Thursday, April 26, 2012

One month of life


    I can't believe that Emmalyn is already a month old! Time seems to be slipping away, and life has been a whirlwind since her arrival. Not much rest for this mommy of 4. Spring break, doctor visits, a photo shoot, soccer games, birthdays, a baptism, and even a bout with the stomach flu – it's been a non-stop adventure!
The first week after her birth was a blur, with minimal sleep, especially during the initial days after my c-section. I did a lot of admiring my new baby and worrying about the rest of my family back home in a cold house. Our furnace went out on us that first day. Emmalyn was born on the first day of spring, with a surprise snowfall on the second day, giving me an amazing view from my hospital room. Gotta love our crazy Oregon weather!
    Once back home, relaxation wasn't on the agenda, the older kids were on spring break. Dane, took on the super-dad role, juggling care for me and ensuring the kids had a fun break from school. Dane took them to the arcade, the movies, the park, and even Wunderland, they had a great time! Amidst all this, he also installed our new furnace, wow! The week ended with celebrations for Ron, Chris, and baby Audrey's birthdays.
    At her 2-week visit, Emmalyn was up to 7lbs 9oz, which was great news! Her pediatrician just wanted her to be up to birth weight. Those first two weeks, I thought I'd lucked out with an easy baby. Christian and Maddy were both colicky, and Sam had his medical issues. I'm due for an easy one! Emmalyn's initial two weeks seemed like a breeze – an easy baby, good nursing, and sleep. Unfortunately, at that two-week mark, we started having nursing problems and tummy pains. So much for getting some sleep! She now wanted to be held 24/7. Thankfully, many eager hands were happy to help.
    On Sunday, April 15th we celebrated Christian's 11th birthday, only to be struck by the stomach flu that took over our entire family! On the way out to Wenzel Mountain to get ready for the party, Maddy got sick in the car. So we girls turned around and stayed home :( Poor Maddy, she was disappointed to miss the party.
    At her 4-week checkup, her visit revealed she had only gained the bare minimum, weighing in at just 8lbs 1oz. A poor latch due to her being tongue-tied (short frenulum) was believed to be the problem. So we made yet another doctor's appointment (between her and I, this was our 7th doctor visit this month)! This time, to the ENT for a frenulectomy. I felt horrible having this done, but I did not want to give up on breastfeeding! It was a simple procedure, and she only cried for about a minute. That same day, Christian came down with the same stomach flu Maddy had! Ug, what a week!
    So here we are, The Wenzel family has survived the first month of this new life. Things are getting easier now that we all know our new places within this family of 6. Emmalyn as tiny as she is, fits right in! We're still working on some nursing issues, but the love I feel for her every time her big blue eyes look up at me while suckling makes it worth it! I hope she'll gain well and we can continue to breastfeed. I feel for her, especially when her big blue eyes gaze up at me during feeding, which makes it all worthwhile. As we navigate through the newborn stage, I know it won't last long, and I cherish every moment.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

2 weeks old pictures








Emmalyn's Birth

It's kinda hard writing a birth story when you have a scheduled c-section. I arrived at the hospital, listened to the baby on the monitor for a few minutes, nurses me a bunch of questions, took the extremely long walk to the O.R. and Emmalyn came into the world. Not to exciting to read about. However it was the most scary and exciting experience for me! This is my first time actually making it to my scheduled c-section date. All my other babies decided to come out when they wanted to. With my other deliveries me being in pain, I was just so anxious to not be in pain anymore I didn't have time to think about how scary the process of having major surgery is. However this time having to walk into the OR was very scary! I looked around and saw all the equipment, doctors and nurses waiting for me.
Dane waited in the recovery room across the hall until my anesthesiologist had the epidural/spinal in place. My doctor decided to do an epi/spinal combo because she anticipated lots of scar tissue and didn't want a spinal to wear off halfway through the surgery and have to put me under general. The epidural placement did not go in easy, it was very painful and the anesthesiologist had a tough time getting it in the correct spot. Towards the end of her placing it I almost told them to stop and just give me a spinal. It was excruciating! Once in place it was so nice to finally have relief! For months I've been having contractions and round ligament pain, so to feel numb was heavenly! After my doctor came in and I was draped, Dane was brought in to sit by my head. Even though I couldn't see or feel anything I was very scared so  I ease dropped on the doctors. I could hear them discussing where to make the uterine incision. My placenta is in front, so I'm sure they were trying to figure out where the placenta ended and was safe to make the cut. Then to my surprise my doctor told Dane that the baby was about to be born, Dane stood up and started taking video!  Apparently my doctor and Dane talked before my surgery about getting video of Emmalyn coming into the world! How awesome is that! Here is that video. It's only about 30 sec long and it's not too gruesome at all, just simply amazing!

Emmalyn's first 27 seconds


Few minutes old




Emmalyn Maire

Born March 20th 10:25am via c-section
6lbs 15oz 17.5 inches

Here are my favorite hospital pics










Thanks to Candina for editing these beautiful pics!