Thank Heavens for Grandparents!

Although my mom came down and helped out all last week (January 22nd through 26th), I never managed to take any pictures of her with Emmett.  This week I was going to be on my own until I came down with a breast infection on Monday night and was basically 'ordered' by the doctor to stay in my bed for two days since I was really fighting an infection and needed to rest.  As a result, my parents dropped everything last minute and my dad came down and helped me on Tuesday and my mom drove down two days in a row and helped me Wednesday and Thursday.  They were total life savers and helped me so many different things over this three-day period as I was not feeling well and Emmett was not sleeping well (waking up a total of SIX times both Tuesday and Wednesday night leaving me utterly exhausted the following two days).  I am so grateful for all that they did to help me out during these days from shuttling the kids back and forth to school and their activities, sweeping out the garage, watching Ella during my doctor's appointment, grocery shopping, folding laundry, doing dishes, wrapping Logan's birthday gifts, playing with the children, and staying through the late afternoon when Lia and Logan came home from school which allowed me to take a nap at that same time upstairs.  On Thursday evening, my mom even stayed at my house until past 8 p.m. to help with dinner, homework, and the bedtime routine since Ron had to work late.  It also allowed me to pick Lia up from her basketball practice at 7:30 without having to drag all three of the younger kids out with me.  I honestly don't know how I would have made it through Thursday evening without her help.  I am so grateful for both of my parents and love them so much!  Thanks, mom and dad, for all of your help this week!

My mom holding sweet, little Emmett.

Emmett getting some 'tummy time' on grandma's lap.

2.5 Weeks Down...

Besides the post from baby Emmett's first week of life, I really haven't written much about him on my blog. Between being totally exhausted and overwhelmed by life and Emmett being the fourth child, I just really haven't found the time to sit down and write an update on him which makes me feel bad. So, I made a point to take some pictures of him this week laying on a beautiful blanket that my next door neighbor made as a gift with the hope of writing down a few things about his life the past few weeks.
Emmett is now 2.5 weeks old.  Not a lot has changed since we brought him home from the hospital.  He still sleeps a lot, eats a lot, and cries a lot.  His umbilical cord came off on January 21st and he was circumcised on January 24th.  It was a little rough for the first few days after his "surgery," but things seem to be healing properly and his fussiness has gone back to normal which has been a welcomed relief.
I am slogging along as best as I can.  The nursing reached such a point of excruciating pain that I switched to full-time pumping/bottle feeding on January 19th.  After a three day break from nursing, I happened to be in the doctor's office for Emmett's 1.5 week check-up.  When our pediatrician asked how he was eating, I burst into tears.  Since she is not used to seeing me like this, she immediately went into action and grabbed another lactation consultant in the hallway who came in with nipple shields.  After showing me how to use them, they saved my life!  The instant relief was unbelievable.  I have now been back to nursing exclusively for over a week now and was just getting things under control when I woke up with a raging breast infection yesterday morning (that apparently traveled through one of the open wounds in my right nipple).  Luckily, my dad had come out to help me that day which allowed me to make the drive to and from Tacoma to see a doctor without dragging Ella with me.  So between the nursing drama and everything that has gone with it and absolute exhaustion from sleep deprivation, I am official on 'survivor mode' right now.  As much as I love this baby to pieces and am so grateful that we were blessed with him, I am just in the thick of things (as my mother would put it).  I know that one day this will all end.  Emmett will start sleeping through the night, crying less, and not needing to nurse as much.  My body will heal and one day feel more rested again.  But, until then, I am just trudging through each day the best that I can.
Emmett is really such a beautiful, healthy baby and I am so grateful that he is part of our family.  The children still absolutely adore him and get so excited whenever he is awake.  In addition, I am trying to treasure every little moment I get when I hold him sleeping in my arms or listen to him breathing into my ear after a feeding and burping.  I know how fast he will grow and that these precious and quiet moments with him at my side are very fleeting and temporary.  In a matter of months, he will be a walking and talking toddler and everything will be different.  So, as tired and emotional as I am right now, I will try to savor every single day that I have with him as a tiny baby in my arms.

