Beginning the discharge process

Today began Emmy's discharge process. She had a "car seat tolerance test," where she spent 30 minutes in a car seat and they monitored her heart rate and breathing, and she passed with flying colors. She's keeping her temperature up great, despite that fact that she's quite adept at getting her hat to come off and wiggling her arms out of the blankets. Tricia, her nurse again today, said she came in earlier today and she was sleeping with her arms out and up in the air. I wish I'd been there with the camera!

Tomorrow she'll have her first photo shoot (a service the hospital offers and you only pay for any photos you may decide to order) and at some point tomorrow or Tuesday they will give us our "discharge instructions." We don't anticipate her coming home any earlier than Tuesday, and it'll just depend on her weight, etc. the next 24-48 hours. It feels like the end is finally in sight!

Emmy's Big Girl Bed

Emmy is now 3 lbs 13 oz (as of Saturday morning) and she moved into a bassinet yesterday, we hope for good this time! When we went in last night she was maintaining her temperature quite well, and was even a little warm because they've been keeping her so wrapped up. We love seeing her wearing clothes and she's only got three leads monitoring her heart rate now, so she's practically wire free!

Emmy's nurse yesterday was, fortunately, a nurse she's had a few times and we like very much. The night nurse had given Tricia a rundown on the weight/bassinet "issue" and I called and talked to her before rounds yesterday, so she asked for some clarification for us when the doctor rounded on Emmy. He said that it wasn't because she'd lost weight, but they'd looked at her growth chart and she'd had a few days of slow gain, so they'd decided they wanted to put her back in until she reached 1700 grams. Great, fine, I just wish someone has explained that to us! Also, turns out at some point Thurs. or Fri. the third doctor in the group took over. I'm sort of disappointed that he or Dr. Bartley didn't let us know. Not that it mattered, but we've not heard from a doctor since Wednesday.

Anyways, regardless of why they put her back in, she's now over 1700 grams and out again and in her "big girl bed" so it's all really a moot point. It sure was frustrating for the last few days, though.

Now we just need to hope and pray that she continues to gain weight steadily the next couple of days and keeps her temps up so they will release her!

It was a big day for us yesterday...Emmy got a big girl bed and Daddy got a big boy car! It's finally time to bid a fond farewell to the '95 Buick LeSabre he's had since college. She's been a good car and certainly the most comfortable car ever (a sofa on wheels, as we say), but Charles is ready for a new car...one that perhaps his Soldiers won't make fun of quite so much. Haha. Seriously, we wanted him to be in something that is more up-to-date safety wise if we're going to be putting a baby in the car. It's something we've been planning to do for a while and he's been researching, however we just weren't super excited about another car payment so soon after paying off the Highlander! But, with Memorial Day earlier this week and it being the end of the month, we got a great deal on a new Camry. He is very excited.

I am a bit frustrated with how exhausted I am still. I know, I know, I can hear so many of your voices in my head...several weeks of inactivity, major surgery, pumping/breastfeeding, stress, and being sick this week all provide excellent reasons why I should be getting tired easily. That doesn't mean I like it! After cleaning and doing some laundry yesterday, I needed a nap. Seriously. But just a few more days and then when she's home I promise I'll take lots of naps with her. I'm sure having her home will bring a whole new level of exhaustion. But you know what? Bring it on! We are ready to have our baby home!

As always, we cherish your prayers, calls, emails, and all your love and support. I have about a million thank you notes that I'm working on still, but there are no words that can ever truly tell you how grateful we are. Thank you!! We love you all.

P.S. Yes, it's after 11 a.m. on Sunday morning and I'm obviously not at church. See above comments on exhaustion.

No news

No real news to report, but I knew some of you would be checking back to see. Emmy's doing fine this evening. She did great nursing earlier in the afternoon and did pretty well this evening. We just both have a learning curve and her tiny size adds an extra challenge to the process. It's nice now that we can hold her as long as we want after we feed her and enjoy some time with her. And, I'm glad the nurses take her out and play with her at the NICU desk at night. She's now 3 lbs 10.8 oz!

We still don't have much clarity as to why she is not out in a bassinet if in fact she hasn't lost any weight. No one seemed to want to discuss it this afternoon, so I asked her night nurse (who was there last night, even though she wasn't assigned to Emmy) if she has any idea what exactly happened. She was, of course, there for and in agreement with Felicia's irritation last night with the move back to the isolette. She checked all her recorded weights and she said she'd talk to the nurse practitioner on duty tonight and see if they could move her back to the bassinet. If there's a reason she's not in one, fine. But, based upon what Heather saw recorded, weight/temp. should not have been the reason. I don't care if someone made a mistake, let's just go back to the bassinet.

