Emma's birth story starts alot earlier than the others. At the 20 week ultrasound they found some items of concern. Namely, they found cysts near her brain, a soft indicator for a fatal disease called tri-18. And, the placenta was low and close to my previous c-section scar. I was actually more worried about the 2nd problem. What if the placenta was pulled while my tummy was growing too early. I had this fear from weeks 20-24 that she wouldn't survive because of this, which felt worse to me than tri-18 because it would have been my body that failed her.
Well, we made it past 24 weeks. All the waiting for 8 weeks until we had a mfm ultrasound at 28 weeks to see if the cysts had dissolved and the placenta had moved. We were relieved to see that the cysts had gone away and the placenta had mostly moved. Another mfm ultrasound was scheduled in 8 more weeks (at 36 weeks) to see if the placenta had moved enough to make a vbac safe, or if we needed a c-section. (And worse case senario...a hysterectomy.) Oh, we also had a family trip planned for weeks 29-31 and we wanted to make sure it was safe to travel. Our trip was approved and we had a great vacation with Rob's parents to California.
At the 36 week mfm ultrasound, we found that the placenta had mostly moved and a vbac would have been safe if I went into labor on my own. But, they also found that her body didn't have normal measurements. Her head was measuring a week behind, but her stomach was measuring 3 weeks behind. This discrepency shows that her body wasn't receiving enough nutrients to grow both organs and was sending what was available to her brain. So she was diagnosed with IUGR (interuteriene growth restriction) and it was decided she needed to come out at 37 weeks. They estimated she was 4 & 1/2 lbs. Because of the placenta and the fact I had a previous c/s, it would be dangerous to induce me because my body wasn't ready (1cm dialated and 60% effaced). So we scheduled a c/s at 37 weeks and 5 days.
It was kind of nice to know when we were going to the hospital, when the baby was coming, etc. We made plans for Rob's parents to watch the kids (Christopher babysits well for 3 hours or less and we knew this would be longer.) Arranged meals ahead of time from church friends, made sure laundry & grocery shopping was done, etc. We got to the hospital at 9:30am and had a slow time of checking in for the 11:30am c/s. One thing that was annoying is at the check in desk she said "its only a 10 minute process" but I didn't want to be standing up for 10 mins. But I did anyways. Around 10:45 or 11am I started getting antsy and uncomfortable. I didn't want to be sitting in the bed with monitors on me. I couldn't get comfortable, even though I wasn't having contractions. Finally they brought me back to the OR. Our previous encounters with anesteologists was that they were weird, but this guy was really normal. He gave me a spinal in the OR, with me sitting up, hunched over. I was moaning and groaning when it was uncomfortable (with the pokes), but it went to work really fast and soon I was lying down on a narrow bed and warm air was flowing over the top half of my body. Then I was super comfortable because the OR was freezing.
With Makayla's c/s I wasn't numb enough, so I told the anesteologist my previous experience. He made sure I was numb and calmed my concern about that. He took a cold, wet wipe and wiped it on my shoulder and kept going lower until I couldn't feel it anymore. My OBGYN did a similar poke test & I couldn't feel it. Yay! The c/s itself wasn't bad. Sure there was tugging and a burning flesh smell, but I was warm, numb, and comfortable, and sooo curious how big she was. I don't think I've ever been so curious about that. Well, the first thing my Dr said when she pulled out Emma was "This is not a small baby. She's got to be almost 7 lbs!" They cut the cord, wiped her a little, but not much, then brought her around to show Rob and I. Then they took her to the little NICU to help her with her breathing (common for c/s), still not weighing her. It did take a while for them (Dr. Young assisted) to stitch me up and there were no complications with the placenta, so I got to keep my uterus. Yay! I was warm and comfortable, so the length of time didn't bother me. My sister-in-law, Kimberly's uncle Reggie was the respitory therapist working on Emma, so that was nice to have that connection. They let Rob hold her and he brought her to me to stroke her hand or tummy, I can't remember, then she had to go up the the NICU for some time on the CPAP machine.
Rob has been amazing taking care of the kids while I rest and heal. After his week of paternity leave was over, he took the kids to his parents house so they could stay there while he was at work. I had a lovely week of resting, reading, healing, and getting to know Emma before the chaos of siblings and school starting comes. And my parents came the next week to help us get used to the transition of having 7 kids!
One of the few times she has had a binkie in her mouth because she is a stinker and won't take a binkie. Michael was our only other kid that wouldn't take a binkie, but he didn't get mad about having one like she did.
1. Because they were premie size and I knew she wouldn't fit in them very long, and 2. Because I felt well enough to play dress up.
I think she looks so big in the carseat because I did a close up and didn't get the whole carseat for comparison size. I did take another picture that will be in another blog that shows the whole carseat. She just wanted to be held. I can still hear her "wah-wah" sound in my head. Those first few months she would turn her head with each "wah". "wah-wah-wah-wah-wah" Just take the binkie! (spoiler alert: she became a much happier baby at around 3 months. Until then when people ask "is she a good baby?" I'd answer "well, she cries alot. Because she won't take a binkie."
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