Visitors

Being a mom of two is amazing, but it has definitely cut back on my me time and I find myself feeling like this sometimes:

Emma is such an easy and mellow baby, and I feel this is in large part because she's the second child and I am a much calmer parent knowing what to expect.   Even though I have my experiences with Luke to pull from, there are still lots of new things I've found challenging the second time around like how to get out of the house with 2 kids in the morning before 8:30am, how to grocery shop in under 20 minutes, how to have a conversation with anyone when both kids are awake, and how to handle both kids needing your full undivided attention at once. 

Luke has been amazing with the whole transition but has definitely been a mama's boy since Emma's birth, and when I am holding her his favorite things to say are, "I need a hug," or "hold me," or my favorite, "mommy, you need to share." It's so precious.   Thankfully, we have been SO lucky to have our family around the last few weeks taking shifts visiting and have had our moms, dads, sisters and brothers weaving in and out helping with Luke, cooking great meals, cleaning, and getting in lots of snuggles with Emma.  

Grandma and Emma

Uncle Eric, Auntie Stacey, Cousin Makenna and Emma

Grandma Susan and Emma

Auntie Becky and Emma

Papa and Luke

Oma and Emma

Uncle Adam playing with Luke

Grandpa, Uncle Adam, Luke and Emma

Grandpa and Emma

Of course the best support system I've had has been from B, who is the best dad, friend and husband. He is so patient, goofy and kind and really picks up the slack on days I am sleep deprived, hungry or just need a mini break.  Knowing we're a team makes everything that much easier, and we're definitely getting the hang of "divide and conquer".

We have a few more weekends of visitors lined up with my sister and her husband this weekend, B's sister the following weekend and then Oma for a quick overnight so B and I can go see Chris Botti in concert, EEEEEEEEEEEK, I'm so excited. 

Emma 3 Weeks Old

Emma and I had some fun yesterday taking pictures. I can't believe my baby girl is almost a month old!

The Blue Tank

Emma in her blue phototherapy tank

Only 1 full day after being home from the hospital, we had to go back to get Emma's biliruben levels checked.   We waited at the hospital until we got her results back and her biliruben levels had spiked from 6 when we had her tested on Sunday, to 20 by Tuesday afternoon.  They admitted us back to the hospital in the children's ward immediately to start phototherapy, and I was a wreck.   It was so hard to see Emma in her little blue box when all I wanted to do was hold her, and so scary waiting for the first results to see if her levels were dropping.  The doctor was so wonderful and compassionate at explaining how common janudice was in newborns, why they were concerned about Emma's spike and setting realistic expectations as to when we would likely be able to go home.

They did the third biliruben test Tuesday night after Emma had spent 6 hours in her blue tank and her levels had thankfully started to drop down and were at 18.8.  I was so relieved to know her levels were going down and more aggressive treatment wouldn't be necessary.

Emma's stylish eye mask

We ended up staying in the hospital for another 2 nights as we had to get her biliruben levels to below 12 before they would release us, and by Thursday morning they had dropped down to 11.

B visiting us in the hospital to get some snuggle time with Emma

It was definitely not a fun experience, but there are worse things that could of happened and I feel lucky our baby girl recovered quickly, and we had my mom in town to help with Luke and stay in the hospital with me.  We got home from the hospital Thursday afternoon, and I had a few extra hours with my mom before she had to fly home. Emma's first week got off to a rough start, but she's now doing just great.

Emma's Birth Story

Holding Emma after her first bath. 

Let me just start by saying Emma's birth was waaaaaaaaay different than my experience with Luke, but thankfully the second time around you know what to expect, what the signs are leading up to labor, what a contraction feels like, and ultimately when it's time to go to the hospital.

About a week before Emma's birth, I started having lots of false labor contractions.  They would come in and out, get closer together then go away, and as the week progressed they started getting slightly more intense going from me barley noticing when my stomach was tightening to having to breathe through the longer more intense contractions that came on later in the week.  B's mom had come down the weekend before my due date to be on call to watch Luke had I gone into labor and she stayed a few extra nights as I kept thinking baby Emma was going to be making her arrival due to all the activity... but Emma wasn't ready.

My mom flew in the following Friday and by Friday night, the contractions were coming consistently, just not withing the 5-7 minutes that my doctor told me to wait for before coming to the hospital.  I tried to go to bed to get some rest, but by 2:30 am on Saturday morning, the contractions started coming every 5 minutes and we headed to the hospital.  Once in the labor and delivery triage unit, the nurse told me I was only 2 cm dilated and my contractions started to slow down, but they kept me there for 3 hours to monitor Emma's heart rate as it had a few dips during the time they had me hooked up to the monitor.  The doctor came back in to check on us around 5:30 am and told me I hadn't dilated any further and it was probably best to go home and wait vs stay in the hospital, so home we went.  

I continued to have contractions throughout the day getting longer and more intense, and by early evening they were getting so intense I was having a hard time standing or breathing though them.   I was determined to wait as long as I could before going back to the hospital as I didn't want to be sent home again and I am generally not a fan of hospitals in the first place.   The contractions were still coming at all odd intervals, sometimes 3-4 minutes a part then 8-9 minutes, so I decided to take a hot shower to help with the back pain I was experiencing with each contraction.  After I got out of the shower, my contractions were coming every 5 minutes again and I decided it was time to go to the hospital.  

We got to the hospital around 8:15 pm Saturday night and by the time we were placed into the triage unit the second time around, the contractions were coming every 3 minutes and I was in tears from the back pain.  The doctor came in and I was only 3 cm dilated, but my contractions were so close that they admitted me to my own labor and delivery room within 10 minutes.  By this point I was begging for an epidural, especially after finding out I was only 3 cm dilated and thinking I had a long way to go... or so I thought.  They came in shortly after I got to my room and started administering the epidural and by this point I was screaming from the back pain.  I kept telling the nurse I felt like I had to push and she told me to wait, so I waited what felt like an eternity but was only 15 minutes and as soon as they finished administering the epidural they checked me again and I had dilated to 10 cm in just 15 minutes.  The epidural had yet to actually kick in, but I started pushing anyway just a my mom walked through the door and 10 minutes later I was holding my baby girl.  Emma was born at 9:30 pm weighing 6 lbs 13 oz and measuring 20" long.

It all happened so fast and we didn't even have time to call anyone to tell them I was in labor until after Emma was born.  My sister and B's parents came by that night to meet Emma and then we went to our recovery room around midnight and were released from the hospital the following night.

Admiring our baby girl. 

Emma right after her first bath.

Happy 4th!

Happy birthday America!  It's been in the 100's all week so we're mostly laying low today to beat the heat, and are having some friends over later for a causal BBQ. Luke has been very anti getting his picture taken lately so my hopes of getting a cute shot of both kiddos in their 4th outfits was a no go - you may notice this blog may be very biased towards pics of Emma for awhile...

I hope everyone has a safe, cool and fun day!