The back and forth has gotten old. Not that it was ever enjoyable, but now that it seems we should be so close to bringing her home, I'm really so done with the hospital. She was wide awake this afternoon when I was done feeding her and holding her for a while, and it was so hard to leave her. I didn't have to leave, but there's only so long one can sit in a less than comfy rocking chair in silence and stare at those four walls.

We both know that bringing her home will bring new challenges and a new level of sleep deprivation, but bring it on. We want the opportunity to establish our family at our house and whatever level of "normalcy" that in our pmay bring. And we'd like to be able to hang out with her in the comfort of our home and pjs! So, we continue to hope that happens SOON!

It's getting close...

Here's a quick post to placate the masses. :)

Emmy is so close to coming home! There was just a bit of discrepancy yesterday about her weight, so we're not quite sure how close she is.

She was moved to a bassinet, as we expected, on Wednesday night after Charles left following her 10 p.m. feeding. Then when I went in yesterday at 2 p.m. her day nurse said she'd lost a little weight, so they thought she was burning a lot of calories trying to stay warm so the doctor decided they should put her back in the isolette and let her get to 1700 grams (about 3 lbs 12 oz) before they'd take her out again. I was a little surprised, but okay. And then...

We went in at 10 p.m. and she had the same nurse, Felicia, she's had the last several nights. She was floored that they said she'd lost weight, because she was certain she had not and had gone back and checked her chart and was trying to convince Dr. Bartley that she's ready to be out. So much so in fact her temp was high earlier in the evening, so Felicia turned it way down, loosened her blankets, and finally just gotten an order to turn off the heat altogether again just as we arrived. She was really confused about the discrepancy and she said she'd been certain she'd come in last night and Emmy would be home! She said her day nurse was saying she'd lost 90 grams, so a little over 3 ounces and that really surprised me even more.

So, we're not sure what to expect out of today. If she needs to stay another couple of days, fine, but we're anxious to sort this out. Hopefully today has brought more clarity and we'll have more news later on this afternoon.

It's no fun being sick

What I thought was allergies/sinus drainage yesterday turned out to be a cold or some similar unpleasantness when I woke up this morning. Lots of congestion, coughing, sneezing, etc., which means I really should stay away from the hospital for a day or two. So, I shed a tear (or two three), and I've stayed home today. I hate to not hold her or be able to nurse her, but I not only want to keep germs away from her, I don't want to spread this to any of the nurses or other babies, etc. If I don't develop a fever and I feel better tomorrow or Friday, then I will go back. Ironically, I probably picked this up at the hospital. Sigh.

Charles came home midday and went to feed Emmy and drop off milk. She ate like a champ! She is still 3 lbs 8 oz and they have lowered the temperature in her isolette and will probably turn it off completely tonight. So, she may be in a regular bassinet tomorrow! We will get some gowns and socks and hats together to take up there tomorrow. We finally can start putting her extensive wardrobe to use!

Emmy's Nursery

Charles put the finishing touches on Emmy's nursery this weekend, so I just had to post a couple of photos. We are so pleased with how it all turned out. (Plus, we know it'll never be this organized again!) We wanted something different that could grow with a boy or a girl, and/or be used for a second baby later on. So, we went for bright colors and fun, funky fabrics. There are more photos of the finished product, and the work in progress, in the Nursery Photos album in Picasa.


We are so fortunate to have lovely people in our lives who helped make things come together...our friend Jocelyn's mom, Ms. Irene, made the curtains, bumper, and bed skirt. A wonderful lady at church, Laverne, made all the pillows. There are two cross-stitches hanging on the walls that my Mom did for my nursery, and a new one with Emmy's name, birth date, length and weight on it that our friend Sarah brought down last week. There are two pieces of art my sister gave us for Christmas, and the little lion print was a baby gift from Jocelyn and Jason. We re-framed the train picture the McGehees gave us our senior year after our train trip. The parrot mobile was a purchase we made in Nicaragua this fall right after we found out I was pregnant. The dresser was Charles' as a child and he painted it and added new hardware. The big orange chair was our splurge purchase (it's a rocker/glider), and man is it comfy! I think that we may "fight" over who gets to sit in it first and snuggle with Emmy. It has been so much fun to watch everything come together.

