Emmersyn is going to be 3 months old tomorrow already -- I can't believe it!!
I felt like going all the way back to her birth with pictures. . . So that's what this post is all about.
3 months ago -- My life changed forever. For the very best.
On March 3rd, I was 38 weeks + 4 days. I had a doctor appointment at 12:30. . . I went in thinking that I had no progress. This was my 1st. I wanted her out by a certain date (because of her daddies homecoming at the end of the month). There was no way my 1st child would be so easy. Not to mention how high in my ribs she seemed to be!
Much to my surprise -- I was already 3cm, 75% effaced & her head was at 0 station. The Midwife that I saw all but 1 appointment my whole pregnancy (I was at a clinic & they wanted us to meet w/ other Midwives because the chance of one certain Midwife delivering was slim) then asked me if I wanted my membranes stripped. I was going to ask her about it myself, but she mentioned it 1st before she checked me. Absolutely! I was in absolute SHOCK that I was dilated THAT much already.
She stripped my membranes -- A little uncomfortable -- And right away I started cramping [which were contractions]. That was around 1-1:30pm.
I then called my mom, who was at work in my home town 2 hours away, & asked if she has her bags packed yet. I was shaking from shock.
Me: Mom, do you have your bags packed?
Mom: No... Why?
Me: Well you might wanna get on that tonight.
Mom: Why? *She had a worried/shocked tone of voice*
I then went on to explain to her, in tears, how my appointment went. And that she stripped my membranes, said that it can put me into labor in the next 24 hours, & that she didn't think I would make it to my next appointment on the 13th -- The day before my due date.
My mom was in just as much shock as I was. And she also started to cry.
I then emailed Will. . . Who was floating in the middle of the ocean and anxiously awaiting to hear about my appointment as well. I told my mom that I'd keep her posted.
I went & got McDonalds on the way home. . . And ended up barely being able to eat. I was shaking and in shock.
I tried to get some last minute house work done, get the cats ready for me to be gone & double & triple check my bag to make sure I had everything. All while I was 'cramping'. I had various family calling me in excitement, and my mom calling what seemed like every 5 minutes checking on me. The cramping was nonstop. My mom kept telling me to stop cleaning for 30 minutes & sit and time the contractions. They weren't strong. . . But they were in my lower belly & back, and literally impossibly to time. I tried.
[She was so red the 1st 24 hours]
My mom finished out her work day, like I told her to do, and then went home to get their pets situated and her bags packed. Did I mention my dad was in Las Vegas working for a friend? Oh yeah, and that I said a day or two prior to my mom: "Watch Emmersyn come when dad is in Vegas." Hah. Little did we know. . .
Once she got packed up, she grabbed some dinner to go & headed out here. . . She didn't leave until around 7:00pm.
[Talking to my husband]
She finally got out here around 9:00pm. She kept asking if I wanted to stay home & wait and try to time them. I kept saying no. They were still the same. . . Just crampy feeling. I ended up driving us to the hospital. . . My mom still finds it funny that here I was, in labor & driving us to the hospital. I opted to. I wouldn't of had my contractions been worse/I would've pulled over to switch if they got worse.
We get to the hospital and get taken right away to a Triage room & hooked up. . . My contractions, while very light, were about a minute a part. My mom was surprised. I stayed hooked up to monitors for a while & then they came in to check me. . . I was 4cms, 75% effaced and her head was -1 station.
So I got admitted and into my room around 10:00pm.
My mom then called my Aunt & my future-SIL, who were "on-call" since my mom got the call earlier in the day, and they drove out here. . .
I labored for about 2.5 hours (which went by fast) like that. . . Not so strong contractions a minute apart. Around 12:30am or so, they came in to check me. I had made no progress other then I was no 80% effaced. So we talked about breaking my water, starting pit & getting my epidural.
At 1:00am, my water was broke. What a weird feeling. And right away, STRONG contractions started. And it seemed they were right on top of each other. Oh boy was that painful!!! I told them I want my epi before the pit was started -- It was already on order!
So now was the 'fun' task of being still through contractions while they put my epi in.
