Sorry for the delay in posting. We don't have a computer at the house, and haven't exactly been out much this past week. I'm over at my neighbor's writing this update.
Emery Claire was born on 7.7.10 at 12:43am, and we are 100% head over heels in love with her already. I fully anticipated having to have an induction, when she didn't arrive on her due date despite our best efforts, but little miss had other plans. I woke up on Tuesday at 330am having contractions. They say you'll know when it's the real thing, but honestly I did not until about 5am. By the time Jeff rolled out of bed at 6am (we were both planning to go to work that day) I was pretty sure Emery was on her way.
We wanted to delay going to the hospital as long as possible, so waited until around noon when my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart before heading in. They were intense at that point, but not unbearable. However, my water broke as we were pulling into the hospital, and by the time I was admitted to the OBR things were starting to get very uncomfortable. I'd considered not getting an epidural depending on how far along I was, but when I found out I was only 2cm dialated said sign me up at around 230pm. However, because of staff shortages and the time it takes to get admitted, did not end up getting it until 530pm, and those last 3 hours were MISERABLE!! By that time my contractions were hitting every 1-2 minutes, and I was deathly afraid I wouldn't be able to sit still for the procedure. As scared as I was it ended up being fine, and I felt much better after the procedure.
We were so blessed to have Katie Rachel as our nurse for most of the afternoon/evening. She had worked the day before, and came in just to be our nurse. But at 9pm, despite the fact that I had been contracting regularly, I was only 4cm, so she had to hand us off thinking we wouldn't be delivering until 6am the next morning. My new nurse checked me at 10pm, and I was 6cm, so they were still thinking it would be awhile. Jeff and I had just settled down to get some rest when Emery's heart rate dropped to next to nothing. Before I could move the nurse was running in yelling for the doctor, and they had me rolled over onto my side with the oxygen on and were trying to reposition her to get her heart rate back up. I've never been so scared in my life...I seriously thought we were going to lose our baby right there. Both Jeff and I were crying, but after 5 or 6 minutes they were able to get her heart rate back up. Apparently in 30 minutes my labor had progressed so quickly that she wasn't able to tolerate it. At that point I was 8cm. They called my doctor (who had to arrange childcare and drive in from brandon to deliver me - LOVE her) and by the time she arrived at 11pm I was ready to go. We started pushing around 11:15pm, and out she popped at 12:45 am. And my infamous first words to my daughter - not anything sweet mind you. They were "She's HUGE!" And she was/is, at least for me, at 8.3lbs 21.5 inches. That would explain why she was stuck for 20 minutes. I won't lie - I do believe pushing her out was the hardest thing I've ever done. I had what is called a walking epidural - so I could feel all of the pressure and some pain. I could definitely feel that she was stuck. I thought I would never get her out, and I can't IMAGINE going through all of that without an epidural.
But as they always say, it was so worth it. She is such a little doll. We are both totally in love. She is sweet, sweet baby (except when she gets hungry!) and it already bringing us so much joy. We are just eating this sweet time up with her. Jeff is off this whole month, and we're spent the past week just bonding together as a family and watching lots of episodes of 24. Our SS class has hooked us up with meals, so we've been able to focus more on taking care of baby. It's been great! You know before I had her I'd heard people say they could sit and stare at their baby all day, and I always thought that sounded so ridiculous. But now I know what they mean - I really could stare at her all day long!!
Sorry if this is kind of running together - I'm trying to rush so we can get home for our next feeding. I'm not even going to try to label the pictures, but you can probably piece most of them together. The belly shot is the last one we took at 39 weeks and 5 days. As big as I thought my stomach was, now that she's out it's hard to believe she ever fit in there!!
That's all for now. Hope everyone is well! If I haven't returned your phone calls please forgive me - I haven't forgotten about you! Take care!
Emery Claire was born on 7.7.10 at 12:43am, and we are 100% head over heels in love with her already. I fully anticipated having to have an induction, when she didn't arrive on her due date despite our best efforts, but little miss had other plans. I woke up on Tuesday at 330am having contractions. They say you'll know when it's the real thing, but honestly I did not until about 5am. By the time Jeff rolled out of bed at 6am (we were both planning to go to work that day) I was pretty sure Emery was on her way.
We wanted to delay going to the hospital as long as possible, so waited until around noon when my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart before heading in. They were intense at that point, but not unbearable. However, my water broke as we were pulling into the hospital, and by the time I was admitted to the OBR things were starting to get very uncomfortable. I'd considered not getting an epidural depending on how far along I was, but when I found out I was only 2cm dialated said sign me up at around 230pm. However, because of staff shortages and the time it takes to get admitted, did not end up getting it until 530pm, and those last 3 hours were MISERABLE!! By that time my contractions were hitting every 1-2 minutes, and I was deathly afraid I wouldn't be able to sit still for the procedure. As scared as I was it ended up being fine, and I felt much better after the procedure.