I have enjoyed washing all of Emmy's new clothes, blankets, etc. the last few days and getting everything organized for her. Now we just need the baby home!

And she just keeps growing

Yesterday and this afternoon they told us Emmy was 3 lbs 5 oz, but tonight her nurse said she was 3 lbs 8.5 oz! I'm not sure if the nurse earlier today told us yesterday's weight, or if she was weighed again tonight...to be honest, we were so shocked we didn't think to ask! Either way, we are thrilled and anxious to hear what Dr. Bartley will say tomorrow. (He is the neonatologist who first had her the day she was born and that first weekend and he is taking care of Emmy this week while Dr. Brawley is off.) Hopefully she can move to a bassinet soon. They have already lowered the temperature inside her isolette, so she's being weaned off her "heat source."

Last night Charles changed her diaper for the first time, and lucky him, it was a poopy diaper! He did great. I've gotten to breastfeed her twice, once yesterday and once today. It's gone about as well as I could have expected. Tomorrow we'll have the lactation consultant come in to give me some advice, too. We'll still have to give her bottles when she comes home because she'll need a vitamin supplement at least once a day and most likely she won't quite have the energy to nurse at every feeding for a little while longer.

He's a photo of Emmy from last night. You'll see she is in a "new" isolette that's actually much older and doesn't have all the bells and whistles that the "Cadillac bed" she was in had. Because she is doing so well, they moved her because there has been an influx of new smaller and sicker babies.

Another visit with grandparents

My mom and dad, Su-Su and Big Daddy to Emmy, came to visit today. They are letting us hold Emmy a little longer each visit, so they both came in to hold her for a bit. Very proud grandparents, as you can imagine.

Emmy is 3 lbs 3 oz today and 16 1/4 inches long. She's growing like a weed! We hope and pray she can come out of her isolette later this week and we'll be one step away from bringing her home! Tomorrow I can try nursing her for the first time, which I'm very excited (and relieved) to be able to do.

We can't wait for everyone to meet her! We'll leave you with a photo of Emmy contemplating life yesterday.

3 lbs 2 oz!

Emmy is over 3 lbs now! She was 3 lbs 2 oz this morning. I'm sure all that she's been eating the last 24 hours has contributed in some way. Haha.

We went in to feed her at 2 p.m. She is absolutely adorable when she's hungry and smacks her lips while she's waiting on her bottle. We feel a little guilty laughing at her when she's hungry, but it's just so cute!

Charles and I have been trying to get lots of little things done the last two days. We had the area rugs professionally cleaned yesterday, we worked on cleaning off the carport, installed the car seat, etc. and we've still got a list of "things to do" that will keep us busy the next week. We made some returns to Babies R Us and purchased a few things we still needed or wanted, including a swing. Charles then cursed the person who wrote the instructions since they didn't always make sense, but we now have a swing sitting in the living room ready for Emmy's arrival. I also now have a new cell phone, thank goodness. There's so much that has been pushed to the back burner while I was on bed rest and in the hospital! It's nice to be able to do things together again.

Hope everyone enjoys their holiday weekend. We're looking forward to my parents arrival tomorrow afternoon. Drive safely, Mom and Daddy!

A couple of photos...

Here are a couple of photos from the last two days. More are in Picasa, and please note that there is a new album titled Emmy, May 2009 where we've been adding photos the last week.

Emmy is now eating as much as she wants each feeding, and they are stretching out her feedings to every 4 hours as of 10 p.m. tonight. She ate 40 ml at 3 p.m., 50 at 6 p.m., and 33 at 10 p.m. WOW!

Daddy giving me a bottle Thursday evening.

I'm content now that I have a fully belly.

Friday evening, you can see I'm free from my feeding tube and PICC line now!

No more tubes!

Emmy's feeding tube is out again, hopefully for good this time. She's been doing great with her feedings, which are now 24 ML. She sucked down her bottle at 3 p.m. like a champ!

Many of you have been asking what she needs to weigh in order to come home. They've never given me a specific weight, but today Dr. Brawley did talk about her coming home. She needs to gain about 9 more ounces (so she'll be 3 lbs 8 oz) before they will take her out of her isolette. They they will monitor her for a day or two in order to make sure she is maintaining her body temperature, and then we can bring her home! So, we're probably looking at another 10-14 days.

Oh yes, and her little umblical cord fell off earlier this week so now she just has a cute little belly button. That poor umbilical cord worked overtime for 33 weeks!

