And a new chapter begins...

Little Em in the NICU

Well, little Em has been home for a few weeks now, so I thought I'd start documenting her arrival into our family.  The past two months have been a rollercoaster, to say the least.  Em arrived almost 7 weeks early.  I had just started my weekly appointments at the maternal-fetal specialist when after my appt., I was wheeled over to the main hospital for admittance.  Because my blood pressure was that of an old man, my headaches had not disappeared, and the possibility of seizures was high, my doctors decided to induce labor.  They started me off on a cervix softener, and after about six hours, I began having hard contractions.  Now, the nurse kept asking me if I wanted an epidural, but I thought I could handle it and said no.  The reason she asked is that the monitor showed my contractions at a level of 75 (out of 100), and the last time I gave birth, I had asked for an epidural.  I was thinking that I could at least make it to halfway between 75/100 before I needed drugs.  However, that was not to be.  At the 12 hour mark, the doctor thought I was ready for some pitocin, but the nurses mentioned that the baby's heart monitor kept dropping off.  So out rolled an ultrasound machine, and what do you know?  Little Em had decided to move her FEET to the cervix area!  At that point-4 in the morning-the doctor came in and told me I was headed for a C-section because Little Em was breech.  Now, had hubby and I discussed this as an option, it woudn't have been so bad, but we had NO idea that this would happen.  Within an hour, Em had entered into our world.  Now hubby is not really a squeamish guy, but he had no desire to see beyond the "screen."  And I, personally, am a believer of "ignorance is bliss" in many conditions, so I had no reason to ask for a mirror to see what was going on--no thank you!  My hubby said that at one point in time, he looked down and saw a puddle of liquid near his shoe and thought, "What the hell is that?  They're going to need a mop."  Haha!  Well, Em truly was little.  4 pounds and 3 ounces.  The nurses wrapped her and showed her to us before taking her to the NICU, where she would stay for almost 3 weeks, the longest weeks of our lives.  I will fill you in on those hard days soon.