Meeting Miss Emily Mae

Two sleeping girls, an empty sink, a quiet house, and a free hour (with "resting" as a great excuse) adds up to an opportunity for me to type out my memories of one of the best days of our lives. It's true: there are certain days that just take the cake. The pictures taken cannot possibly capture the joy that you experience as you marry your best friend or witness the birth of two little girls... In fact, even writing out the memories I have (yes, I'm getting old and the details are already fading) seems in some way to diminish the whole experience. You know? But for little Emily's sake, I'll jot down what I remember. This time, I took a friend's advice and had my husband write down details over the course of our night in the hospital, and I'm so glad I did. There are a few "coincidental" details about Emily's birth that just make me laugh. The first is that I gave birth to her the day after a doctor's appointment, as I did with Elyse, both girls were born on a Wednesday, and labor started with both girls at 38 weeks 6 days.

Tuesday, May 18th was kind of a blah-day... I was feeling very large and in charge, but we all packed up and headed to the doc's office for my exam. Jordan was sweet enough to come with me, and Elyse actually cooperated quite well! My doctor confirmed that I could go any time, but as you know, that could mean weeks.... months... years... yes, I was starting to feel that way :) We got home at about 11am, and I started getting the same contractions I'd been having for days: random contractions about 6-8 minutes apart with absolutely no pain and no regularity. I still managed to take a nap that afternoon, which convinced me that these silly contractions weren't going anywhere. After Elyse was in bed, I cleaned up the house and the contractions started back up again with no change. I kind of had a hunch that real labor might be close, so I washed up diapers and started to pack up our things. I was getting kind of uncomfortable, so I blew up my exercise ball and started bouncing around the living room (yes, that mental picture still cracks me up!!!). Since labor started very obviously with Elyse, I had NO idea what to expect with these contractions. They were now about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting for almost a minute each. At about 9:30, I called the doctor on call to just see what he would recommend, and he suggested I head in to get it checked out since my labor with Elyse was fairly fast for a first baby. I waited patiently until Jordan got off work at 10pm and called him at 10:01pm to tell him to hurry home. By this point, I knew this was definitely the real thing! My sweet brother-in-law Izaak was kind enough to swing by the house to pick up Elyse, since by this point, I knew I'd have a very hard time saying goodbye to her over at their place, if I even made it there without crawling to the backseat to writhe around in pain :) Yes, I still had a hard time saying goodbye to her at our house :( By the time Jordan got home, I had showered and had most everything packed. He calmly loaded me up in the car and we headed in.

We got to the hospital at 11:10pm, and I had my first wheelchair ride EVER. I learned that it's really not that fun. We arrived at maternity, and I was getting quite miserable. After they confirmed that these contractions were indeed doing the trick, we got settled into our room just before midnight. The nurses were great, and they called the anesthesiologist right away so I could get my fun epidural :) The anesthesiologist arrived at 1, and by 1:20, I was feeling quite lovely. Jordan dozed a bit, and I laid there wondering how long this was going to take since my water still hadn't broken...? At 2:30am, or so, I started to feel that not-fun feeling again: PAIN. The nurse was kind of in disbelief, but she did call the anesthesiologist again and she attempted (to no avail) to alleviate my pain. Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted! Apparently, there had been too much of a delay in starting my epidural drip, and it had just enough time to completely wear off. Poor Jordan :) No, actually, he was amazing. I had not planned on having Emily without meds, so I didn't exactly have a birth plan (except to get the baby OUT by the time I left the hospital). Note to self: be prepared. My bad! Anyway, it was a "neat" experience (in hindsight) that thankfully didn't last that long.

My doctor arrived at about 3:15 and broke my water. He then took off to help another patient. I missed him because I was ready to meet Emily! The nurses were very calm and Jordan had this look of horror on his face... Okay, just kidding about the look of horror. He was so empathetic during the whole process that I just wanted to stop pushing and hug him... but I didn't. Anyway, I informed the nurse politely (I'm keeping this clean) that I was ready, and she politely informed me that the doctor was on his way (as she was panicking into her phone for him to get his bum over to room 12). Doc literally walked into his gloves and mask and had about a minute to get settled before Emily jumped into his arms at 3:31am. She weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds 12 ounces and she was 19.5 inches long. We were both so surprised at how quietly she entered the world. She squawked a time or two and then patiently endured all of the nurses' prodding and poking without a peep. You might have noticed that she does not look much like her big sister because she really resembles her mommy! Shock of shocks! :)

I have to say, I was a bit apprehensive about meeting a second child. I really had no idea what to expect when it came to that. Would the love I have for Elyse divide to cover Emily? It took about 1 second to realize that there was plenty of love to go around. And, as it did when I had Elyse, my love for Jordan grew even more. We are so thankful for a healthy little girl. God's kindness to us is overwhelming and we pray that she will grow to love him.

Well, today was day one of my adventure with two. I had prepared for the worst possible, and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm surprised that Elyse really has no idea that a new little lady is living with us! She meanders around the house just as she did last Tuesday and stops every once in a while to giggle and point at baby "Emmie" (as she calls her). I'm sure life will get more interesting as I will soon need to start cooking again (SO thankful for a generous church & family!), doing my own laundry, cloth diapering, and inevitably, Emily will realize that sleeping all the time isn't so fun. But for now, I will enjoy it. I desperately miss my mom, who was kind enough to spend the first week with us, but I guess I need to a big girl and get settled on my own now.

Emily Mae, we love you to pieces and are so thankful that you're here. We've been praying for you and will keep praying that you grow into a lady who loves Jesus.

p.s. Thank you for being a small baby! :)

" Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from

the Father of lights . . . "

James 1:17