In other good news, we are very happy that Emmy was approved to see an outside pediatrician right away. The lady in the Tricare office took pity on Charles when he went in to register her and put the request in. Ordinarily we would have to wait until she was home and saw a doctor on post for her first visit, then request a change of provider. We really wanted to make sure with a preemie that we have some consistency of care, so we are glad we can start seeing a pediatrician immediately.

Hope everyone has a good Memorial Day Weekend!

Emmy keeps growing!

Today Emmy is 2 lbs 15 oz! She's doing great and is moving back to all bottle feedings today. She also has been moved to a little room behind the room she's been in all this time because she is doing so well. There are some sicker babies coming in today, so she now has her own private "suite" and the nurses will keep monitoring her from room 6, where she has been all along. I did not ask if her feeding tube was coming out yet, but I suspect they will wait and see how she handles all bottles again for a least 24 hours before taking it out.

I'll be going in at 3 p.m. to feed her and hold her. Then Charles and I will go back at 9 p.m. as well. That's been our routine this week, which is working out well.

I went in for a doctor's appointment yesterday and I'm healing well, so I don't have to go back for 4 weeks. Dr. Larson said they missed me around there. I saw a couple of the ultrasound techs who were happy to see photos of Emmy. They all have been so wonderful to us!

Charles has a four day weekend for Memorial Day, so that's going to be nice. We're going to try and get a lot of little things done since we know once she's home our energies will be focused elsewhere.

I'll post any update and photos later on after visiting her. Hope everyone is having a good Thursday!

No more PICC!

We are thrilled that today Emmy's PICC line came out, so no more IV! Once the feeding tube comes out again, then she'll only be "tied" to wires that are external monitors. She gained weight again and is now 2 lbs 14 oz. Look out, we'll soon have a 3 lb baby on our hands! She's now getting two bottle feedings in a row, then a tube feeding, and she seems to be handling this change well.

"Aunt" Sarah came from Atlanta to visit today. She brought an adorable cross-stitch that she did for Emmy's nursery that has her name, birth date, weight, and length on it. I can't wait to hang it up! We had lunch together, then headed over to the hospital. They let me hold Emmy for a little while since the feeding schedule change meant 3 p.m. was a tube feeding. I'd forgotten my camera, so Sarah took a few photos, including Emmy's "philosophical pose" you see here. Too funny. Thanks for coming to town, Sarah!

We are so excited that our dear friends Lucas and Lisa welcomed baby William Cameron this afternoon. Congratulations you two! We can't wait for Will and Emmy to meet.

What a lucky girl!

I tell you what, Emmy already has a wardrobe three times the size of mine! If anyone was worried about us having enough clothes since we didn't know before she was born if we should buy boy or girl clothes, have no fear. Our fabulous friends and family have taken care of her, what a lucky girl!

Saturday was my "Church" baby shower, thrown by our dear friends. (Thanks Mary Ann, Stephanie, Pam, and Sarah!) Our St. John family loves us so much, it's overwhelming! I had a great time and we have so many beautiful gifts for Emmy to use. We can't wait to get her home and put them all to use.

Mom came down Friday to help out and to be here for the shower. It was so nice to have her here, even just for a day, and she got to be there when we were feeding Emmy on Friday so she had a chance to see her out of her isolette. She's a proud grandmother, for sure!


Beth and Griffin also came Friday to meet their niece! We had a great time with them and they also got to see Emmy while she was out taking a bottle Friday and Saturday. Beth, of course, came to the shower on Saturday while Charles, Griff, and Joel kicked back at the house and played Wii and drank beer. Charles was the chef Saturday night and grilled burgers for all of us after the shower.


And now, what you really want to know...how is Emmy doing? She is doing well! Unfortunately, they decided to put her feeding tube back in Saturday. The nurses had noticed (and so had we) that she was getting very tired towards the end of her feedings once they had increased her intake to 20+ and it was hard to get her to finish her bottle. Plus, her weight leveled off at 2 lbs 10 oz and she didn't gain for a few days. They suspected that she was using a lot of calories and energy eating, so they decided it would be best to let her rest every other feeding and get it through the tube. She wasn't happy about having it back in! They also increased her calories last night by adding a supplement to my milk. Today she had gained and she's now 2 lbs 12 oz, so something is working!! Dr. Brawley seemed pleased. I fed her today at 3 p.m. and at 9 p.m. and I thought she took the bottle faster and it didn't take as much work to keep her awake to finish.

