The Hospital

 

After such a long delivery, we were so thankful to get to rest and enjoy time as a family. We were happy to get to share the experience with Grandma, Grandpa, Gran, Papa, Uncle James, and Auntie B. A special shout out to Aunt Kathy, Uncle Jack, and Alisa, who stayed at the hospital throughout the labor! 

            

Grandma & Grandpa

Uncle James & Auntie B

Gran & Papa

I don't think anything can prepare you for a baby. Everything was "cloud nine" until Emma found her voice and began to cry after the first day. That was one of the most nerve-wracking experiences! After a while we learned to go down the checklist: Fed? Check. Clean diaper? Check. Safe and Warm? Check. Payback for John and I?... that must be it!

Ahhh, finally a happy baby :)

 

 

I had a funny moment in the hospital when I looked down at Emma and thought that I was holding "mini-John".

Emma's First Easter 4/20/2014

 We were in the hospital for five days and by the end of it were so ready to head home. There is nothing comfortable about a hospital bed and being checked on every couple of hours in the middle of the night. Don't get me wrong, hospital nurses are saints, but if I had to rate my level of my pain or let them know when I was using the bathroom one more time, I was going to go nuts. Luckily, I got to look at this girl and all was well in the world!
 

 

 

 

 

We are so grateful for all the family members and friends who were able to come visit us in the hospital. It made the experience fun and we were happy to see all the love and support that Emma already has!
 

Here we are heading home from the hospital after five nights. 

 

 Thank you, Jesus! Emma likes her car seat! The first car ride with Emma was great. About an hour before we left the hospital, John dropped his cell phone and killed it. We had to stop by the AT&T store to get a new phone. Not the traditional car ride home, but we made it home safe and that is all that matters!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Worth the wait

After the longest week of our lives, it was finally time to see our baby girl! On Thursday, April 17, we were scheduled to go into the hospital to start the induction. Well, Emma had other plans, she decided to come on her own! I woke up on Thursday and was having pretty consistent contractions, but after the embarrassing trip tot he hospital on Monday, John and I decided that we were not going to go into the hospital until we couldn't wait any longer. At about 3:30PM, John made me get in the car. We were driving to the hospital and decided to stop to get my "last meal". The guy at the smoothie shop looked horrified when we told him that I was in labor and we were headed to the hospital. Poor guy! We pulled into the hospital and received a call from them. They told us to come in at 10PM to start the induction. I am pretty sure that I started to cry. Why did we have to wait so long?? Being in the heart of Dallas at 5PM, there was no way we were going to go home and come back. We went into the hospital and sat in the lobby for a couple of hours.

 John was tracking my contractions as I buried my face in a magazine with each contraction so that people wouldn't look at me weird. At 6:30PM, I had a contraction that lasted a good three minutes. John had enough. He dragged me down to check in to the hospital.

We were thrilled when we were admitted into the hospital and brought into my labor room. Yay! We were finally going to have Emma! It seems like everyone that I talked to about labor seemed to say that their babies virtually fell out and they had a quick, easy birth. Ha! Another time I should have expected the unexpected.

John and I were admitted into the hospital around 8PM. About 30 minutes later I had my epidural, "Thank you, Jesus!". Nurses at the hospital work through 12 hour shifts. Well, I went through three nurses and three doses of epidural medicine before we had Emma. Labor was a great time for us to practice patience. Emma decided to be one of the 5% of babies that actually arrive on their due date.On Friday morning, family and friends began to gather at the hospital. We had several times where I was told that I could start pushing, but then the doctor came in and said that we had a problem. Emma's face was looking up and my cervix would not dilate the whole way. Time for Perutusan to help this process. Around 1PM, my nurse told me that I could start pushing. I was thinking, "Alright, this will take 30 minutes tops. Let's do this!". After THREE hours of pushing, my doctor came in and told John and I that I needed to have a C-section. I was so scared, we did not do any preparation for this. This was not a part of our plan! Within minutes, I was taken to surgery. As soon as the anesthesiologist pumped me full of more drugs, I started shaking uncontrollably. That was so scary, but apparently a common side effect. I remember looking up at the ceiling and, to my joy, I was able to see my insides from the reflection of the light in the room. GROSS! So, I stared at John most of the time. At 4:17PM, Emma came out. I remember thinking how cute her cry sounded. I immediately wanted to hold her.

She was cleaned off and given to John.

 

She weighed 9lbs 1ounce and measured 20 inches long. I heard John yell, "YES!". He was so proud of his big, strong girl. It is such a special moment to get to hold your baby for this first time. I will never forget it and will always cherish that memory.

Here is a pic of me after Emma came out. I had to share it because after a week of contractions and 24 hours of labor, this was exactly how I was feeling when it was all over.

Our first family photo. Totally worth the wait!

Emma is coming!

This is the photo of a couple who thought that they had everything together, little did we know we were about to embark on a week long journey that would teach us to always expect the unexpected. Being my first child, I had NO clue what was going on. People kept on asking me if I had contractions and I often looked at them with confusion. No one can truly describe to you what a contraction feels like. You will not know what to expect until you feel them for yourself. Trust me when I say that you will know when you are having them! On Monday, April 14 at 3am I woke up with awful pains and woke John up. He told me to try to go back to bed and relax. HA! Five minutes after he said that to me I looked at him and said, "Are you awake?". Of course he was. We both got up and got ready for the hospital. We were so excited. John put on his "daddy outfit" that he wore at every doctor's appointment. It consists of his nice slacks, button down shirt, and black cowboy boots that he wore at our wedding. The best part of his outfit is the first sonogram picture of Emma which he secured in his shirt pocket. John called the doctor and went to get gas for the car. (I have a bad habit of leaving my car on empty.) We loaded up into the car and were both smiling from ear to ear. This was going to be the day! When we arrived at the hospital and checked in with our nurse she immediately said, "You look too happy to be here." Uh oh... See my happy, naïve smile below..

 

 

After my exam she told me that I was having contractions, but I was not dilated. After two hours of observation, John and I were sent home. We were so disappointed. All we wanted to do was meet our baby!Not only were we not able to meet our daughter, those darn contractions kept getting more intense and did not stop... for four more days. Why didn't anyone tell me that contractions could last a full week? I am going to write a letter to all the authors of the baby books that I read during pregnancy!  I can honestly say that I worked extremely hard for my baby girl, it was truly a "labor of love"! John had to work pretty hard as well, any one who has ever been around me while I am sick or injured knows, I am a huge baby when I don't feel well.

 

It was such a weird week, we had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday where we were let down again as I was reminded that I was having contractions, but no dilation. My doctor just smiled and told me that I was one of the "unlucky" ones.We ended up scheduling an induction for Friday of that week just in case my labor did not begin by then.  After that appointment, we stopped for Mexican food. The owner came over to our table and asked me to not have my baby in his restaurant. Then the waitress introduced herself and gave me unsolicited advice, " Go home and get lotion and massage your nipples"... AWKWARD... Can you please just take our drink order?? Needless to say, we really enjoyed all of the advice and knowledge that everyone shared with us while we waited for Emma!