In between contractions, they got me scootched to the side of the bed. My mom sat on a stool right at my feet. . . And I then had to sit completely still. Honestly -- I was scared. I heard the horror stories of epi's going wrong, ect. . . But I pushed those fears aside each time I had a strong contraction. :p Sitting there, I remember my water was still leaking and I was thinking 'Oh gosh, I hope none of this leaks onto my mom' - Hah. And then my boobs started leaking. I had been 'leaking' since around 25 weeks. I then said out loud to break the silence 'My boobs are leaking!' Everybody laughed, and we then talked about how I was already leaking, ect. . . I only had 1 contraction as she was doing the epi. . . My mom tried to get me to breath slow, but breathing fast was working for me. . .
Before I knew it, the epi was in & everybody told me how well I did.
Phew.
So I get moved back into the bed and my monitors adjusted, ect. . . And I instantly feel it working on my right side. But not my left. So they flip me to my left side & give me a little booster shot of more meds. My Aunt & future-SIL showed up while I was getting my epi, so once I got situated my mom went out to get them. It was around 1:35am at this time. So, thankfully, I only felt real hard contractions for about 35 minutes.
When I flopped over to my left side, they started the pit. And shortly after, Emmersyn started to misbehave. When my mom got back to my room with my Aunt & future-SIL, the nurses were all going crazy in my room trying to find the baby & get me oxygen and get things stable again. Needless to say, she panicked a little.
It took a good while for things to settle down, but they did. However, I had to keep the o2 max on (annoying) the rest of my labor. Once things calmed down, they came in & checked me. This was around 2:30am. All of a sudden, I was 9cm!! I went from 4-9 in an hour -- No matter the baby started misbehaving!
I got stuck at 9cms for the next 2 hours. There was just a little lip of cervix that was in the way and preventing me from pushing.
Finally, at 4:30am I got to start pushing.
How exciting, the baby is going to be here soon!
I e-mail Will (at this point, I was emailing him the whole time, thank God for email!) and tell him that it's time to push and she'll be here soon.
[My poor jaundice baby]
So I start pushing. . . And I keep pushing. Even though I couldn't feel any pressure, and not really any contractions -- I was told that I was pushing really good.
An hour goes by. . . 2 hours go by. Our predictions of when she'd be here by passed. We all make a 2nd prediction. That passed. Then it was time for a new team of nurses (sad, I loved my nurses) and a new team of Drs/Midwives (I loved my original team). 3 hours go by, and I am still pushing. Thankfully, I got another AWESOME team of nurses & Midwives.
Will is growing more & more anxious. I am emailing him between pushes when I can, my mom & FSIL were emailing him at other times. He was such an awesome 'coach', even from half way around the world via email. He made me cry with the things he said a few times -- I was shocked!
[Being treated for her jaundice]
After 3.5 hours of pushing, I was finally starting to wear down. She was stuck. Her head was turned towards the left slightly, rather then straight down. They tried turning her. She moved slightly, but not much. Mommahs stubborn little girl already!
There was talk of forceps or the vacuum being used. And next thing I know -- I hear a team of people rushing in and I heard someone tell my Aunt & FSIL that all cameras need to be turned off NOW. Doctors/Nurses are introducing themselves to me. My eyes were closed. I remember opening them once or twice and seeing a ton of people. But mostly, I just heard the commotion. And then I heard 'No, don't use the forceps yet'. And then I was told that I need to push with all my might.
[Waiting to meet her daddy]
I pushed with everything I had. I had people yelling at me to push. . .
Come on Allyssa, push!
Push mommah.
[That came from a guy nurse. Which shocked me. But at the same time, was refreshing to hear. If that makes sense]
And my mom whisper in my ear that she was almost here, she can see her, ect.. She was also whispering things about how my Grandma (who passed when I was 10) was here with us, ect.. Oy, it made me cry and push even harder.
Then she was out. Just like that.
8:35am
She had her cord wrapped around her neck once a bit, and because of that was in distress a bit at the end. So she couldn't come straight up to my belly like I had wanted. My mom went straight to the incubator with her, and jumped back & forth between us (it was only about 10 ft away from my bed). The Midwife that delivered her was absolutely awesome -- I am so glad I had her. The nurses were all also the best.
