Our New Addition to the Family

I can't believe it's been 9 weeks since Emma Marie was born. She arrived on April 15, 2009. Everything happened so quickly. I was scheduled to be induced on the 17th so I wasn't quite ready. I wasn't expecting her to come early. I started spotting and my friend made me call the doctor. She asked me to come in for a check up but I was hesitant since I hadn't completed all my paperwork at school. Finally the nurse said I needed to come in right away instead of waiting a couple of hours like I had requested. My sister Blanca, happen to be in the office because she was going to make copies. God works in mysterious ways. She ended up driving me to the hospital. The doctor said we could go ahead and have the baby since I had already started my contractions. I was so excited yet I also wanted to wait a couple of more days. I kept trying to call Kelly to see what he wanted me to do. Unfortunately, he didn't have his phone nearby so he didn't get my messages. So I finally decided to go for it in hopes that I would soon reach him. I even called him at work but they couldn't locate him. Finally my sister decided to drive over to Lewisville High and tell him I was going to have the baby today! We reached him on time and he arrived before any of the fun started. Actually the c-section was rough. The spinal block injection hurt and I had to get extra medication for nausea. I threw up a few times. I could tell there was a lot of tugging going on but my focus was on the worried doctor. She called for assistance with an unsteady voice. I knew something was not right but she never said anything about it. Finally she pulled Emma out. Kelly brought her by my side to see her but I felt so dizzy I only saw her for a few seconds before they took her out. As I went to the recovery room, Emma was moved into the NICU because she had water in her lungs. I felt horrible physically and emotionally. I wasn't even on the same floor as my baby. With all my medications, I wasn't able to go see her until the next day. I cried the first time I saw her. The nurse tried to comfort me by saying it was very common thing, but it wasn't common to me. It broke my heart to see her connected to all those machines. She had several tubes to keep her stable. I was ecstatic to finally hold her on the third day. All this time, I had been pumping but I hadn't nursed her until the fourth day in the NICU. I hoped that being fed by a tube and a bottle wouldn't confuse the poor girl. It actually didn't. She did great when I first nursed her. It was the few feedings after that made me seek out the lactation consultant. She was a great help and now all is well. Emma can nurse and drink out of a bottle without any problems. Anyway, the doctor kept me around until Sunday just so I could be near Emma. By then, the nurses weren't really tending to me since they knew I was only there for the baby. It was so anti-climatic leaving the hospital without a baby. I didn't want to leave without her but I did have to go spend some time with Hannah. She was so worried about Emma especially since she wasn't able to go in and see her. She knew something was wrong but wasn't sure how to handle it. I could tell she was very worried about Emma and me. Fortunately Emma came home the following day. We were so happy to bring her home. Hannah was also overjoyed to have her sister home. Life has been so perfect with her home. She is such a good baby. She just fusses when she's hungry or wet. Nothing major. Our sleepless nights are also over. Emma started sleeping through the night last week. She loves her swing. It has a mirror and a mobile with little birdies. She stares, laughs and giggles as the birds rotate. My favorite thing to do is hold her close to my chest and let her snuggle in tight like a little ball as she sleeps. Her warmth brings so much love and happiness to my heart. We all love her so much. Hannah is such an amazing big sister. She loves to help with everything, even taking the diapers to the trash! She often asks to hold her. I'm glad that she has been so good to her. Of course, she does have her moments of jealousy but not too often. At first, she was a bit extreme and thought we were going to get rid of her when she made a bad choice but we had to do a lot of comforting before we finally convinced her that she would always be a part of family. She even asked Bessie, my mother-in-law, if we had enough love for her since parents can only love one child. My heart broke. I couldn't believe that she feared that we would stop loving her. My Hannah has been the joy of my life the past 5 years, I continually pray that she knows how much we love her. By the way, my mother-in-law stayed with us for 6 weeks. Everyone thought I was crazy, but I loved having her here. She was so good with Emma. I learned so much from her. I'm grateful that she came to help us out. She definitely kept me sane. Now, Kelly and I are off for the summer and enjoying each day with Hannah and Emma. From changing diapers to playing Uno, our days are filled with simple pleasures brought to us by our girls.