We were so blessed to have Katie Rachel as our nurse for most of the afternoon/evening. She had worked the day before, and came in just to be our nurse. But at 9pm, despite the fact that I had been contracting regularly, I was only 4cm, so she had to hand us off thinking we wouldn't be delivering until 6am the next morning. My new nurse checked me at 10pm, and I was 6cm, so they were still thinking it would be awhile. Jeff and I had just settled down to get some rest when Emery's heart rate dropped to next to nothing. Before I could move the nurse was running in yelling for the doctor, and they had me rolled over onto my side with the oxygen on and were trying to reposition her to get her heart rate back up. I've never been so scared in my life...I seriously thought we were going to lose our baby right there. Both Jeff and I were crying, but after 5 or 6 minutes they were able to get her heart rate back up. Apparently in 30 minutes my labor had progressed so quickly that she wasn't able to tolerate it. At that point I was 8cm. They called my doctor (who had to arrange childcare and drive in from brandon to deliver me - LOVE her) and by the time she arrived at 11pm I was ready to go. We started pushing around 11:15pm, and out she popped at 12:45 am. And my infamous first words to my daughter - not anything sweet mind you. They were "She's HUGE!" And she was/is, at least for me, at 8.3lbs 21.5 inches. That would explain why she was stuck for 20 minutes. I won't lie - I do believe pushing her out was the hardest thing I've ever done. I had what is called a walking epidural - so I could feel all of the pressure and some pain. I could definitely feel that she was stuck. I thought I would never get her out, and I can't IMAGINE going through all of that without an epidural.
But as they always say, it was so worth it. She is such a little doll. We are both totally in love. She is sweet, sweet baby (except when she gets hungry!) and it already bringing us so much joy. We are just eating this sweet time up with her. Jeff is off this whole month, and we're spent the past week just bonding together as a family and watching lots of episodes of 24. Our SS class has hooked us up with meals, so we've been able to focus more on taking care of baby. It's been great! You know before I had her I'd heard people say they could sit and stare at their baby all day, and I always thought that sounded so ridiculous. But now I know what they mean - I really could stare at her all day long!!
Sorry if this is kind of running together - I'm trying to rush so we can get home for our next feeding. I'm not even going to try to label the pictures, but you can probably piece most of them together. The belly shot is the last one we took at 39 weeks and 5 days. As big as I thought my stomach was, now that she's out it's hard to believe she ever fit in there!!
That's all for now. Hope everyone is well! If I haven't returned your phone calls please forgive me - I haven't forgotten about you! Take care!
8 comments:
Your life just got a whole lots fuller!!!! Love y'all and her!!
Congrats!!! She is beautiful! I must admit reading your painful labor story made me appreciate my painful but QUICK labor and delivery. God love your heart! Enjoy every moment! Isn't it just amazing?!?!?
I am SO glad to see this post. I have to admit, we were worried all this time when there were no posts, no emails, no texts. (shame on you!)
Emery Claire is BEAUTIFUL!!!
Now I can say, isn't it amazing HOW MUCH you lover her? I mean, you know you're going to love her, but there is no way to explain HOW MUCH you do until you just feel it for yourself.
Take care and enjoy this time - I don't know if anyone's told you yet - but it sure goes fast. =)
After my epiderals things always went fast. The same thing happened to me with both the 1st and 3rd. In both cases, my water broke at home. My 2nd was an induction and did not have the heart issues. (But she has been a handful every since!)
Congrats, I hope she sleeps well for you.
Court,
I'm so happy that sweet little Emery Claire is here! She is so beautiful and you look great too!! I know you and Jeff are enjoying this time together and I pray God continues to bless your precious family.
Love,
Michelle
Awww...so happy for you guys!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Glad everyone is healthy!! Love the name! Take it all in....it does go by so fast!
Courtney, I read this post days ago and totally forgot to comment.... I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!! She is beautiful! Courtney was keeping me informed with texts the whole day you were in labor, which was great, so I got a wonderful text in the middle of the night and it definitely made me smile!
LOVE her name! :)
This is sort of incredible to me, but my name is Emery Claire Smith. :) I just googled myself and came up with your blog. Beautiful choice of name! I admit, I'm having a bit of an identity crisis, but I'm so happy for your new addition and that her name is so beautiful. :) Good luck to you!
You may be able to decipher my bogger "name" quite easily...
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