Growing our family wasn't easy...until we learned (with shock!) we were pregnant. Here I was in February, one week into a new job and with an 8 month old, in amazement and shock and fear. How quickly we would become a family of 5! It's something we hoped for our future, but not something we planned or were ready for!
I knew she was a girl early on. I just knew it. And knew Hadley would have a sister - something I wanted for her so badly!
Overall, I felt great this pregnancy. No time to rest or complain. Or eat apparently because I majorly kept my weight in check this time. Yay me!
We had great appointments and no concerns. Until one day I knew something was different. On the Thursday before Labor Day weekend, we didn't realize it then but it was the start of an unexpected end to our pregnancy. I just felt different. I felt heavy. And sore. Almost weighed down. We had been having ultrasounds to ensure we were hanging in there with a strong cervix. We had just been to the dr the day before even with no change! We had a great Labor Day weekend and I just chalked it up to being busy and on the move constantly.
Then two weeks later things changed. I learned at the appointment (seriously the only one David missed) that I lost about a centimeter in cervical length. Pretty much leaving me with nothing holding this babe in! I was hooked up for a non-stress test and we didn't find any contractions. It was from this chair that I texted David the news. Not thinking about how it would be like to read a text like that. Oops! He immediately called ;)
So-bed rest was the answer! Not prepared at work, mentally or emotionally for this news I must have looked like a deer in headlights. But, nothing was worth the risk of early labor!
Every week got easier mentally and harder physically. How can lying in bed make you so sore? Thankfully I was able to work from home and was actually pretty darn efficient!
Well, bed rest worked and we made it to about 38.5 weeks! Yay Emery!
Onto the big day...
As like every other day, I was feverishly working to wrap up loose ends at work, prepare my maternity leave plan and tasks for my co-workers and stay on top of things! We had an appointment in the morning and I honestly didn't feel much different than the previous week. It was starting to become a bit comical that we tried so hard to make this baby stay, he or she might miss their due date now!
Well, as predicted we didn't make much progress from the prior week. However, our doctor was just about as ready to meet this baby as we were! He told us if we returned to the hospital with contractions later in the day, we would not be turned away. His way of nicely saying "I can't induce you, but won't send you home either" and leaving it up to us on how to interpret that!
We left his office around noon and I drove to Fishers to pick up an IU bball t-shirt for Brady (priorities!) and there it was - the start of contractions. They were painless, random and far apart. But, they were there. As with Brady's labor...fear of another "hadley experience" weighed heavy, so while the contractions weren't much, I couldn't ignore them. Back home after that errand and back to working...I paid close attention but still didn't feel pain or see a pattern. But, they did start to become closer together (5 or 6 minutes at times). David politely saying "I would rather sit at the hospital and work than be home working and rushing to the hospital" was his way of saying 'let's just go already!'
So, with Hadley off at the salon with Grammy and Lins on deck to relieve Kim and hang with Brady, we went to the hospital to meet this baby!
Little did we know this would be the slowest labor yet. Weren't they supposed to be faster each time? We checked in around 3:20 and were in our room getting settled by 3:30 ( I can't say how much I love this hospital and how it is always so quiet and calm on the L&D floor!!) We were a mere 5 cm dilated at this time (boring!). So, we watched TV, debated on if we should tell people we were even there, sat in silence, daydreamed and then got bored. So, we did the textbook thing and walked around. Which does nothing by the way...It was so quiet and nearly every room was empty so the walk was also pretty boring. I decided we should just go back and watch wheel of fortune instead :) A quick dinner for the doctor and david (and bumping into Grammy and Gramps in the cafe!) helped pass the time.
Finally by 7:40 (4 hours later!! geesh!) contractions were a bit more painful and closer to 3-5 min apart. I was hesitant to have the doctor break my water...but everyone else was definitely in favor of it. I think the dr. and nurses were bored with us! I finally realized the pain was inevitable and all I was doing was prolonging that reality so...I sucked it up and went with the team! By 8:30 I was 7-8 cm dilated and the Dr. broke my water (also something we had to do with H & B) and thus started this delivery process! By 9:55, I was majorly uncomfortable, barely talking and decided it was time - so three contractions and pushes later we met miss Emery at 10:14 p.m.
