Introducing: Emersyn Kate

I haven't blogged in months and months, and would like to start again, but with 3 little ones now, I'm not sure how much free time I'll have.  I've missed my blogging friends and reading other blogs, but was kind of burned out from personal blogging.  

Friday, April 29, 2016 at 9:25 am, we welcomed Emersyn Kate into our lives.  She weighed 6lbs 14 oz and was 19.5" long, cute strawberry blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and tiny features.  

Birth Story:

I had been contracting off and on for over a month and was unsure if I'd actually make it to my scheduled date, but thankfully, Emersyn Kate stayed put.   Thursday night before the c-section, I took 1/4 of a benadryl because I knew I'd be too excited and anxious to get much sleep.  Sadly, even with taking Benadryl, I maybe got about 1.5 hours of sleep, I just couldn't shut my mind off.   We got up about 5:30 and got ready for the big day.  At 6:35, we snuck into the boys' rooms and kissed them.  I wanted to wake them up and hug them and tell them how much I loved them, but only whispered it, I wanted them to sleep since they had been up late the night before.  I fought back tears when we left.

We arrived at the hospital at 7 and they started prepping me right away for surgery.  As usual, it took a couple of sticks to get my IV going.  After we had been there an hour, we heard the cry of a new baby and initially it was really sweet, but then I felt my anxiety start increasing and I started worrying if  I could handle three kids, started worrying about having surgery, and lots of other emotions hit me -- I was ready to check out of the hospital and head home.  Thankfully, Brian was there to calm me down and remind me of the joy of the baby.  Carol, the nurse from my doctor's office, came up and walked back to the OR with me.  The anesthesiologist gave me a little medicine through my IV before he started my spinal - he warned me that the medicine might make me loopy, tired, or could make me fall asleep for a couple of minutes.  Well, he gave me the medicine and I could feel it go in my IV and the next thing I knew, they were putting the curtain up.  It knocked me out!!!!  I have no idea if I was asleep for 2 minutes or 2 hours.  Brian then walked into the room and it was time to have a baby.  Dr. Carrillo got started right away.  After a minute she asked if we wanted any more kids and I said, "I have no desire to be pregnant anymore."  She said, "Good.  Your uterine wall is very thin and I'd be scared of a miscarriage or uterine rupture if you get pregnant again."  A minute later, my doctor said, "Oh, she's got red hair." and then she was born and we heard crying.  Brian got to hold her a minute later and they propped her on my chest for a couple of minutes.  It was a sweet time.  After a little while, they took her to the nursery.  My initial recovery took a little while, I was numb from the neck down.  It's really disconcerting to not be able to move your arms or legs.  Finally, after quite some time, I was kind of able to move my arms and hold her and try and nurse.

Dick and Mary brought the boys up later in the day.  It was a really sweet family time.   The hospital stay was horrible!!!  Our first night there, they worked on the floors until 3 am, so we didn't sleep until then.  Then, at 4 am, they came around and did my vitals and brought the baby to nurse.  It was so...noisy and people constantly coming into my room.  For the second night in a row, we maybe got 1.5 hours of sleep.  I was ready to go home that next day, but they wouldn't let me.  Finally, Sunday about noon, we were released.  When we got home, I went straight upstairs to my quiet room and slept.  I pray I never have to spend another night in the hospital.   Things were pretty good until Thursday night (May 5).  I'll try and blog about that later.  I don't want to forget any details.   

I tried taking some pics of her, and obviously, I'm no newborn photographer.