Emma Kyle arrived early!

Well alot has happened since that baby shower -- Emma decided to arrive three weeks early! She was born on June 20th at 5:16am, weighing in at 6 lbs, 13 oz and 19 inches long. She was a surprise to us all - but she is here, doing well, and almost a month old now. Time surely does pass by quickly! She's kept me busy and we are still learning how to take care of this newborn! Here's how it all happened....

On Wednesday, June 15th, I had my last doctor's appointment. I anxiously awaited to hear what the doctor had to say since I was then in my 37th week. He confirmed that the baby was head down (yay!) but my cervix was still posterior so I had not made any progress in that department. I was glad - I still had some things to do to get ready for her.

On Friday, June 17th, I stayed at work late to send out an email to my supervisor and a few others to let them know my plans for maternity leave, how to contact me, exactly how long I planned to be off, etc. For some reason I just thought I should take the time to send it out before that weekend....good thing I did.

Saturday was my day to pack the shelves and freezer with food. Again, I didn't realize at the time how "timely" I was in doing this, but I'm so glad I did! I spent a couple hundred dollars and a couple hours wandering in WalMart - and filled a cart. I was buying things and didn't even know why - I have enough pasta and rice in my cupboard to last for months! I had planned to go to Sam's to stock up on meat, but didn't make it that day. I was too tired after the hours at WalMart.

Sunday, Father's Day, June 19th...7am..I woke up early and was having some weird symptoms - I had to pee a lot and thought I might be leaking a little "water". I called the doctor that saw me on Wednesday - he said I would know it if my water had broken and this was unlikely considering that I hadn't made any progress at all on Wednesday. He advised to call back in a couple hours if things changed. The rest of the morning I felt some mild cramping, but nothing too bad. I had read that it's normal to have fake/practice contractions weeks before delivery, so I figured that's what I was feeling. Around 2:30pm I started having irregular, but real, contractions. Usually they were short and pretty mild, and sometimes an hour or more apart. By that evening, they had become more regular and stronger. I called the next doc on call and she said not to call back until contractions were at least one minute long, 5 mins apart, and good, strong, hard contractions. Just to be sure, I waited a little longer. I didn't want to get to the hospital, only to be sent home because I had not progressed far enough.

I think Jason started to freak a little. He made the kids sit down and watch a movie. He cleaned the kitchen. I was thinking to myself, I've been nesting for a while now and he waits until I go into labor to clean!! Everyone was getting anxious - was it time to go to the hospital?? I got in the tub to try to relax, but found that walking or sitting on the exercise ball was more comfortable. I screamed for Jason to help me when they got really bad. I just hung onto him for dear life. He did great and kept record of the contractions for me.

By around 10:45pm I was really feeling the contractions - strong, painful, at least 2 mins long and about 3 mins apart.... Jasond called the doc for me. She said to head to the hospital! We packed into the truck, and dropped the older kiddo off at her grandmother's (She had driver's ed the next morning - her last session to get her license. Not even Emma was getting in the way of that!). Dalton decided to come with us to the hospital. Bless his heart - he sat behind me in the truck and tried to console me as we drove to the hospital - patting my shoulder and telling me to "just breathe". He will make a fine husband one day. Contractions continued on the drive, which seemed to take forever - still strong, 2 mins apart on the dot.

We got to MJH by 11:30pm. They took me in a wheelchair and Dalton followed with all of our luggage - what a trooper. Jason had to go park the truck and meet us up on the L&D floor. They got me in and undressed and checked me - already 4 cm dilated! I was so proud that we'd made it that far on our own!! I told the nurse I wanted to go as natural as possible, but did not want to stay in that bed. So I got in the whirlpool tub - awesome. It helped a lot with the contractions. Jason was right by my side, keeping me cool with wet, ice cold washcloths. The nurse helped me breathe and told me to relax as much as possible. Contractions got harder and more painful. She said I could have a quick shot of a drug that would help take the edge off (through IV in my hand). I opted for it - fentenol (sp?). She said it wouldn't hurt baby and was metabolised in about an hour. I got two doses of it. It made me feel drunk for a little while, and did take the edge off. I highly recommend it.

