The One Where We Birth A Baby

Didn't I just do this last year?!

Eleven hours of labor and a c-section is what it took to get this little sweetheart here. Emma had stopped growing at around 34 weeks because my placenta wasn't functioning right, and at 39 weeks the doctor decided I needed to be induced. Joey and I went in to the hospital the next morning, October 27, to get the ball rolling. I tried doing things naturally and actually lasted about 5 hours before the pitocin brought me to my knees and I practically begged for an epidural. My water was dark with meconium and Emma became stressed with each contraction. After 8 hours of the pitocin and broken water I was still only 5 cm dilated and my doctor decided a c-section was the best chance for me to have a healthy baby. She was pulled from my womb at 7:28 that evening (guess what- she was also posterior and apparently my pelvis is too small even for a 4lb baby, so that would have been fun) and then the staff hurried her to the side of the operating room to make sure everything was alright. And it was. Emma was a perfect full-term, 4 lb 13 oz, 18 inch baby.

 

 My how teeny, tiny 4 lbs is. Preemie outfits fit her best for the first couple of weeks, but her body was too long and she would stretch them out. Now at three weeks she's grown about half a pound each week and she finally fits into Newborn sizes. They just look like tents on her. Oh, and her mouth is huge, so she's had no problem nursing. She even lets us sleep up to 5 or 6 hours at night!

Many people have asked how this compares to adopting a newborn. This is what I think. Carrying, delivering, and caring for Emma has obviously been much more physically demanding. I'm way more tired than I was with Sadie and I feel like this has been a much bigger adjustment. But I'm so totally in love with both of these girls and can't imagine either of them joining our family in any other way. Neither of them feels more like our "real" daughter than the other, and each one is a miracle.

All of our family and friends have been amazing! Thank you for your hospital visits, thank you for taking care of Sadie while we were at the hospital, thank you for bringing us dinners, thank you for the darling baby clothes (and blankets, towels, toys, hair clips, DVDs etc), thank you for watching my babies while I run to the grocery store, thank you for checking to see how we are doing, thank you for vacuuming our house and washing our dishes, thank you for indulging me when I send you pictures of my sweeties, thank you for understanding why I am still wearing yoga pants with spit-up stains every day, why my hair is a greasy mess, why there are hundreds of toys scattered across our dog-haired carpet, and why I might have to tell you "no I can't", and thank you for loving our family and sharing in our excitement. (I'm really terrible at actually writing thank you cards, so thank you for understanding why you won't be getting one. I hope this will suffice).

Thanks for the outfit, Shauna!

Lorraine is her middle name but I wouldn't expect anyone to read through an extra 8 paragraphs of sentimental mom-talk. I'm already pushing it as it is. Therefore, we'll just stick with Emma Lu. Choosing a name is hard! That's a decision that will affect her for her entire life (barring any name changes). At least Sadie's middle name was chosen for us, so if she doesn't like it it's not our fault. Emma's middle name comes from Joey's grandmother, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting though from what I understand she was an amazing lady with a beautiful heart. I hope Emma will live up to her namesake.

This is actually my grandma, not Joey's. Also an amazing lady.

Understandably, Joey and I agree that Emma is the sweetest, most perfect and beautiful little girl to grace this green earth (tied with Sadie, of course). She is our littlest angel and we can't believe how lucky we are to have her in our family. Sadie may not be feeling so lucky yet (we've already found bite marks on Emma's head) but we anticipate that these girls will be best, best friends. We're excited to watch Emma blossom and to see the special role she has to play in our family.

Bite marks