The Birth of Emery Elizabeth

On September 1, I was 37 weeks, which technically is considered full-term. I knew that I could essentially go into labor at any time. In fact, that day I had a little issue that I called the doctor's office about. I had an appointment that day anyway, but they told me to come in early, so I immediately was scared that I was having the baby in the next couple of days. I still had school things to finish up before I was out for a few weeks, and I was not mentally prepared yet. After that day, I made sure that I had my bags packed, and I got all of my work done that I needed to.

A couple of weeks later, Jason and I were so ready that we started trying to do all of the "wives' tales" methods to induce labor. Well, I didn't do the castor oil, but most of the other things I tried, but nothing really worked. Of course, none of those methods are "proven," and they say it's all based on when the baby is ready. But, I will always remember that excitement of being ready, hoping it would happen that day, trying to plan when you didn't know when it was going to happen...good memories.

So, I wrote my last post the day before my due date. And I made it to my due date and nothing happened. I had a doctor's appointment the following day, and we scheduled for me to go the hospital on Sept 27 and be induced on the 28th. Jason and I had both decided that we would go ahead and take that whole week off, just to relax before going through the birth. We went to see a movie that day, which we rarely do. After that, we went to Red Lobster to eat, which we also rarely do (we usually get take-out when we "eat out"). By that point, so many people were commenting on facebook about foods that worked to induce labor for them. We were joking that if I went into labor that night, we would say that it had been because of the dish I got at Red Lobster. I took home leftovers, and Jason was saying he didn't know why I was, because I was going to go into labor that night, and then my leftovers would go bad.

So we went home, and just hung out. All night I could feel Emery moving, and it just felt so tight, like she really had no room anymore. It was pretty uncomfortable. I honestly didn't think that I'd be able to last 5 more days at that point. We decided to go to bed around 10:30. I was getting ready for bed and all of a sudden, I felt liquid gush out of me. I knew my water broke. I sort of freaked out about it, just because I didn't really expect it to happen. (Although I had kept saying I'd rather my water break, so I knew for sure, rather than try to figure out if I was having true contractions or not.) Jason was telling me not to freak out, because I knew that it could happen. I called the doctor, and Jason was getting all of our things together, including some old clothes for me to wear to the hospital. It really was so gross, and I was very thankful that it happened at home, and not at work or anywhere else. Here's a picture of me on my due date (I was starting to take a picture of myself every day so I would have one from the day I went into labor, but I forgot to take one that day, go figure.)

I checked in at the hospital sometime before midnight. I was still only 1 cm dilated, so they put me on pitocin. It took a while for me to progress, and Emery still hadn't dropped a lot. I got an epidural when I started feeling the pain a lot more. By 9 the next morning, although I was 4 cm dilated, Emery still had not descended enough, and the doctor mentioned having a C-section. Even though I've had a feeling the whole pregnancy that I would end up having a C-section, I was so overwhelmed with emotion that I started crying. We decided to see how much progress had been made in a couple of hours. At that point, no progress had been made, and we decided to go ahead with the C-section. By that point, I was so exhausted, because we really didn't get a lot of sleep that night, between the excitement (and checking facebook comments) and the nurse coming in every half-hour or so. They also had increased my epidural because I was starting to feel more pain, so now I was feeling nauseated and shaky. But at that point, I was just ready to have the baby. Once the decision was made, everything went by so quickly. They got me and Jason ready to go in the operating room. Our family prayed with us, and we were off.

I was nervous about the procedure, but it really wasn't that bad. Jason was sitting with me the whole time. I kept waiting for the sensation of them pulling Emery out of me. Finally, the anesthesiologist told Jason he could stand up to take pictures. I kept hearing him say, "Oh, wow. Oh, wow." (Later I found out he was saying that due to seeing all of my insides just laying there, not from seeing Emery like I originally thought. Ha!) But he started snapping away. After a few minutes, they held Emery up over the curtain. I immediately started crying, amazed that I was finally seeing this baby that had been inside of me the last 9 months. I couldn't hold her yet, though. They took her aside to clean her up...Jason got to go watch and take pictures. They were sewing me up, and I was fighting to stay awake, because I didn't want to miss anything. Finally, they brought her over to me and laid her on my chest.