Around 3am I felt like I needed to be checked again so I reluctantly got out of the tub and -- I was 9.5cm!! Just a little longer and I was up to 10cm! Time to push! Now, I had it in my head that I would do all that work and then push like 3 times and the baby would pop out. Not so easy though. I pushed for what seemed like eternity but was an hour/hour and half at the most I guess. Jason was right there at my head and helped hold a leg at times. He was very encouraging and I was so glad he was there with me. At some point the doc showed up - she was great. I didn't think I could do it. I kept saying, I just want her out - why can't I push her out?!! This was the hardest part for me. Just when I thought I could not push any harder, I suddenly heard the most beautiful sound - Emma screaming her little lungs out! And then she was on my chest, looking up at me, my finger in the tightest little grip I had ever felt. I fell in love with her at that very moment - she was the most beautiful baby in the world (aren't they all?!). I was too tired to cry and couldn't believe what I, me, I had just done. It was amazing, painful, yes, but I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. It was so surreal - I can't belive I'm a mom - that I have a daughter. It all went by so quickly...

Poor Dalton had been waiting outside the room in the hallway, listening to me scream and yell. After they got me all cleaned up, he came in, said hello to his little sister, and curled up in a chair to sleep. It had been a long day and night and now morning. Jason fell asleep in the other chair. We were all exhausted.





While they were attending to me, the nurses took Emma to the nursery to have her bathed and checked out by the doc on call. She was the only baby in the nursery at the time. They wheeled me down the hall to watch. The boys slept - bless their hearts. Then the moved us down to a recovery room and brought Emma back in. We didn't sleep much that night. I was trying to breastfeed, but turns out she wasn't latching correctly. I think she got the colostrum, but didn't eat much. She slept mostly - we learned why later. Monday was a blur of doctors, nurses, some family, some sleep, etc. On Tuesday a lactation consultant came by. Emma just wasn't getting how to latch on, but told me to continue to try. She was three weeks early afterall. The doc/nurses didn't seem too concerned that she wasn't eating much, although Jason thought otherwise. Wednesday morning came and we thought we'd be going home. That's when they did the heel prick and discovered the jaudice level was too high. They immediately wheeled in the lights and we couldn't hold her except to feed her. They brought me a pump and told me to start pumping - that she needed to eat. Luckily my milk had come in. They informed us that we would be staying at least one more night and moved us to the pediatric floor. Apparantly the L&D floor was now full and overflowing, so another new mother needed our room.

We were able to stay with her on the ped floor - I was in a bed, Jason was in a very uncomfortable pull out chair. Poor guy. Emma was in her new tanning bed.



Not being able to hold her as she fussed under the lights was the worst part. Then the doc came in. We asked some questions about jaundice and he told us some of the side affects if her score kept rising - not a good idea. It scared the crap out of me, and left me in tears. He said they would come back and check her in the morning. Thursday morning her score had lowered to 11.3 - great progress. The doc then said to keep her under the lamps until noon, then we could take her out and they would check her later that evening to see if the score rebounded. If she maintained, we could go home. 7pm rolled around and the score came back - 11.7. Not too bad, so the doc said we could go home! We finally made it home around 9:30pm that night. Friday morning we took her back to the doc and they decided her jaundice had all but disappeared - hoorah!

Since then we've had lots of family come by and visit. My Mom, bless her, came as soon as we got home and was a HUGE help! We had a nice visit and she is in love with her granddaughter! Sometime over that weekend something clicked with miss Emma and she started latching on, so I was able to start breastfeeding. She has kept me busy ever since. Some days she eats and sleeps right on schedule - every 2 hours. Every now and then she is fussy and we've had a few "off" days. I'm glad if I get a shower before 5pm! Jason comes home and takes her as soon as he comes in - showing her the chickens, the garden, and just giving me a break. He's in love with her too.

Unfortunately, she's almost a month old and I'm just now getting this updated - it might be more than you wanted to read, but at least it's recorded now. Although her arrival was a surprise and a little early, we are so excited to have her here with us - she is a true blessing!