The NICU team was on hand since there was meconium in my water when they broke it, but she came out screaming so all was well! She was perfect - the perfect size, the perfect round head and her own long eyelashes to boot. She was alert, eyes open in the hospital (I swear we didn't see Hadley's eyes until we got home) and was hungry. actually hangry. she was a crier, wanted to eat, and barely slept in the hospital. Boy did we have our hands full (and still do!)
Emery's story is still a surprise to us at times...but now as we look at our family it would be hard to imagine it without her. Without Hadley having her sister, without being able to say "the girls" or "the bigs" and without the 45 minutes it takes to leave the house. We laugh when we think we used to be busy, or evenings used to be hard. We've been shown a new level of logistics and coordination, relied on an even greater army of people (including overnight help-a whole new need for us!) and feel incredible blessed to have this wonderful chaos surrounding us.
Cheers to a Emery's first year being memorable, but maybe less exciting, than 2014.
xoxo
As like every other day, I was feverishly working to wrap up loose ends at work, prepare my maternity leave plan and tasks for my co-workers and stay on top of things! We had an appointment in the morning and I honestly didn't feel much different than the previous week. It was starting to become a bit comical that we tried so hard to make this baby stay, he or she might miss their due date now!
Well, as predicted we didn't make much progress from the prior week. However, our doctor was just about as ready to meet this baby as we were! He told us if we returned to the hospital with contractions later in the day, we would not be turned away. His way of nicely saying "I can't induce you, but won't send you home either" and leaving it up to us on how to interpret that!
We left his office around noon and I drove to Fishers to pick up an IU bball t-shirt for Brady (priorities!) and there it was - the start of contractions. They were painless, random and far apart. But, they were there. As with Brady's labor...fear of another "hadley experience" weighed heavy, so while the contractions weren't much, I couldn't ignore them. Back home after that errand and back to working...I paid close attention but still didn't feel pain or see a pattern. But, they did start to become closer together (5 or 6 minutes at times). David politely saying "I would rather sit at the hospital and work than be home working and rushing to the hospital" was his way of saying 'let's just go already!'
So, with Hadley off at the salon with Grammy and Lins on deck to relieve Kim and hang with Brady, we went to the hospital to meet this baby!
Little did we know this would be the slowest labor yet. Weren't they supposed to be faster each time? We checked in around 3:20 and were in our room getting settled by 3:30 ( I can't say how much I love this hospital and how it is always so quiet and calm on the L&D floor!!) We were a mere 5 cm dilated at this time (boring!). So, we watched TV, debated on if we should tell people we were even there, sat in silence, daydreamed and then got bored. So, we did the textbook thing and walked around. Which does nothing by the way...It was so quiet and nearly every room was empty so the walk was also pretty boring. I decided we should just go back and watch wheel of fortune instead :) A quick dinner for the doctor and david (and bumping into Grammy and Gramps in the cafe!) helped pass the time.
Finally by 7:40 (4 hours later!! geesh!) contractions were a bit more painful and closer to 3-5 min apart. I was hesitant to have the doctor break my water...but everyone else was definitely in favor of it. I think the dr. and nurses were bored with us! I finally realized the pain was inevitable and all I was doing was prolonging that reality so...I sucked it up and went with the team! By 8:30 I was 7-8 cm dilated and the Dr. broke my water (also something we had to do with H & B) and thus started this delivery process! By 9:55, I was majorly uncomfortable, barely talking and decided it was time - so three contractions and pushes later we met miss Emery at 10:14 p.m.
The NICU team was on hand since there was meconium in my water when they broke it, but she came out screaming so all was well! She was perfect - the perfect size, the perfect round head and her own long eyelashes to boot. She was alert, eyes open in the hospital (I swear we didn't see Hadley's eyes until we got home) and was hungry. actually hangry. she was a crier, wanted to eat, and barely slept in the hospital. Boy did we have our hands full (and still do!)
Emery's story is still a surprise to us at times...but now as we look at our family it would be hard to imagine it without her. Without Hadley having her sister, without being able to say "the girls" or "the bigs" and without the 45 minutes it takes to leave the house. We laugh when we think we used to be busy, or evenings used to be hard. We've been shown a new level of logistics and coordination, relied on an even greater army of people (including overnight help-a whole new need for us!) and feel incredible blessed to have this wonderful chaos surrounding us.
Cheers to a Emery's first year being memorable, but maybe less exciting, than 2014.
xoxo
