A long needed update...Emmett is here!!

He's here!! On April 5th, Tom and I heard from Dr. Jelsema's office that the results from the amniocentesis indicated that our little yoshi's lungs were ready and we were to come in the following day for his birth. On the morning of April 6th, with excited nervousness, we headed down to the hospital. When we arrived, we were welcomed by the nursing staff and my mom (who beat us to the hospital; she was so excited for this day!). I was hooked up to monitors, asked about a bazillion questions (including are we SURE we didn't want to have a circumcision performed) and asked to sign my life away. It was during this time that I was informed that I was having significant and regular contractions, so I was glad we were right where we needed to be! We were introduced to the medical professionals that would be assisting in the c-section and debriefed on what would happen.

Before we knew it, we were told that the doctors were ready to go and asked if we would be willing to head in early. We agreed! We were still excited and nervous, but I was really just ready to meet our little man. We said goodbye to my mom and Tom headed off to get scrubbed in while I walked down to the surgical suite with our nurse. Once in the surgical suite, the nurses did their best to help me get comfortable while they hooked me up to monitors. The anesthesiologist began prepping me for my spinal (not a walk in the park, but it was over quickly). Things moved quickly at this point and I had to ask for a nurse to go get Tom so he wouldn't miss the action. When Tom arrived, Dr. Jelsema had already made the initial incision. He told me he was starting to get nervous that they forgot about him and that he was going to miss everything.

Before we knew it, the doctors and nurses were wrestling little man out. I could feel pressure and could see that my lower body was moving around a bit even though they had put up a drape. At one point, Dr. Jelsema peeked over the drape and informed us that our little man's head was rather large (no surprises there) and that they needed to make the incision larger. Once they got him out, he was transferred over to a warm bassinet where he was assessed and given Apgar scores of 8 and 9. Tom was able to cut the cord and we found out that he weighed 7lbs. 6 oz. and was 20.5" long. It was during this time that the staff asked us what his name was and we were happy to tell them that he would be called Emmett Harrison.

Dr. Jelsema finished up the surgery quickly and uneventfully and I was soon transferred to a stretcher and formally introduced to Emmett who was all wrapped up like a log with a hat. He was handed to me and we were wheeled over to the recovery room. Once in recovery, I was again hooked up to monitors and Emmett was further assessed. It was during this time that Emmett's blood sugar was tested and it was noted that his blood sugar was only 31. We had previously been told that it would be likely that Emmett would be hypoglycemic just after he was born, but knowing something and then actually experiencing it are two different things. We were advised that we would need to feed Emmett some formula to help correct his blood sugar. Boy, he sucked that down and within an hour his blood sugar was a bit better. We also unwrapped him from his cocoon for some much needed skin to skin time. We had previously been told that skin to skin time can help with stabilizing blood sugar levels. Once Emmett's blood sugar had stabilized a bit more, he was given a bath and then we were allowed to do some more skin to skin time. We would struggle with jaundice, poor circulation, blood sugar and feeding issues over the next two days, but we considered each issue carefully and made the best decision we could at that time.

Before we knew it, we were being transferred to our room on 5 west. Tom went to grab my mom and Emmett's godparents, Chris and Jessica. We all headed over to our new room and got settled in. Over the course of the next four days, we would receive excellent nursing care including frequent visits with Betsey Davis, a super awesome lactation consultant and family friend. We would meet with the endocrinology team (for me), perinatologists (for Emmett), Dr. Jelsema (for me) and Dr. Staublin and Dr. Taylor from ABC Pediatrics (for Emmett). We also had a number of visitors who were just as excited to meet Emmett as we were. On Friday, we made the decision with Dr. Jelsema and Dr. Staublin that we were ready to go! We spent the three weeks after Emmett's birth recovering, re-cooperating and relaxing with family and friends. Now we are home and just getting settled and hoping to catch a few winks when we can!