Basketball Season Started...Two Weeks Late!

For the first time ever, we signed both Lia and Logan up to play basketball this winter.  After several practices in December, their first games happened to be on January 12th, the day we came home from the hospital with Emmett.  We completely missed Logan's game which I felt so bad about.  He even had to be driven to and from the game by a friend's parent from the team.  We got back from the hospital in time for Ron to attend Lia's game although he was half asleep from two bad night's sleep in a row at the hospital.  The following weekend, I still wasn't feeling quite up to going to their games, so Ron went to both of them.  However, I was finally able to go and watch them play for the first time at their third game today.  I was so surprised at how fast paced and intense Logan's game was considering the fact that all the players are just 1st grade boys.  Logan and the rest of his team constantly ran back and forth between their basket and their opponent's madly getting rebounds and making baskets.  Logan took several shots and even made two baskets (which he had also done the previous week when Ron was there).  It was so fun to see how quickly he has picked up the game after knowing nothing about it prior to last month.  He seems to have such a good time playing the game with the rest of his teammates who are mainly his friends from school.

Logan looking for the ball.

Listening to his coach.

Another shot of my cute boy listening during the team huddle.

Running down the court.

Dribbling the ball towards his team's basket.

Although this is not the best shot, this is the picture that I was able to take of Logan making his first basket during this game.  You can see the backside of him at the bottom with his arms up in the air while the ball is about to go in the basket.

Another shot of Logan looking for the ball.

Logan dribbling down the court again.

Fighting for the ball with a boy on the other team.

Guarding his player on the other team.

Trying to block the player's throw to another teammate.

Dribbling the ball again.

Shooting another basket.

Logan smiling for me after his game is over with his cute, little sister at his side.

A few hours later, I was able to take Lia to her game at the local junior high school just up the hill from our house.  Although I had sat in on several of her practices in December, I had never seen her team play a real game.  Since she is on a 5th/6th grade team for the first time ever, I was blown away by some of the talented, 6th grade players.  Several girls on her team are extremely aggressive with the ball and proficient at making baskets.  Since Lia's skills are not as advanced as the rest of these girls, she sadly was only able to touch the ball a few times during the game and never had the chance to make a single basket.  My heart just went out to her seeing that she has finally reached an age where so many of the girls on her team and the opposing team are much more advanced than her.  I knew that this would happen some day, but I had hoped that it wouldn't occur until junior high.  I was so proud of Lia for trying her hardest the entire game and never giving up, but we both openly discussed how this might be her last year playing basketball after the game was over.  As sad as it makes us, I think this is the right decision for her.  In the meantime, Lia will continue to make the most of this season enjoying her practices and learning from the wonderful coach she was assigned to play for this year.

Lia trying to get the ball at her team's end of the court.

Lia dribbling the ball.

Running down the court.

Defending her opponent.

Lia taking a break during the game.

Lia passing the ball to another girl.

Lia chasing after the girl she is defending.  I just love the determined look on her face.

Looking for the ball.

My brave girl giving me a smile at the end of her game.

A Boy and His Blanket...

My amazingly talented and wonderful mother has always made a beautiful baby quilt for each of her grandchildren before they are born.  One morning in December, we rushed to the fabric store while Ella was at preschool to pick out some fabric.  We both fell in love with a sweet pattern that consisted of foxes, hedgehogs, deer, and owls with an unusual color combination of grey, orange, and a light turquoise.  After finding one accent fabric to go with it in the children's section, we ran over to the regular quilt section and found a turquoise and light grey fabric that worked perfectly with the animal fabric.  My mother then spent a week in December piecing the blanket together and quilting it.  She then finished the binding this month after Emmett was born.  When my mom came down to help me this week, she presented me with the finished quilt and it is absolutely stunning.  We both agreed that it is one of our favorite baby quilts that she has ever made.  Here are some pictures that I took today of sweet Emmett laying on his new baby quilt that I am sure he will grow to love in the years to come!

