Hospital Stay

There was no way I could combine Emma's birth story along with everything else from our first few days with her. So I figured I would combine them in a separate blog post.

First few hours: We didn't have a birth plan (other than an epidural), but we did know that after Emma was born that we wanted a couple hours of just us three before we allowed visitors. I had heard from so many people how you will never get that moment back of meeting your child for the first time, so enjoy it and take as much time as you want. That's exactly what we did. After she was born, Matt and I enjoyed a solid three hours (or so it seems, my mom said it was two and a half hours) just staring and holding our little girl. I am so glad we took this time for us and our family.

First visitors: Emma's first visitors in the hospital were our parents and my brother, Blake, and sister, Alaina. These pictures below pretty much sum up the sheer joy of our families from seeing Emma for the first time. The ones of our parents seeing her are priceless. They were in such shock that they didn't even ask her name!

Nurses: We were blessed with absolutely wonderful nurses that always had smiles on their faces and were so unbelievably kind and patient. The around the clock (literally) care we got was top notch and so appreciated. Everyone from Beth, who was with us the entire day Emma was born. To Simone, who stepped in for Beth and got me to start pushing. That night, due to so many births, we had a shuffle of nurses, but that was okay because they were all so great. My favorite nurse was sweet Kristina who really helped Emma (and me) get the hang of breastfeeding. She worked really hard with Emma to get her to start sucking and taught her by using her finger. Jayme was our nurse during the ever fun times of cluster feedings, bless her heart.

Breastfeeding/Cluster feeding: Emma didn't latch on right away, or had difficulty doing so. They believe it is because she has a higher pallet and a strong lower jaw with a lip that always goes in. After many tried attempts and needing to get her eating, the nurses had to spoon feed or finger feed her the first 36 hours. So I would pump and then the nurses would feed her. Emma finally latched, with the help of a breast shield, in time for the night of cluster feeding. She fed for a good hour and a half the first time and then went to go do tests that night while Matt and I got a quick shut eye. She was returned to our room in time to do a round of constant feeding from 12:30-4:00. I could hardly stay awake and remember tears running down my face in just pure exhaustion. I told Matt during that time that I would rather go through contractions than do this, which tells you how not enjoyable it is.

Beth spoon feeding Emma for her first feeding

Going home: We didn't know for sure if we were going to be able to go home on Sunday due to Emma's lack of interest in eating and her weight loss. If she would have lost another ounce, we would have had to stay another day. Thankfully after seeing the pediatrician that morning, she said Emma was the healthiest baby she had seen all day and we could definitely go home. So after our parents came to visit and some lunch, we were finally able to go home around 2:30 that afternoon. There were quite a few others leaving that day too, so we had to wait a bit. It was nice to take advantage of having those nurses around all the time because the moment we leave......we are on our own! We got loaded up, Emma dressed in her going home outfit (which was worn by my mom, me and my sister when we left the hospital as babies too), in her car seat and we were on our way. It was so surreal to drive away with our little girl in the backseat and to be heading HOME as a new family of three.

Welcome home little Emma! We promise it isn't as bad as you may think it is in this picture :)