It's A Girl!....and other random thoughts.

Wow! I can't believe it's been such a long time since I've written anything. Wait! Yes I can believe it. I'm a new mom! What a wonderful feeling. Let me catch you up on what has been happening.

On 3/2/09 on our way to Des Moines for the birth of our first child, we got pulled over for speeding. I was so oblivious to the fact that I was going 67 mph in a 55 mph speed zone. Luckily the cop didn't give me a ticket, just a warning to slow it down. He did however give me a ticket for not having my registration in the car. There goes $62 to Poweshiek County! Kevin blames himself because he usually takes care of that kind of stuff. We still haven't put the current registration in the car. Oops.

The next day, 3/3/09, our beautiful baby girl, Emily Alice, was born at 11:13 AM. She weighed 9 lbs, 7 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. We have a video of her birth if anyone wants to see it. Pretty graphic. I don't advise it, but we'd be happy to send it out to anyone.

This is the most graphic picture I have for now. This is me cutting the umbilical cord. I was so greatful to be allowed to be part of the delivery process. On the video, you can hear me yelling "It's a girl" I was afraid I was going to pass out, but it never happened.




Julie, her husband, Mark and I went into the delivery room (there were only a certain amount of people who could go into the room and Kevin got the short straw. Sorry honey!) at 11:00 AM, were out by 11:15 AM and Kevin and my parents hardly had time to get to the nursery to see Emily and I come to the window. Once again, I yelled (through the glass) "It's a girl!". Although we weren't totally decided on a name until about two hours before delivery, I yelled out her name and Kevin translated to my parents who were with him. I think my dad cried a little bit. My Aunt Alice had just died of multiple cancers a week before Emily was born. Kevin and I had decided that Alice was a wonderful middle name for Emily (later on her name).

This is Emily and her daddy with her first bottle. Right after birth, she was extremely loud and screaming. Her blood sugar was determined to be low. After she ate her blood sugar was fine. What a surprise. Julie hadn't eaten anything for the past 12 hours before the C-section so baby was pretty hungry I guess.

This is Julie with Emily relaxing in bed. Julie was the only one that got a nice, comfy bed (ha!) at the hospital. The rest of us had to sleep on a very uncomfortable fold out sofa. Ugh!

Emily had lots of visitors at the hospital. First, Julie's family came and brought a lot of pink clothes. They knew she was going to be a girl because Julie had an ultrasound about two weeks before delivery and she knew we didn't want to know so she kept it secret from us. We were so excited to see all of the adorable and cute pink clothes.

Kevin's friend, Eric, from high school came to visit. He wanted to steal Emily. Fortunately for us, the hospital had a rigorous security system. The babies get banded like criminals and if they get too close to the outside doors, the doors lock and a security system comes on. People come running from all over and the lights start flashing in the halls. Pretty impressive. We got to see it once.

The picture above is of Uncle Bob, Kevin's brother. He came to visit Emily also. Aunt Ann and Aunt Sue, Kevin's sisters, also came to visit. Ironically they came on the same day so we all got to go out to dinner with Cousin Jessica who was a little sick and didn't want to get anyone else sick. What a sweetie!

We were discharged on Friday, 3/6/09. Emily had a slightly high bilirubin of 16.7 so they sent us home with a bili blanket, which is an ultraviolet light that you strap onto your baby and she glows like a Glow Worm. Kind of freaky. The thing looked like a vaccuum cleaner. Emily didn't mind it and after a while we got used to it also. We were able to send it back three days later. At a cost of $4000 for the machine, I was glad to get rid of it.

Emily slept the entire way home. At home, we were greeted by our furry babies - Daisy (minature pinscher, age 8), Molly (lab/pointer mix, age 6), Killannie (greyhound, age 5) and Willow (cat, age 4). They were all interested in Emily, but more interested in seeing us. Then Grandma and Grandpa came over to see Emily and I think they've been over almost every day or every other day since!

On Sunday, March 9, Aunt Amy, Cousin Hillary, Aunt Kay and Uncle Dan came to visit Emily. They just loved her (or that's what they said anyway). They came to visit again near the end of the month, so they must like her.

Over this month we have learned a whole lot of love we never expected to learn. Our love for Emily is something different than we have ever felt before. She is such a little being that needs us so much. We have taken her everywhere with us. I can't imagine a life without her or remember life before her. She is truely a miracle.