Going Home With Emma

We left the hospital at about 3:30 on the 26th. Emma did great in the car on the way home. Once we got home Abbey went in to get treats for the cats so that we could introduce them to little Emma. They all seem to do just fine and over the past few days have paid Emma very little attention.

Jon and Cassie came over the first night and brought us Quizno's which was great.

Emma first night went fairly smooth. She was fussy from midnight till 2am but after that seemed to calm down and sleep well. The next morning we had our appointment with Dr. Heinrichs who will be Emma's pediatrician in Firestone. He was very pleased with her appearance and vitals. Emma left the Hospital weighing 7lbs 5oz and at the appointment she weighed 7lbs 3oz. Dr. Heinrichs told us to up the amount of food she was getting every two hours. We are now trying to get her 40-50mls at each feeding which is the calorie intake he thinks we need to be at for Emma to gain weight. Because Emma had a high white blood count when they did her first screen and she was a little yellow the Dr wanted to do another CBC and Billi count. So we had to make a trip into Longmont for the blood tests which came back great.

Grandma George stopped by with a few casseroles for us and to spend a little more time with her granddaughter. Abbey finally got a bit more sleep from 7-midnight as Emma and I had a great bonding session. Emma is feeding much better now and is awake a bit more. She still was fussy last night from midnight to 2 but had a good night otherwise.

Her are more pictures from the hospital and the ride home. See them here

Emma's Birthday

Emma Cari Jo Keeney was born on 6-24-07 (her mom's birthday as well). She weighed 7lbs 12oz and was 21.25 inches long.

After Abbey's Dr. appointment on Friday the 22nd she started having minor and irregular contractions. These lasted through out the night and all day Saturday. Around 9:30pm the contractions seemed to be getting a bit stronger but were still very irregular so we went to bed. Around midnight Abbey was woken out of a deep sleep by powerful contractions which were coming much faster and more regular. We packed up and headed to the hospital leaving our house around 1:45am. Arriving at the hospital we were set up in triage and put onto a monitor at 3am. After a hour on the monitor Abbey was checked and was at 3cm and cleared to walk to see if she would progress. We walked around the unit for an hour and at 4am Abbey was checked again but was still at 3cm. We went back onto the monitor for and hour and than walked again from 6 to 7am. At 7am still at 3cm Abbey went back onto monitor and we were pretty sure that we were going to be sent home. At 8am our nurse told us that Dr. Wepman needed to see us before any final decision was going to be made but that she wouldn't be in for and hour so we walked again. At 9am when Wepman arrived and checked Abbey we got the wonderful news that she had progressed to almost 5cm and were admitted finally.

Our hospital room was about 1000% better than being in triage. Abbey got her epidural at 10:30 and Dr. Wepman broke her water at 11:10am and told us that Abbey was at 6cm. At 12:15 Wepman checked Abbey again and wasn't happy that she was still at 6cm. She ordered a little pitosin and as the nurse was getting ready to administer the drug Emma's heart rate droped to the low 80's. The crash team was called in and they realized that Abbey had progressed to 10cm in less than 20 minutes and the baby was coming very fast. The nurses gave Abbey a drug to stop a very intense contraction. Side effect of this drug is that Abbey becomes uncontrollably shaky but it did the job and Emma's heart rate recovered quickly. Dr. Wepman had Abbey rest through about 3 contractions so that Emma could recover. At 1pm Abbey started to push for real and after the first contraction we could see the top of Emma's head. After the next contraction Emma's head was out and Dr. Wepman noticed that the umbilical cord was loosely wrapped around Emma's neck and was the probable cause of the heart rate drop. One more push and a lot of pulling and Emma was born at 1:15pm. Dad cut the cord and little Emma was on her own.

Emma was very responsive and after a brief moment let out her first cry. She did have a lot of bruising and a squashed nose but everything else looked real good.

Abbey tried to feed with in the hour and Emma had a good latch but because of the smashed nose had a hard time breathing. This stuffiness lasted through out the day and into the night. The NICU nurse informed us that Emma was going to have to spend the night under observation. This was sort of a blessing because it allowed Abbey and I to get a good nights sleep after a long night before.

In the morning Abbey and i went to visit Emma in the NICU and found out that she had spent the night under a humidifier. Her breathing sounded so much better and her color was much better. This allowed Abbey and Emma to have a very good feeding. Emma came back to the room and was able to spend the rest of the day with us. Feedings were and up and down ordeal but other wise Emma was very content and slept most of the time. She did have to return to the NICU the second night for more observation and more time under the humidifier.

Tuesday morning came around and Abbey and I realized that we were going to have to go home in a few hours. Emma had her hearing test that morning which she passed with flying colors. Her blood work was done again. Because of the traumatic birth they were worried that she might be proned to jaundice. Her bilirubin count came back low though and Emma was medically released. We stayed a few hours extra so that we could see the lactation specialist who had a lot of great info. At 3:15 Keri (a wonderful nurse that was part of the crash team that helped at the delivery) walked us down to the car and the new Keeney family was on their way home.

See Pictures from the hospital here