Introducting...

Emma Carolyn Hill

May 2, 2013 at 10:28pm

7lbs 0oz

20.5in

Isn't she beautiful?!  :)  

A short recap of the day she was born:
First of all, I really wanted to go in to labor naturally without being induced...for some reason this was very important to me!  I wanted to do this with Watson, but ended up having to be induced at 39 weeks because I was measuring behind a good bit.  This time, however, I was determined to have that "this is it!" moment from either my water breaking or contractions.  Well...I made it to 39 1/2 weeks and I. Was. Miserable!  I went in to see my doctor and as we began talking about things, I ended up scheduling an induction for the next morning.  Pretty much she said that because I was already at 4cm, if I wanted to ensure that I would get an epidural and if I wanted to ensure that Graham was not cutting the cord on the side of the road, I better go ahead and be induced.  That was ALL it took to get me to agree to that!  She did say, however, that she would not be surprised if she saw me that night (she was on call).  Well, after that appointment I went to my parent's house to pick up Watson.  I was there for maybe 35 minutes when I started cramping really bad in my lower back.  I wasn't sure if it was contractions or not because she had checked me at my appt and I thought that maybe that was just causing me to cramp.  It was almost 5:00, and since I live at the other end of 280 from my parent's, I decided I better stay at their house just in case it did turn in to contractions and I needed to get to the hospital without 280 traffic!  About an hour later, I had no doubt that I was in full blown labor.  I called Graham and told him I needed him to get to my parent's house as soon as possible!  He was in Mountain Brook at the time, so luckily he was close and able to make it there pretty quickly.  In the meantime, I called my doctor and told her I was headed her way.  This was about 6:30.  We got to the the hospital and they were already prepping a room with everything they needed (apparently my dr had warned them that my babies come QUICKLY once they decide to come!)  When we got there, I was at 5cm...which is where I stayed for the next little while.  I got my epidural about an hour after getting there (which was wonderful..I did not have to endure contractions long at all!)  They actually ended up starting me on pitocin to get things progressing because I wasn't moving past a 5...but after that I quickly progressed to a 9...and then about 2 minutes later I was at a 10 and Emma was coming!  Luckily my dr was close by so she came in there and a few pushes later our sweet Emma was born in to this world at 10:28pm!  And let me just tell you...this girl made her presence known!  There was no one...probably in the whole hospital :)...doubting whether or not her lungs were nice and strong!  Even all the nurses were laughing at how loud she was.  I was laughing then...but since have stopped laughing so much at that unique quality of our little girl :)

All ready to go! 

Right after sweet baby was born!


I'm pretty confident she already has her daddy wrapped around her little finger :)

 
Mana and her fourth grandchild! 

 
Emma meeting Poppa for the first time


Emma's #1 fan! 

Mel - so thankful she was able to be with me when Emma was born!

Watson meeting Emma for the first time.  As you can see, he was much more interested in her paci :) 

Uncle Alan - so glad he could be here to meet his niece and spend some quality time with Watson!

Nannie loving on Emma.  Can't wait for her to come back and spend more time with her grandchildren!

Melt. My. Heart.

Ready to go home!

She did great nursing in the hospital.  It was hard, but she only dropped down to 6lbs 8oz...so that was not near as much as they had expected, which showed that even though I was having difficulty figuring everything out, she was at least getting what she needed.  I was blessed with incredible nurses while in the hospital who were a HUGE help when it came to nursing.  Needless to say, due to the awful experience I had with Watson (you can read about that in another post), I was nervous to try and nurse again, but determined to make it work.  Along with the health of our baby and her relationship with Christ, this is what I prayed about most during my pregnancy!  So far, things are going well with no sign of all that I experienced with W.  We continue to pray that this will be the case for the duration of my time nursing her!  



The first couple of weeks were a rough transition for sweet Watson...to say the least.  Poor baby did NOT like sharing his mommy...at all!  Any time I would go near Emma or pick her up, he would pitch a fit...which made an already hormonal and emotional me that much more emotional!  I felt so torn.  I wanted to badly to comfort Watson and assure him that he was not losing his mommy, but at the same time there were basic needs that Emma was needing...that only I could meet!  Graham was a HUGE help in all of this as he would take Watson on errands, walks, and just give him extra special attention.  After those two weeks it was just like a switch turned and W was perfectly okay with having Emma around.  He did...though...call her a puppy for a while.  :)  He now loves her so much and is very attentive to her.  Any time she cries he wants to let me know and then runs to take her a paci...and in his own loving way shoves it in her mouth :)  He also does not like for both of us to leave the room or go to the car without her so I have to assure him often that we are not going to forget Emma...we are just going to another room or putting him in the car first :)

We are truly loving life as a family of four..it was a crazy start (did I mention that Graham broke his back in FOUR places a few days before Emma was born?!) but things are beginning to settle down and we are loving our new normal :)