Hopefully a few days of this routine and she'll gain enough weight and energy to lose the feeding tube again. Really, she'd moved so fast this past week, it wasn't a concern that we sort of had to take a step back. She's doing great.

Charles went back to work today until Emmy comes home. Then he will take some personal leave and spend a few more weeks home as we all adjust. He's just trying to catch up and get ready to be out again for a while. We're lucky everyone in the command has been so supportive. He said everyone was asking to see his wedding ring and they were shocked looking at in person after seeing the pictures of it all the way up Emmy's arm! She is a tiny little Pickle.

Thanks everyone for all your calls, cards, gifts, and concern. Your prayers helped get Emmy here safe and they are helping sustain us now. We're anxious to have her home, and hopefully she will be soon!

Happy One Week Birthday!

Today Emmy is one week old! Last Friday seems a million miles away in many ways. What a difference a week makes! She is doing great and she really looks so much better. It's so nice to see her without the feeding tube, scalp IV, and the "sunglasses." She's back up to her birth weight today, 2 lbs 10 oz! Way to go, Emmy.

It's been a busy day for us. Charles went to officially register Emmy on post with our insurance and sign her up for a primary care physician. We've opted to try and use an outside provider so we can have some consistency of care for her. (Children aren't guaranteed to see a pediatrician and it's possible to see a different doctor every time you take them in.) We hope that our request will be granted!

I got my hair cut today (yay!) and then Charles' first sergeant (his right-hand woman!) came by with a card and a gift card from their unit for us and Emmy. What an overwhelmingly sweet gesture!! They have all been so supportive of Charles and I throughout the last few weeks. It wouldn't always have been possible for Charles to spend as much time as he has with me and take care of everything, and we are so grateful. I know it's been hard on his 1SG to not have her sounding board there. She's carrying the load!


We went in to give Emmy a bottle for her 3:00 feeding and hold her for a while. Today they decided to let her eat as much as she wants, but she needs to take at least 20 ccs at each feeding. She took about 22. I was able to get her to eat a little better today. I've fed and changed lots of babies while baby-sitting growing up, but a preemie is a new experience! I also changed her diaper for the first time. The little diapers they have on her are so unbelievably small.

Aunt Beth and Uncle Griffin (Charles' sister and our brother-in-law) came to town today and so did my mom, "Su-Su." We had fun this afternoon opening presents that Mom had brought from several family friends in Greenville, and Charles' Mom and Dad and Beth and Griff. I think Beth bought out Babies "R" Us and Baby Gap! After a quick dinner at the Village Deli, we headed back to the hospital so Beth and Griff could meet their niece. We got there around 8:30 and her night nurse asked if I wanted to feed her. OF COURSE! So Beth, Griffin, and my Mom all took turns coming in to see her while I was feeding her and holding her, then Charles came in to hold her for a minute, too. What a nice treat!!

And now, it's time for bed. Just three more hours and the alarm will be waking me up again...

What a sweet face

Not that we're partial or anything...but what a sweet face! Today Emmy came off the Bili lights so the little velcro tabs that held on her "sunglasses" while she was under the lights are gone, too! Now you can see all of her face.

Dr. Brawley said that he hopes to take out her PICC line soon, and then she will be free from everything but the little external monitors. Yay!

They doubled her feedings again today to 20 ccs. She'd had her first "big" feeding at Noon, so at 3 p.m. when we went in to feed her, she wasn't quite as ravenous as she has been and it was hard to get her to wake up and eat. We think her belly was still pretty full. Not surprisingly, she did manage to finish most of it finally.

A couple more photos are up in Picasa, but I had to finish with one of "Big Sister" Rags. Charles put together the bouncer today while we were organizing things in the nursery, and Rags promptly climbed up and went to sleep. Here she is posing for the camera.

Look what's missing!

Emmy's feeding tube! They took it out this morning and they have doubled her feedings to 10 ccs (about 2 teaspoons). Way to go!

We had a good visit with her this afternoon. After she ate her "snack" we both got to "kangaroo" with her, which means put her on our chests skin to skin. It's good for newborns, but especially for preemies as they're learning to regulate their body temperature. It also helps Mom's hormones for milk production. It was wonderful and I'm not sure I've ever seen Charles look so happy.

Here's one more photo of Emmy taking her bottle. It only takes her about a minute to suck it down. What a good eater!

What's in a name?

So many people have asked where Emmy's name came from, I thought I'd share with the internet.