Mommy holding her for the first time

Daddy holding her

First family photo

Her official stats were that she was born on September 24, 2011 at 12:40 pm. She weighed 7 lbs, 15 oz and was 20 inches long. I'm posting pictures of Jason and me when we were babies to show how she looks like a combination of the two of us. I think she has Jason's eyes and coloring, and she has my nose and the shape of my head.

Claire

Jason

Of course, now that we're home, we're adjusting to our "new normal." I'm trying to take it all in and enjoy every moment because I know she won't be this little for long.

Waiting...

I've been thinking about this episode of Fringe that I saw once. In the episode, a woman had become pregnant, gone through the pregnancy, given birth, and the baby grew into an adult and died all in the matter of about an hour or so. Since I've been pregnant, I have thought about how glad I am that we don't have to go through the physical changes of pregnancy in that short of a time. I couldn't imagine the pain.

Then a couple of weeks ago, Jason asked me didn't I wish that it was that quick. I know he was thinking about once you're ready, then don't you wish you could just have the baby. But that got me thinking about the whole timeline of pregnancy. Aside from the obvious, the growth of the baby taking that long, I think that the time is definitely needed for the emotional preparation. I remember when I first found out, it just seemed so far away and not even real yet. I also didn't feel bonded yet. And I kept saying that I hadn't completely grasped that a real baby was going to be there in the end. Like for the rest of my life. As I began to feel the baby move, I did begin to feel more bonded, and aware that, yes, there is a real baby in there. So, I definitely think that the nine months are a necessary length of time, just for the emotional and mental processing of this huge life change.

Now, I'm the day before my due date, and I am just mentally ready for this baby to come. It's so weird to not know exactly when it's going to happen. I've been looking forward to September 22 for months. I know she still could come in the next couple of days, but I also think that it could be around a week from now. If tomorrow comes and goes and I'm still pregnant, I hope I'm not disappointed. I know that she'll be born whenever God wants her to come, whenever she's ready, and I wouldn't want it to be any sooner. And honestly, I keep telling everyone I'm really not that uncomfortable, so it's not like I'm miserable and have to get her out. So I'm thankful for that. But I am mentally just ready to have her, excited for Jason and myself to experience becoming parents, and looking forward to the family meeting Emery in the flesh. And because I'm using sick days for my maternity leave, I'm working up until I have her. I've finished everything that I needed to get done before I went out. I still have work to do, it just could wait until I came back, if needed. But since I'm still there, I am working on things that I can get done. But when I know I could have this baby any day, I just find it hard to be motivated. I know that's understandable.

I can't wait to see when her birthday is. I wonder how labor will happen for me, too. At this point, I haven't progressed very much. Also, Emery hasn't really dropped that much. I know that all of that can happen so suddenly. As of yesterday, I was not "induceable." I go back in two days to see if any more progress has been made and for another estimate of her weight. I guess we'll talk more about induction then (if I haven't gone into labor on my own).

Now that the nursery is ready, I wanted to post pictures of it. All we need is Emery!

The last two weeks of July were super busy for me. I was so excited that my sister, Amy, was able to visit from Germany with my two nieces. (Last summer she tried to fly military space available, going to the airport every day with the two girls, but she was not able to get a flight. She finally got here with her husband, although it was two days before they needed to fly to Texas for a wedding.) This year, they bought tickets so that she could be sure to get here, and she was here for two weeks. It was so great to hang out with her, to see how grown up my 6-year-old niece, Jordan, is getting, and to see my 21-month-old niece, Ava, and how her personality is developing.

In addition to Amy and the girls being here, I also had my 4-D sonogram, my maternity photo shoot, and a baby shower, all back-to-back. I was absolutely exhausted after that weekend, but it was such a great time! Here are some of my favorite pictures of each of these.

When these ultrasound pictures were taken, I was 30 weeks. We had both of our moms there, and Amy got to come, too. It's so cool to get this glimpse of what the baby looks like. So much better than the traditional sonogram (although those are exciting, too). We thought that Emery is going to look a lot like Ava. But I am starting to see a combination of the two of us, which is what I would want, anyway. Of course, until we see her in person, I guess we still won't know for sure. I love this last picture, where she's smiling. Jason is hoping that means that she will be lighthearted. I guess we'll see.