The First Week

Well, we made it through Emmett's first week of life.  With every baby, I always feel like this is such an accomplishment as that first week is so difficult for so many reasons.  But, overall, with the exception of one problem I am having, this week has really gone smoothly for so many reasons.  First off, it has been so wonderful to have Ron off work for so many days.  He has been home with us ever since Emmett's birth and doesn't have to go back until after the MLK holiday on Tuesday.  He has been such a big help to me--especially with shuttling children to and from school and their activities, helping with breakfasts and lunches, and taking care of the entire bedtime routine.  In addition, Emmett has been such a good baby.  He sleeps most of the day and actually sleeps most of the night.  In fact, he has only woken up for two feedings (instead of three or four) in the middle of the night the past three nights which has been amazing!  When he is awake, he is either nursing or just looking around the room while being held or laying in his bouncy chair.  He is doing such a good job.  Thirdly, the children have adjusted to having a baby in the house really well.  I know that we are still in the "honeymoon phase" and that it could all change in a matter of time, but the kids are all just crazy about Emmett.  They always want to look at him or play with him or hold him.  They are disappointed when he is sleeping and are always eager to help put his pacifier back in his mouth or to tell Ron or me when something is wrong with him.  It is rather precious.  Also, my dear friend, Wendy, arranged for dinners to come to our house from various women in the church every night for nine nights in a row.  It has been such a blessing to not have to worry about cooking and cleaning up from dinner every night and it also has allowed me to focus on Emmett and the rest of the children in the late afternoon/early evening when I am usually busy making dinner.  And, lastly, my postpartum recovery has been going unbelievably well in two of my three usual, "problem areas."  My stitches and hemorrhoids are healing at a much faster pace than they have after my other three deliveries and are causing me very little pain which has been such a relief.  However, my third "problem area" has flared up to a point of almost intolerable pain that I have never experienced.  Although nursing has always been uncomfortable the first two weeks of life with our other three children, it has never gotten this painful.  In the past three days, I have found myself crying, sobbing, screaming, and almost swearing every time I have had to nurse Emmett due to the excruciating pain.  Out of sheer desperation, I went to the doctor's office today with Emmett to have my first appointment ever with a nurse who is also a lactation consultant.  It was kind of humbling after successfully nursing three other children past their first birthday.  I have been so confused as to why this time around has been so much more painful than with our other children.  The nurse informed me that Emmett has a small mouth which prevents him from making a wide latch as easily.  As a result, the majority of his nursing is taking place right on my nipples which has caused all of this extra pain.  Although she gave me some wonderful pointers and provided me with some hope, I still have to deal with feeding this baby while trying to nurse my own nipples back to health which seems almost impossible at this point when I am feeding Emmett so many times a day.
So, with all of that said, it really has been a successful and enjoyable week with the exception of my nursing problem.  If it weren't for that new challenge thrown at me, I would almost be pinching myself to make sure that this wasn't all a dream.  Regardless, we have absolutely grown to love our baby Emmett and think he is the cutest, sweetest, and most adorable baby around.  He is such a blessing in our lives and such an amazing gift from Heavenly Father.
Here are some pictures of Emmett's first week of life...

After Emmett came home last Saturday, Logan saw his pacifier drop out of his mouth while he was asleep in the car seat.  Logan immediately decided that he needed to teach Emmett how to keep his pacifier in his mouth and set out to draw all sorts of pictures on the children's white board to help him with this.  Much to his frustration, Emmett kept on falling asleep before Logan would have the chance to teach him.  Finally, on Monday morning before school, the stars aligned and I was able to carry an awake Emmett in his bouncy chair to Logan's school.  Here is Logan teaching about proper pacifier use.

Logan also taught Emmett how to write all of his siblings' names on the chalkboard side of the easel.  It was the cutest thing to watch.

All three children have loved holding Emmett several times this week.  Here is big brother Logan holding Emmett.