Emerson and Elizabeth are both family names. It was important to both of us to use family names if we could find ones we agreed on! For a girl, it was a little harder. At first we'd decided we would avoid all variations of Beth, Elizabeth, Mary, Marion, Meredith, etc. etc. because there are SO many of us throughout the families. But, that didn't leave us with a lot of girl name choices!

We went into the delivery room with a couple of boy names and girl names. I'd say we were pretty sure we'd use Emerson and call her Emmy, but we wanted to see the baby first. I think we were already thinking of her as Emerson, since we both suspected it was a girl.

PaPa's middle name, my maternal grandfather, was Emerson. My sister and I have always loved that name and thought it would be a good name for a little girl, so when Charles and I found out we were expecting and started talking names, that one came up right away and we both really liked it. Elizabeth is, as I said, a family name on both sides of the family...my middle name, Charles' sister, Beth's, middle name, my mother's middle name, my maternal grandmother's middle name, Charles' Aunt Betty's middle name, and Charles maternal grandmother, who just passed away 4 weeks before Emmy was born, was named Elizabeth. In the end, it just seemed fitting to use Elizabeth to honor Grandmommy and all the other wonderful women in our family. We loved the way Emerson Elizabeth sounded.

When she came out crying, we knew she was a fighter. They asked us her name after they'd showed her to us, and we looked at each other and I said "she's Emmy?" and he said "yes, it's Emerson Elizabeth and we'll call her Emmy." Then the Nurse Practitioner taking care of her, Cathy, sang her happy birthday!

Thanks Aunt Mer!

Also, before I forget, I need to say special thanks to Meredith, and of course Charles, for setting up the blog yesterday. The first post is courtesy of Aunt Mer. She's very proud of her niece, in case you can't tell. Here she is getting her first look at Emmy on Friday morning.

Photos Galore

I am working to figure out this blogging thing and how to upload imagines and video. I'll post a few pictures here, but if you want to see more, be sure to check out our online Picasa Web Albums.

We'll keep uploading photos there, we promise!

Here is a photo from yesterday afternoon's visit with Emmy.

Eating from a bottle!

We were thrilled to find out yesterday from Emmy's day nurse, Carla, and Dr. Brawley that they had decided to let her try her 3 p.m. feeding from a bottle and she did GREAT! Carla said they would probably do a bottle feeding every 12 hours, but when we called to check on her last night, her night nurse had given her the 9 p.m. feeding on it, and after talking to Kim, today's nurse, it sounds like she's had most every feeding since then from a bottle because she's handling the nipple so well. We are absolutely thrilled! Of course, we should have known with her genes she'd be a good little eater.

I just called to check on her and they increased her feedings after rounds this morning from 3 to 5 ccs every 3 hours. She handled the increase well by bottle at noon, so they are going to let us feed her at 3:00. I can't wait!

She is still under the bili light for her jaundice. We thought they might be able to take the 2nd light off today (she was under two lights for a couple of days, but she's down to one), but she's still has to be under them. That's okay, but we'll be glad when she's done because then we can hold her more.

Really, she is just doing so well. Thank you Dr. Larson for making the best call for her health last week! We are so blessed to have such a healthy baby, especially for all she endured to get here.

Finally Home

I am thrilled to have been discharged yesterday. After almost 4 weeks in the hospital, it was wonderful to be FREE! I absolutely hated leaving Emmy at the hospital, but I knew when we scheduled her birth that I would be leaving before her, so I think I had already been preparing myself for it. Plus, now, I really can concentrate on her when I go back to visit and I'm not trying to schedule seeing her around my own vital sign checks, medications, and rounds. Charles and I were both exhausted and we spent the evening napping, resting, and watching TV, and he worked on unpacking. We slept much later than planned this morning, but I know we needed it. I don't think he knew I even turned the light on at 3:30 when I woke up to pump. Hopefully Emmy will be as good as sleeper as her Daddy.
Rags is, of course thrilled to have us both home. It will be fun to see her reaction when we bring Emmy home, and of course we can't wait to have all of us home together soon.

It's a girl!

World, meet Emerson Elizabeth.

Born May 8, 2009 at 10:07am, weighing in at a hefty 2 pounds, 10 ounces and measuring 14 1/2 inches long. Deep blue eyes, blond hair, long fingers and toes, and the most beautiful thing we've ever laid eyes on.

Mom (Beth) and Dad (Charles) will be updating as often as possible to share all about Emmy -- how she came into the world, and how they are learning to be a new family of three.