…our daughter!
Emma was born yesterday, August 6, at 5:10 a.m. weighing 6 lb, 5 oz and 19″ long. She decided to come 8 days ahead of her due date, 19 hours after her cousin Lucas and 5 hours before my grandmother’s funeral, which all seems somehow poetic and helped make a sad day a very happy one as well. (Lucas decided to join the world 7 weeks early, but he’s doing great so far!)
I’ll write more about the whole birth experience sometime soon, but all in all everything went really well. I woke up Sunday and spent the morning trying to pretend that everything felt normal. But ultimately around 2:00, I decided that either 1) I had suddenly become incontinent after avoiding that issue during pregnancy thus far or 2) my water had broken and was coming out in small amounts. I’ve heard so many stories of people thinking their water had broken when it was really just pee, but we dutifully headed to the hospital to find out. We checked in around 3 and by 4:30, we were ceremoniously informed that we wouldn’t be leaving that day!
Once your water breaks, doctors generally want the baby out within 24 hours to minimize the risk of infection and since mine was apparently already broken when I woke up that morning at 8:30, I’d already used up some of my “clock.” At first I was told I’d have to go on pitocin around 7:00 but I made enough progress on my own that I got a reprieve until midnight. Around that time, my contractions were starting to get pretty darn painful anyway so I asked for an epidural and the nurse got the pitocin ready to go as soon as the anesthesiologist was done. Turns out, an epidural was all I needed to relax enough to let my body do the rest. I went from 6 to 10 cm in only 2 hours and never had to go on pitocin — yay! But after that came the worst part — 2 hours of 1) having to then let the epidural wear OFF enough to be able to push (annoying) and 2) then being told NOT to push because the on-call doctor wasn’t there yet (MEGA annoying).
By the time Emma was born, I think most of the epidural had worn off because, well, it was not exactly fun. But the reward outweighed all the pain and I will never forget seeing the doctor hold up our little girl and then put her on my chest as she breathed (and cried) for the first time. Jose and I debated a lot about what she’d look like, but for now it looks like Jose’s genes totally won out. She’s got his squishy cheeks, cute squinty eyes, and a TON of dark hair. She’s still adjusting to the world I’m sure, but for a 1-day-old she is eating — and pooping! — like a champ.
Yep, I think we’ll keep her.
becca says
I want to know how you looked so fabulous in that post-birth photo. Because honestly most I see are not fabulous. The twins saw it and asked if you brought makeup to the hospital 🙂
Congrats guys – can’t wait to meet Emma next week. I get the feeling her cousin Lucas will be spending a lot of time in their young lives pointing out he is a full 19 hrs older….
saroy says
Good genes? Lol, I have no idea. If I wore makeup in the first place, it would’ve been gone after 14 hours in the hospital anyway! I’ll chalk it up to a combo of being very happy to see Emma and very happy to not be in pain anymore!
MelV says
Congrats! She is beautiful.
JunieB says
Sarah you look absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! Congratulations. And I love the name Emma.
Jennifer says
I love the pictures – especially the last one. As Becca says, you look great. (Mine were not fit for print!) She is adorable.
How long did you have to wait for the doc? I had to wait 1 hour, which still bothers me. If it happened to both of us, it must be fairly common.
saroy says
I had to wait (i.e. not push) for 15-20 minutes. It felt like forever!
Erin N. says
CONGRATULATIONS!!!! She’s a beauty (you look awesome, too). Look at all that hair! I’m so happy for y’all. 🙂
Katie says
I am so happy for you and Jose and can’t wait to meet Emma. You look awesome and I love the picture of Jose holding her! Love you!
SarahM says
So glad everything went well! Great photos!
Having trouble imagining waiting 20 min (or an hour!?) for the doc at pushing time. Yikes. 🙂 I had to wait 5 or 10 minutes with my first and I was about ready to mutiny then.
Enjoy the baby snuggles and get lots of rest!
Katie says
Yay – congratulations again! I love hearing birth stories and I agree with everyone else that my first thought was “boy – she looks amazing and is glowing!” in your photo after giving birth.
Nujoud says
Congrats and Emma looks beautiful! When you are home, you will have to let me know which night I can bring a meal over for you.
Daniel says
Congrats! Everyone looks great!
laanba says
Once again I wanted to say congratulations. I have had so much fun following your blog through all your changes of life and this one is special. She is beautiful and I know you and Jose are going to be great parents!
cybertoad says
I will add my congratulations to the rest – and +1 on how beautiful you two look in the 1st pic! So happy for y’all!
Gavin says
Belated congratulations! But where are the 1 week posts/pictures? Less sleep, more posts! C’mon, what else are you going to do at 2am in the morning?
saroy says
I haven’t mastered one-handed typing well enough to want to do a whole blog entry that way!