My maternity photos were taken by Jason's brother, Justin. I think they're awesome. I wanted to go to University of Tampa to take them, because it has such a great building. He also suggested taking some in Emery's room with his backdrop. I'm glad we were able to do both. As you can see, it was raining when we were at UT, but it really didn't affect our pictures at all. This last one is one of my favorites, and we were pretty much finished. Justin asked me was there anything else that I wanted. The only thing we hadn't taken a picture of was the minarets in the background. When I told Justin that was the only other thing I really wanted, he walked out into the park to find a good shot. I think this was perfect! Here is a link to Justin's website (he lives in Orlando). www.jmikl.com

The next day was my family baby shower at my in-laws' house. It was great, and we got a lot of stuff. I was absolutely exhausted after that, though. I was trying to get more pictures of that shower up, but at the rate I'm going, I'm afraid I'll have the baby before I post my next entry, so I'm going to have to wait. At least here are some of the family from that day.

This Old House

I'm going to brag about my husband a little bit. My last post touched on this. He is very handy, and I really don't think I knew this when we got married. It didn't take that long for me to find out, though. A few months after we got married, we bought my grandparents' house, where they had lived since my dad was first born. From the day they moved out, Jason started renovations. Three weeks later we moved in.

Kitchen before

This was back in December 2006 and January 2007. Here are some before, during, and after pictures. In the kitchen, Jason tore out the cabinets and hung the replacements. We took up the linoleum flooring (I helped with this, and so did my mom), and then hired someone to do the counter tops and the tile floor. Also, Jason redid the plumbing (with some guidance from his dad, but he did it all on his own). My uncle also painted the entire interior.

Kitchen before

Old Kitchen Cabinets

Cabinets are gone, sink removed

Working on getting the old flooring up

New tile floor

New cabinets with counter top

Old bathroom

In the bathroom, Jason took out that old flooring and the old tile walls. The same new tile for the kitchen was also used for the bathroom floor and shower walls. We also replaced the sink.

Jason is standing on the ground underneath our house. This was after taking all of the old flooring out.

New tile wall (and new window, because Jason accidentally busted it when he was chipping out the tile)

New sink and painted walls

Living room before

In the living room, Jason took up the old carpet, and we had our flooring guys put down wood flooring instead. (There was wood underneath the old carpet, but there had been some termite damage, so it ended up being less expensive to replace it.)

Living room before

New wood floor in living room

Living room with the furniture

Master bedroom before

 In the bedrooms we put carpet in, and we replaced the carpet that was in the Florida room.

Master bedroom with carpet

Master bedroom with furniture

Back bedroom before (my grandfather made that wardrobe)\

Back bedroom with carpet

Florida room before

Florida room with carpet and painted walls

Florida room with furniture

Florida room with furniture

Old awnings, windows, and door

So, that was all a few years ago, like I said. The furniture or arrangement of the rooms have changed a bit, but it's been the same basic idea. The only thing we hadn't done anything to, was the outside of the house. Jason had done some landscaping, some of which lasted, and some didn't, due to drought or freezing temps. But, once we knew we were having a baby, Jason was ready to replace all of the windows, paint the house, and replace our door. So, he and his dad have been doing a lot of work in the last three months. They are through with most of it, so I'm posting some more of those pictures.

Old awnings, windows, and door

Finished exterior renovations (we've had bad luck with our grass)

So lots of pictures in this post, but I so appreciate how handy my husband is, and his willingness to work in the evenings and weekends to have finished this project after his long, tiring days of work.

I can't forget to mention that one day a few weeks ago, he was home sick from work. When I came home, the baby's room was painted. We rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned our carpets a couple of weeks ago. Then Jason and I put together the crib. The next day, while we were at our childbirth prep class, Jason's parents had put all of the bedding on, and hung the curtains. (His mom made the curtain part to help block the sunlight.) Then, last weekend, my parents bought our glider, and we were able to pick it up and get that set up. It is so comfortable! So Emery's room isn't finished yet, but we've got a good start on it.

And just an update...at my 20 week sonogram they said that my placenta was positioned low, which would have meant a C-section if it didn't correct itself (which it often does). So I had another sonogram at 28 weeks, and they said that everything looked good, and the placenta was no longer low. So, that's good. Here's a sweet picture of Emery.