I emailed Will right away so that he could call me. I was crying. I cried because I was scared. I cried because I was sad & heartbroken that my husband wasn't here. I cried because I was absolutely amazed that I did it. I just gave birth.
Will called me about 30 minutes later. He sounded like he was about to cry -- But he isn't much of a crier. We couldn't talk for long. Poor guy was exhausted. . . He went to try to get some sleep before he had to get up to start a new shift. He would've only gotten around 4 hours of sleep. However, he didn't get any sleep. He was far to excited. After muster, though, they sent him to get some sleep for a few hours.
She checked out perfectly healthy and was in my arms in no time.
She was a healthy 7lbs 1oz and 19.5 inches.
We were only in the hospital for 24 hours before we got to go home. Thank God, I was so bored & just wanted to be home. I was in a lot of pain, though. I suppose 4 hours of pushing would do that to you?
I was in labor for a total of 15 hours + the 4 hours of pushing. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.
By the time we got released, Emmersyn was a bit jaundice. Her levels were at an 8. We were released on a Friday & on Sunday we had to take her back to the hospital to have her jaundice levels rechecked.
They went all the way up to 19.7 -- She got readmitted. I was heartbroken & scared. She stayed under the bili-light (the blue picture of her above) for 24 hours. I was only able to take her out for 30 minutes at a time every 3 hours to feed & change her. It sucked. The 1st hour she was there she cried. And I couldn't do a damn thing about it. It broke my heart. My mom was getting my dad, who drove out for the day to meet his Granddaughter, so I was alone. And I just cried with her. It was really hard on me. I was so scared and alone. And it killed me that my 3 day old baby was crying and I couldn't make it all better.
24 hours later, her levels dropped enough to get discharged. Thank you Lord. I was feeling gross. I was sharing a big room w/ 4 other families. . . Sleep wasn't often. I only left Emmersyn's side to go to the bathroom. My mom brought me food, as since I wasn't the patient, I got no room service. It just sucked.
We dealt with her jaundice for 2 weeks. Back and forth to the hospital every other day to have her levels checked. Her poor heals were so jacked up from being pricked. She was a trooper though, she did so good. Every time I went in, I was a nervous wreck. My mom went home when Emmersyn was 6 days old. She had to get back to my dad, the house, her job, ect. I didn't want her to go home, since we were still dealing with the jaundice, but I knew she needed to. We agreed that I would have her come back out of Em got readmitted.
[1 month old]
Thankfully, the jaundice went away. Slowly but surely.
My husband came home when Emmersyn was 3 weeks + 1 day old. And it was the best moment to see him meet her. He was the very 1st person off the ship and his face just lit up as soon as he saw us at the bottom of the stairs.
Now she is 3 months old and is the light of my life.
She is one heck of a happy baby! She smiles a lot, talks just as much and loves to sit up and look around. She loves jumping in her jumperoo.
We're still working on getting her to giggle. I'm sure I look quite silly each day trying to get her to giggle. She is so close, but just can't get it out. Instead she'll squeel. It's the cutest!!
Tummy time is few and far in between thanks to her reflux. Therefore, she isn't yet rolling over. Some days, it's frustrating, upsetting & discouraging. I know she'll roll over, and I know we're not the only one dealing with reflux. But some days, when the spit up is bad -- When it seems like she isn't keeping ANYTHING she eats down -- It gets really discouraging [can you tell that yesterday was one of those days?!].
Stats-
Birth: 7lbs 1oz - 19.5in
2 months: 10lbs 8oz - 22 3/4in
3 months: 11.5-12lbs no idea on length
(approx, no doc appt this month so it's on our scale which isn't exact)
We have her 4 month appointment set up for July 12th. Her ped is on vacation the 1st part of the month, so that was the earliest we could get in.
I have some new pictures (since the last few of these pics have been posted recently) but I haven't gotten them put onto the computer & edited yet. So I'll save those for Fridays post!
Happy 3 months baby girl. Your mommy & daddy love you very much. You've changed our lives forever!!
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It's almost the weekend - Do you have any fun plans??
