After months of waiting and praying, our latest addition finally joined us on May 21st. Little Emberly weighed in at 7 pounds 3 ounces and 20.5 inches long.
She is very sweet and has melted all our hearts already. Her arrival was dramatic and nerve racking, but all are well
We were scheduled for induction on the 21st and everything was proceeding as expected. Laurel was in active labor by noon and we were hopeful that Emberly would be with us before supper.
Although there were regular contractions, Emberly was not in the right position and the labor was not progressing so the doctor decided at 9 pm to do a C-section. There had been discussions in the previous weeks about performing a c-section as Emberly was breach, but she had turned the right way around the week before.
An hour later we were in the operating room. We were both scared but were trusting in God to bring us through. It wasn’t long and we heard her first cry. I left the room with the baby and the nurses for her initial weigh-in and measurement while they finished the procedure. They told me that it would be another 25 minutes or so before Laurel would be back out.
I got to hold Emberly and rock her as we waited…and waited…and started to worry as it was approaching an hour. It turns out that after we left the operating room, Laurel’s heartrate dropped to about 20 beats per minute and her breathing stopped for about 10 seconds. They don’t know for sure what caused this, but they figure the anesthetic moved up into her lungs after the delivery and had a negative reaction.
They had Laurel in the ICU until the next morning and monitored her closely. She ended up getting a blood transfusion and an ultrasound of her heart. No issues were found, and we heard some more theories about what happened, but nothing definite. We stayed in the hospital for 4 days and had the greatest nurses and doctors; we can’t say enough how good they all were. We were happy to come home, however, and be with our other children. We were missing them and they us.
Its been a week and a half and mom is recovering well and little Emberly is growing. It will be another few weeks before we can get back to regular life so in the mean time we will be taking things slowly and enjoying the heck out of our newest addition.
We thank God everyday that they both survived and that our family is whole and are looking forward to what He has in store for us next.
Living Large in the North 