And sweet Ella holding Emmett after ballet class.

And big sister Lia holding Emmett after school.

The kids all wanted to watch me give Emmett his first bath at home on Monday, January 14th.

Emmett had his first doctor's appointment on Tuesday, January 15th, and received a clean bill of health from our pediatrician.  Here he is laying on the exam table after the doctor had left the room.  What a sweet baby.  Although I don't have any pictures yet, Emmett also had his baby photos taken on Wednesday, January 16th, and did a fabulous job throughout the entire shoot.

Emmett has already spent many hours sleeping in his grandpa's baby bassinet (that is exactly 80 years old) which is next to my side of the bed.

When he hasn't been sleeping in his bassinet or being held by someone, Emmett has enjoyed spending a lot of time in his bouncy chair downstairs.  Both Ella and Logan have loved being in control of all of the buttons on the bouncy chair and have enjoyed changing the music and the vibration settings every day for Emmett.

A close-up of our cutie.

Emmett has also spent a lot in mama's arms nursing and sleeping and cuddling.  Besides the pain, it has been a little slice of heaven for me.

A close-up of our boy swaddled in one of his blankets which has been the norm for him all week long.

Emmett's Birth Story

Due to my age and the complications with this pregnancy (placenta previa and Emmett's 2-vessel cord), I was able to schedule my first ever induction to take place on Thursday, January 17th, while my favorite OB was going to be on call in the hospital.  Although I knew there was a chance of this baby coming early, I just planned my life like the delivery was going to happen on schedule.  Luckily, besides getting through Christmas and our trip to Priest Lake, I had been able to check everything off of my to-do list since our arrival home on December 31st with the exception of Logan's 7th birthday party that I had scheduled to host a month early on January 13th.  So, when I woke up on the morning of January 11th, I was still very hopeful that this party was going to take place which would then give me a few days to just rest and take care of any last minute items I hadn't thought of before checking into the hospital with Ron on the evening of January 16th.  However, this baby had other plans...
After dropping Logan and Lia off at school and Ella off at a friend's house for a play date, I headed into Tacoma for Emmett's weekly stress test on the Thursday morning, January 10th.  Since Emmett has passed his weekly stress test with "flying colors" every week since I first started having them at 32 weeks, I really didn't think that this appointment would be any different.  After getting hooked up for the stress test, the nurse quickly noticed that a deceleration had occurred (a massive drop in the baby's heart rate) within the first one or two minutes of the 20 minute test.  She didn't mention anything until the end of the test when she pointed out that the rest of the test was "beautiful" with the exception of this one deceleration that happened while I was having a contraction.  Since I couldn't feel the contraction happening, I was very surprised to hear all of this.  She said that this was not a good thing because this meant that the blood flow through the umbilical cord from the placenta to the heart was being restricted by the contraction which then caused the baby's heart rate to drop.  After talking it over with the doctor, the nurse came back in and said that the doctor wanted me to check into the hospital for further monitoring and a possible induction that evening.  Since I am a planner and was completely unprepared for this news, I actually burst into tears right then and there.  After calming me down a bit, the nurse sent me on my way to meet with my doctor who I was already scheduled to see for my weekly appointment.
My doctor came in and explained that these decelerations put my baby through unnecessary stress and can also be very unsafe for him.  She frankly said, "We just don't want the placenta to poop out on you."  Since I had already hit my 38-week mark, she said that there was really no point in keeping this baby inside of me for six more days until my scheduled induction and that it would probably be the safest and smartest thing to just get the baby out today.  However, since she was not the doctor on call at the hospital, she explained that Dr. El Alam would be the one to make this final decision.  After talking this over with her, I asked for permission to run home to get a few things in order.  After thinking about it, she asked me how much time I would need.  I told her two hours (including the one-hour, round trip drive to Puyallup and back to Tacoma).  Luckily she agreed and off I went!
On the drive home, I was able to reach my mom at home, Ron at work, and my friend watching Ella.  I asked my mom to pack a bag and drive to Puyallup as soon as she could, I told Ron to leave work and come home and pack a bag, and I asked my friend if she could just bring Ella home for me so that I didn't have to waste extra time driving to pick her up.  Everyone complied and before I knew it, Ron and I were swirling around our house trying to do a million things at once.  Luckily, my mom pulled up right as we were ready to leave.  I was able to go over the next two days' school schedules and activities with my mom and discuss dinner options before walking out the door with Ron and heading into the unknown!
