Introducing… Elliot and Winston!

It has gotten more and more difficult to write on this site as we have added more kids. Additionally, when I was writing this blog with Elliot I was using it as a form of therapy. Things have actually gotten better and I have not needed to vent my frustrations so much in writing anymore. The second and third babies have not been nearly so life-changing. Plus, having some real world experience and reasonable expectations in child rearing helps. Nevertheless, here is Emily’s birth story.

Emily’s due date was on Christmas, but we had a planned C-section scheduled approximately 6 days earlier (on a Tuesday). I was scheduled to work through the Friday prior. That Friday afternoon I was having contractions which were not incredibly regular but or frequent enough for me to download a contraction timer. As I left that evening, I spoke with one of the other radiologists and said I might be going into labor early. The timing would be perfect since I just started maternity leave with ending that shift.

As I drove home, I told Logan about what was going on. He put his parents on notice. That evening I continue to have contractions with about an 8 to 10 minute frequency. By bedtime they had not progressed so Logan called off his parents. We were not convinced that she would cone before her planned surgery.

I tried to get some sleep while Logan went to visit a friend that evening, but when the contractions didn’t stop, I started The Force Awakens and was watching that by the time Logan got back. Contractions continued on through the night and I probably slept for 90 fairly interrupted minutes at one point. I started to think maybe we would not make it to our planned appointment for surgery.

By 6 a.m., I figured it was fair enough for me to call the obstetrician. I had not eaten anything so if I was to go to surgery, it would be better to go on in before I had breakfast. The obstetrician sounded tired but was nice. He suggested several strategies to try to stop the contractions to which (despite my better instincts) I complied. When the contractions did not stop after a couple of hours, I called the obstetrician again. Unfortunately it was a different obstetrician as they had switch call at that point. She told me to come on in if I felt like I needed to be evaluated.

At this point, our other children were awake. I explained that they may be getting their long-awaited sister today. Our sweet neighbor took our boys until Gam Gam and Slappy could pick them up and take them to Aunt Linzy’s. We also put my parents on notice.

Logan and I went to the hospital emergency room from which we were taken to OB triage. They hooked me up to monitors which demonstrated that I was in fact having contractions. Cervix check showed only one centimeter though. They decided to have me wait for an hour to see if my cervix dilated anymore and if I continued to have contractions.

Last bump picture!

So Logan and I waited. I was hangry since I missed breakfast and had not really counted on having to go through any labor. I played my cesarean section Amazon playlist which included such hits as “I’m Coming Out,” “Born This Way,” and “All I Want For Christmas Is You.” After a couple of hours of this and not knowing if we would be admitted or not, the doctor came in to check my cervix which had not progressed significantly. However, because I had not slowed on my contractions and because there were some questionable decelerations in the baby’s heart rate, she decided to take me to surgery! Hooray! We let our families know and my parents got on the road.

The surgery went similarly to my other surgeries. The biggest difference in my mind was the fact that I did not know the anesthesia people. However, they were very friendly and kept me entertained and comfortable throughout the operation. Emily was quickly extracted from my belly. Her initial cry was gurgly. Apparently she had aspirated some of my light meconium in amniotic fluid on the way out.

She was taken over to the infant warmer and was suctioned. It didn’t take long before her gurgly cry became an angry cry. Perhaps it was the medications, but I was never that worried about her.

After they dried her off and suctioned her some they weighed her. 7 pounds and 13 oz. This pregnancy was complicated by gestational diabetes, which I probably had undiagnosed with the other pregnancies. I guess the diet worked.

I got to see her briefly before they wisked her off to suction her more. After I was sewn up, they took me back to my room. It was a couple of hours before I finally got to meet Emily more formally. Apparently they sectioned off some “pea soup” from her lungs and after that she was much better. Logan checked on her frequently.

My parents arrived at evening to meet our daughter.

I spent the night at the hospital by myself. At this point I have wised up enough to use the newborn nursery. Emily and I hung out during the middle of the night and watched Empire Strikes Back on TNT and nursed. It was our first girls night!

Dad brought his nice camera and we tried to get some newborn photos the next day (see last post). Logan’s parents came to meet the baby and brought us back our other children. Elliot liked her but Winston was less sure. He warmed up to her some by the end of the visit.

The next day I went home. I saw one of my radiologist friends on the way out. He had read her chest x-ray over the weekend. Winston went with my parents to get spoiled. Elliot had to stay with us since he still had a couple of days of school.

The day after we got home, Aunt Linzy and cousin Charlotte came to visit. Linzy he brought me some truffles, which I appreciated since I had not had much sugar in the past several months!

Logan and I were a little disoriented since Emily showed up a little bit early. However, we are glad she is here! What perfect timing!