to sleep too. But I informed my mom and sis and Jacob’s parents that it might be the night, so they stood watch. Well, not really. They all went to sleep. By 11pm, the contractions started coming at 15-20 minutes apart, but part of me was thinking they might just stop because they weren’t very intense or long, maybe 20 seconds. Jacob fell asleep by midnight, and at that point the contractions moved to 7-10 minutes apart. I waited until about 12:45 when they were consistently staying 7-10 minutes apart and lasting about 30-40 seconds long before I woke Jacob up and told him to call his dad over so we could head to the hospital.
We got to the hospital about 1:30am. They checked me in and asked 5 million questions before checking to see what I was dilated to. With Easton, I was dilated to a 6 when I got to my midwife’s, with Teagan I was a 7, with Logan I was an 8, and each time I was shocked to be so far along and not really in pain. So I figured it would be the same this time. But she checked me at 2am and I was a 3. A measly 3. And not thinned out at all. So I figured I was in for a different labor this time. She left me in triage for 45 minutes and came back to check me again, and I was a 5 and nearly completely thinned out, so they admitted me. After getting me to labor and delivery and asking 5 million more questions, the nurse checked me again and I was a 7-8. So they called Charlene to come in. My contractions stayed 6-10 minutes apart the whole time, and they were nothing I couldn’t breathe through, which made me very happy. Just like Logan’s labor. At about 4 am Charlene broke my water. I was still a 7-8 when she did that. I had about 5 contractions after that, and they got a little stronger each time. When the 5th one came, I felt that I’m-going-to-die pushy feeling and my body started bearing down. I called to Jacob who was sitting right next to me to push the button and get Charlene in there NOW, and they were in in about 20 seconds. When I say I have to push, it means my body just did something crazy and is starting to push on it’s own, just suddenly. It always catches me by surprise because from one contraction to the next I go from a strong period cramp to feeling like I’m going to die, all in an instant. When you feel your body start to push the baby out, I think it’s about the most excruciating discomfort one could ever feel, but thank the heavens that part lasts about two minutes for me. I pushed one time for about 20 seconds, stopped in the middle of it for a second because Charlene told me to, and then finished pushing while Emerlynn came shooting out like a rocket. From the time that I said “I have to push” to the time she came out, less than two minutes had gone by. I can handle two minutes of pain, no sweat. Seriously perfect labor. I’m always afraid since I go natural that I’m going to have some crazy unbearable labor, but the last two have been a dream, and I’m not complaining in the least bit. Several nurses had commented, “No wonder you go natural. If all women’s labors were like that I don’t think anyone would ever get an epidural.” I think the fact that I don’t get any Pitocin during labor plays a huge role in my pain being so minimal.
The pictures were taken in my room after I had been checked in and was dilated to a 7-8. Pardon the fat face and neck rolls, I know I look like a manatee. Pregnancy did not look good on me. I’m pretty sure Jacob was saying something ridiculous in the bottom picture, making me laugh while I was trying to breathe through a contraction. It was just the two of us this time. I decided to let our moms sleep since it was the middle of the night and I was going to need them refreshed to help with the kiddoes the next day, and Becca was sick and pregnant, so being at the hospital at 2am wasn’t really anyone’s ideal plan.
Once baby was out, they put her on my chest, and all I kept hearing was, “Look how tiny she is!” She didn’t really cry or move a lot on me, so they took her over beside the bed to suction her mouth and get her cleaned up. But she didn’t make a sound really. Her eyes were open and looking around while she was on me, so I wasn’t really paying attention to the fact that she wasn’t crying or breathing like she should have been. After a couple minutes, the nurse called in the NICU nurses, and they did a bunch of stuff to her before whisking her off to the NICU. Meanwhile, my placenta was stuck and wouldn’t come out for about 25-30 minutes. I was pushing, Charlene was tugging, and when it finally came out, half of it was severely calcified. That was likely why it was so hard to get out. Charlene said that it was also the likely reason that baby girl was so small – she wasn’t getting what she needed because half of my placenta was broken. Had I had an ultrasound in the third trimester, we could have caught it, but there was no need for one. I was measuring fine, my earlier ultrasounds were spot on, and baby was never in distress. There were no signs of any complications.
So our little lady has been in the NICU since Thursday, and they estimate that she’ll be in there 7-10 days. They are slowly weaning her off her oxygen to make sure she is going to be able to breathe on her own. Right now she is being fed through a tube to be sure that her tummy can tolerate her food. I guess there is a correlation between breathing and gut problems, so they are introducing food slowly. I also tested positive for GBS as I did with Logan, and I only got one dose of antibiotics in my system during labor. They like you to get two, and since she was having troubles, they started her on antibiotics for 7 days. Her platelets were low on Friday, which is a sign of possible infection, so they are waiting for test results to come back from the placenta to see if there is anything wrong. She’s improved every day that she’s been in. Her bilirubin was high on Saturday so they also put her under a blue light for jaundice, but lots of babies get jaundice, so that’s not a big deal. Today the bilirubin had gone down from 12.9 to 11, and they want it to be at 7. Hopefully that gets better this week. She’s gotten more formula each day and less oxygen, so she’s doing well.
I came home Saturday afternoon to a house full of little boys that missed me. Ok, Logan missed me. Easton and Teagan are having a great time going back and forth to grandmas’ houses. But Logan was dying without me. He just clung to me and touched my face and kept saying, “Mom, you home. Missed you.” He was still saying that today too. He’s also got a nasty cough and snotty nose, so this sick little guy got me home at just the right time. It’s a good thing Emmy isn’t at home yet. The big boys have had coughs, but Logan got it the worst. And the last thing I need is for my itty bitty girl to get a big nasty cough. If she comes home at the end of this week, hopefully this house will be healthy again.
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