After arriving at the hospital at 2 p.m., Ron and I checked in and were ushered up to the 14th floor where the labor and delivery floor is located.  We were then asked to wait in a waiting room for about 30 minutes before being escorted to the "triage unit" where stress tests are performed.  We were greeted by a very nice nurse named Ursula who took care of us until her shift ended at 7 p.m.  During this time, she performed another stress test on our baby and told us that he had had three more decelerations.  Dr. El Alam eventually came in to talk to us and told us the same thing that the OB earlier in the day had said.  He wanted to go ahead with the induction that night to prevent the baby from being in any more danger over the next six days.  Taking a big gulp, I agreed and the induction started a little before 7 p.m.
Since the labor and delivery floor was at full capacity (just like the night I checked into the same hospital almost 11 years ago to deliver Lia), Ron and I were not able to leave our tiny partition in the triage unit until 9:45 that night.  As a result, the doctor actually began my induction in our little partition by first inserting a "Foley Bulb" up next to my cervix.  He chose to do this first to help with my dilation (by hopefully a few centimeters) before starting pitocin. He said that the Foley Bulb would fall out on its own when I was dilated to a 4 or 5 cm and that it could take up to 12 hours.  What is funny about this entire process is that I had actually started to feel contractions around 5 p.m. that evening.  Every time I felt a little cramp, I wood look at the monitor and see a contraction taking place.  In addition, I had gone from zero dilation that morning at my doctor's appointment to 1 cm by the time the doctor put the bulb inside of me.  So, by total coincidence, I had started to go into labor on the same day.  As a result, this helped my induction to go faster.  This was evidenced by the fact that the Foley Bulb fell out while I was going to the bathroom just 1.5 hours later at 8:30.  Although I was only dilated to 2 cm at this point, our new nurse named Kate (who had started her shift with us at 7 p.m.) said that she was pretty confident that I would be having a baby that night due to the fact that I had started to go into labor on my own and because this was my fourth delivery.  And, how right she ended up being.
Although the bulb had fallen out at 8:30, the doctor waited to start my pitocen until I had got checked into my own room which finally happened about an hour later at 9:30.  At 9:45, the nurse started the pitocin and by 11 p.m, the contractions were so intense and powerful that I asked for an epidural.  By the time the anesthesiologist arrived to give me my epidural an half hour later, my back labor had kicked in and I was in serious pain.  I was so relieved that he had arrived in time to give me an epidural as I did not want to go through natural child birth again like I did with Ella!  By midnight, the epidural was done and I started to get some relief.  The nurse checked me at 1 a.m. and said that I had dilated to 6 cm.  She then turned off the light and let Ron and I rest for a few hours while I continued to dilate.  It was a blessing that this happened in the middle of the night as I was able to just close my eyes and try to get some sleep instead of being wide awake in the middle of the day watching the minutes tick by on the clock.  By 5 a.m. the pressure had gotten so bad, I called our nurse back in to check me.  Sure enough, I was completely dilated to 10 cm and was fully effaced and ready to push.  She quickly went to get the doctor and by 5:25, everyone was in the room ready to go.  Luckily, I only had to push for 10 minutes before baby Emmett came into the world at 5:35 a.m.  Even with the epidural, the pressure and pain was pretty intense during his delivery, but I am so grateful that I wasn't feeling the contractions at the same time.  In addition, I was even more grateful that I was able to deliver this baby vaginally instead of by an emergency c-section which was still a real possibility due to the fact that my placenta was so close to my cervix.  When Emmett finally came out and was placed upon my chest, I was just overcome by all of these feelings of relief, joy, and even some disbelief that I was finally holding this baby in my arms after so many years of waiting for him and wanting him.  His healthy and successful arrival into the world was just one more miracle to add to the list of many miracles that had taken place along our journey of waiting for Emmett to come to earth and be a part of our family.  I am just so grateful to Heavenly Father for healing my broken heart, hearing and answering our prayers, and for finally completing our family after so many years.

