Emilia Milan Rogerson

The pictures you've all been waiting for.

Emmy moments after her big arrival.

Bella getting her first look at her new baby sister.

Our first picture as a family of four.

Bella is already taking her role as Big Sister very seriously.

She loves giving her kisses.

Her first bath (and last submerged bath until her umbilical cord falls off). She didn't seem to mind it.

She didn't like being put into her car seat, but didn't cry nearly as much as Bella did. Once we got moving she was fine.

Now for the story:

We went to the hospital on Tuesday morning for a Non-Stress Test and ended up having to stay for the long haul. Of course, since it was supposed to be a quick test, Bella and I went by ourselves. So while I was sitting there hooked up to the monitors, Bella had to keep herself entertained. About an hour into the test (the whole process was supposed to take an hour...) my blood pressure was a little high so it was decided that I would have to be monitored for a little longer. Our doctor also decided that he wanted to try some medicine to see if it would help me dilate (to see if inducing on Thursday would even be an option). After sitting there for a few more hours I started having more regular contractions (still not dilated!) so they were watching Emmy's heart rate to see how she was dealing with them. After a few LONG contractions where her heart rate dropped the nurse decided that our doctor should be called to see what he thought of the situation. Once he came and checked me (still not dilated!) he thought that I should stay the night so they could keep me monitored. At that point I called Dusty and had him come from work (until then Bella and I had been on our own). Bella was so well behaved the entire day. We had brought a backpack with a couple of toys and books in it and she kept herself entertained for the most part. Once Dusty got there it was a little easier for me since I not longer had to make sure Bella was behaving (and by that point she REALLY needed a diaper change and I couldn't get out of bed). We also made the call to my parents and let them know that Emmy would be coming sooner rather than later. After that we did a whole lot of waiting to see what was going to happen. Of course, my contractions were getting stronger and stronger (fun!). Once Kellie got off work she came down to sit with me and let Dusty and Bella go home and take a break. Around 9:30 my parents got into town and my Mom came to "sleep" at the hospital with me so that Dusty could get some real sleep at home and be ready for the morning. Finally at around 10pm they checked me and I was finally dilating. I was so excited. Well, excited that at least something was happening. And hopeful that if I would finally dilate then I wouldn't have to have a c-section (if I was still not progressing by the next morning then we would have had to have a c-section). I was only dilated to 3cm, but at least it was something. Then we got to play the waiting game again. By 2am my contractions were so strong that I could hardly stand it. That and they were three on top of each other so there were hardly any breaks. I was still only dilated to 3cms, but I asked for an epidural anyway. As far as I can remember these contractions were as strong as they were when I was 7cms dilated with Bella. Plus I was so tired that I just wanted to get some sleep. After a half an hour (and after the epidural) I was finally able to rest for an hour or so and felt so much better. Once I was relaxed I progressed from 3cms to 6cms in just over an hour. Then just after 5am, I was nearly fully dilated and I was READY to push. We called Dusty and called the doctor and let them know that they needed to come. Our doctor was a little shocked, he thought it would be late afternoon before I would have progressed as far as I had. They finally all got there and we got ready at around 6am. It was the longest hour of my life (I really wanted to get her OUT at that point). I was finally able to push, but Emmy didn't want to cooperate. She was face up (instead of face down). I was having a whole lot of fun (or not!) while the doctor tried to turn her. I kept having to turn from side to side to see if she would rotate on her own. Then once my water broke the doctor noticed that there was meconium in it so it was even more important to deliver as soon as possible. Then with one last rotation Emmy turn and FINALLY came out. It was SO painful, even with the epidural , and was much worse than Bella's delivery (though that may just be selective memory). Once she was out they had to check to make sure she hadn't breathed in any of the meconium. They also had to put a little tube down into her lungs to help her lungs inflate all the way. After a few minutes of that she had had enough and actually pulled the tube out on her own. It was funny and she had all the nurses laughing. Once all that was done (and I was done) we finally got to hold her. It was so nice to see her and hold her after carrying her for almost 41 weeks. It was also fun to see what Bella thought of the whole thing (she finally had a baby sister of her own). We had to stay at the hospital until the next afternoon, but then we got to go home. It was so nice compared to our 5 day hospital stay with Bella. I feels pretty good to be at home with our little family (we'll have to see what it's like once all our help goes home...).