The Arrival of Emma Renee Wisely

How we got so lucky again, I will never know! On Saturday March 5th, at 9:55am, we welcomed Emma Renee Wisely in to our family!

On Friday the fourth, I was extra tired. Megan, Olivia and Will came over to visit-- with a surprise visit from Molly as well! We had a wonderful day eating all sorts of tasty muffins (thanks Meghan!) and raspberry leaf tea (come ooooon baby, get here) and played till our hearts content. It was a rather fabulous day. Everyone stayed until nearly nine that night, and by 10 we were finally putting Norah to bed... That's when the contractions started. "Surely this isn't it," I thought...

Well, after three books and a cuddle with Norah, I started to change my tune. "Huh. Seems like every few minutes... better start logging these in my app." Again, apps to the rescue! They were about every four minutes, and were lasting nearly a minute each, but not painful. Bryan and I decided that since Amy would be spending the night, we better try and clean the house a bit and go over any last minute Norah caretaking things, and I sent my mom and sister the 'state of the uterus' text-- which was that I was having contractions, but who knows if they were going anywhere.

We finally got to bed around 12:30... where I decided I'd keep tracking, and get up if I need to. Heck, if I could get some sleep too, that would be great. As soon as I laid down they stopped for about an hour... then I was right back up again at 1:30, thinking it could be it! I decided by about 2:30am that I couldn't lay down any more, and headed out to the living room to dance around and see if walking did any thing to slow them... turns out nothing would stop them! I woke Bryan up to tell him to get ready, and called my mom and sister about 4am, saying that it was time. (My amazing sister Amy volunteered to go to our house to take care of Norah while baby made her debut-- which was a first for us! We've never left her both at the same time, and Amy had never babysat... needless to say, Norah adores her aunt and was looking forward to seeing her!) And after a drizzly happy drive, we got to the hospital around 5am.

By the time we got there, I was having to breathe slowly through my contractions. They checked us in and got us settled, and I was anxious to see how I was progressing. At first measure, I was 6-7 cm dilated, and 100% effaced (they said baby was pretty low at that point too, but I don't remember exactly how low). My goal was to have her totally naturally, and my favorite midwife was on call (score!). I got to dance around the hospital room listening to Louis Armstrong and having great conversations with all the nurses. Everyone was so nice! The funny thing about contractions before transition is, as long as you're not currently having a contraction, life is pretty good. Jokes happen, and you can point out how awkward and crazy things are. I had my mom and Bryan with me, which was amazing. (In case you didn't know, I have a pretty incredible family.)

They let me hang out in the tub to pass some time. Oh, my. The tub! The glorious tub! Hot water, and the ability to press your feet and shoulders in to the sides to relieve pressure, is absolutely perfect. I stayed in there quite awhile, and sadly, that was when my favorite midwife had to go (she stayed nearly two hours past her shift to try and help with the birth-- she was pregnant as well, and liked me as a patient-- super flattering!) and my other favorite midwife showed up! (But really... there are three midwives there and I adore all of them-- I got lucky I knew both of them on duty) We all decided it was probably time I got out of the tub, because my contractions were slowing a bit. And goodness lord... getting out of the tub SUCKED. That was the time I shifted in to transition; they were coming back to back, and I was a little less happy between contractions. It was still wonderful to be able to move around and work my way through the pain; I have no idea how ladies do this flat on their backs! After a few more hours, it was pretty apparent to everyone in the room that it was getting close to time. Finally, after I felt like it was getting time to push, I had them bring the midwife in to check me, and I was 10cm dilated! Time to push!

They let me use the squat bar, which was super helpful. And I do have to say, attempting to push a baby out is one of the most bizarre things I think a human can do. It feels like you're not doing anything, and doing everything, at the same time. I missed my tub. The worst part was when they told me it was time for her to come out, and I had to lay on my side. My side! The pain was nuts! The first two contractions after changing positions was brutal. Lucky for me I had my mom and Bryan counting things out and being super supportive. After a half hour of pushing, our gal made her--forceful!--arrival! She was facing upward (which was why transition out of the tub was so brutal I imagined) and shot out rather quickly. They weren't expecting her position to be this way, so she came out a bit quickly after crowning-- but our girl was here!! She was here!! They put her right on my chest, and let us hang out and breastfeed for over an hour while we got acquainted. I am so happy this new process is in place! (Normally, and with Norah, baby comes out and they get poked/weighed/prodded right away... so warping!! I love all the immediate bonding/delayed cord clamping they do now standard!) She was perfect! 

As soon as she was out, the world was right again. Our family was complete! We did our best to rest a bit and soak in the new little sprout that we were blessed with. We made plans for family to visit after we had settled in a bit, which was super nice. We were looking forward to here meeting everyone right away, but also hadn't slept-- and had quite a rough morning! It turned out to be a perfect day. I am so thankful I got to experience a natural birth with no complications. I feel very lucky that through both of our beautiful girls, even with a c-section-- that there were no problems, and everyone was healthy. We really are a very, very lucky family! We named her Emma Renee (middle name after Bryan's mom's middle name, and Emma was our final choice in the bracket-- which we narrowed down at about 11 the night before!)

After we were all settled, we had my dad and Amy drop by with Norah to meet her new little sister. I was so worried, as babies  have been a hot and cold topic with her... but things really couldn't gone any better than they did. She was so great with her! Emma had 'bought' her a huge princess dress from Home Goods... and I firmly believe that Norah's thoughts on the matter were, 'if she got me this, she must be cool. She's alright, she can stay.' She said hello to baby right away, gave her lots of kisses, and were super happy to see us again (as we magically disappeared in to the night after all!) She had so much fun playing with Auntie Amy (and kept asking to see her over the next few days) and everything went so well. I still can't believe how perfectly everything went.

Life at home has been incredible. She slept in five hour chunks the first few nights, and we all felt pretty rested. Norah has still been wonderful, and I still can't quite believe it. She's here! Healing has gone so quickly, and I felt pretty normal right away. Wow... if you need me, I will be soaking in play time and cuddles; taking too many pictures and smiling like an idiot. I am a happy, happy mom. 

Lots of love from all of us!
Sara, Bryan, Norah and Emma