Finally checked into our labor and delivery room waiting to start the pitocin with my nurse, Kate, at my side.

Ready to go!

And here he is!  Baby Emmett getting "worked on" by the nurse after his arrival into the world.

Another close up of our boy minutes after coming into the world.

Weighing baby Emmett at 8 pounds, .06 ounces, which really is amazing considering the fact that he was a 2-vessel cord baby who came 11 days early!  Our nurse, Kate, called him a "little champion."

An exhausted, yet happy, mama holding our baby boy for one of the first times!

Giving him his first kiss!

An adorable and swaddled baby fast asleep in his bassinet once we moved down to the maternity floor.

We arranged to have Ron drive back to Puyallup a few hours after Emmett's birth to check the kids out of school and to pick up my mom and Ella at the house.  He then drove everyone out to the hospital to meet the baby for the first time.  The kids were so excited when they came into the room and saw Emmett for the first time.  When they all walked in the door, I started crying because I was just so happy to finally have our family complete for the very first time.  This in turn caused my mom and even Ron (who was filming the entire thing) to start crying, too.

Our first family photo.  I can't believe that we are finally a family of six!  This has been a dream of mine for years.

All of the children wanted to hold their baby brother.  Lia got to go first!

Ella was next!

And, lastly, it was Logan's turn.

And, of course, grandma got to hold her 14th grandchild, too!

A close-up of our cutie in grandma's arms.

Mama and baby snuggling before the kids and grandma left Friday afternoon to head back home.

After a restless night sleep in the hospital, the nurse came in bright and early Saturday morning, January 12th, once she heard Emmett crying.  There were several things we had to get done on our "check out" list before being allowed to leave the hospital at around noon that day.  One of the things that needed to be done was getting Emmett's foot prints stamped on a certificate.

And, also his first bath.  He did pretty good until the end when she had to take him out of the warm water and dry him off in the cold air.

A relaxed Emmett enjoying his bath.

Drying off a very unhappy Emmett.

Emmett all dressed in his going-home-from-the-hospital outfit.

A full body shot of our boy in his dinosaur-themed outfit.

A few pictures with mama in his new outfit all wrapped up in his new blanket before heading home.

And another one.  I loved that he opened his eyes for these pictures.

One more close-up of Emmett and me.

Another kiss before hitting the road.

A close-up of our boy with his swollen eyes.  Travelling through the birth canal left his eyes a little swollen and puffy.

And, we're off!  Ron and I checking out of the maternity ward before heading home.

Emmett's first card ride driving home from the hospital.

Emmett was born on a beautiful, sunny, but chilly, day in January and the next day was just the same.  Here is a stunning view of Mt. Rainier that I managed to take from the freeway on our drive home from Tacoma.

We arrived home at lunch time to three very excited and happy children.  They were so happy to have Emmett home!  Here is the picture I got of all three of them after first bringing Emmett into the house.

Another shot of the children lovingly looking down at their brother.  Logan especially acted so cute after we first brought Emmett into the house. After we put him down on the floor and took these pictures, Ron and I overhead Logan asking Emmett what is his favorite candy.

While we were at the hospital, all of the children made posters for Emmett and taped them to the wall by the back door.  Here is Lia's "Welcome Home" poster.

Here is the precious note that Lia wrote for Emmett that made both my mom and I cry.

Logan's darling pictures of a swaddled Emmett and of the baby and me standing next to the crib.

Ella's precious pictures of Ron and me bathing Emmett and also feeding him in bed.