She's Here {The Novel}

On Wednesday, May 2nd I went in for a routine doctors appointment where I mentioned to the doctor I was a little crampy and he decided to check me just to see what was going on. To his surprise my cervix was thinned and I was dilated to almost a 2. Naturally I was put on strict bed rest. Showers and bathroom breaks were it. So I spent a very relaxing day in bed thinking of all the things I would be able to accomplish over the next 3 months. 


Thursday I had another appointment that was a simple ultrasound of her heart and my doctor asked me to have them measure my cervix. So the nurse did and asked the doctor to come in to verify what she was (or wasn't in my case) seeing. He quickly checked me and then calmly said all right, you just lay still and we'll call you an ambulance. WHAT?! He informed me that my cervix was gone and that I was about 3-4 centimeters dilated with a bulging bag of water. So I called Phil to try and explain what was going on while the firefighters got me ready to go to the hospital. My mom and Phil met me there and I was immediately admitted and placed in a position called trandelenburg, where the head is down and the legs are higher, in hopes that gravity would help my bag of water not rupture. I was given trabutaline to help stop any contractions. The doctor had to do an amniocentesis to see if my uterus had an infection or if I just had an incompetent cervix. It wasn't too bad but I was scared I wouldn't be able to hold still. The results came back negative and I was whisked away to emergency surgery. I got my first spinal block, which was super weird because I felt like I was in a warm bath and I swore I was moving my feet but I wasn't. I was placed in some crazy stirrups and the bed was tilted at a 90° angle. They tried to do a cerclage, but it was unsuccessful as my bag of water prolapsed twice, so they had to undo it. After surgery they put some cuffs on my legs that helped the blood flow so I didn't get clots and I went back into the head down position. I was also put on a Magnesium drip that completely relaxed my entire body. I was also started on indomethacin to stop contractions because I was having a few after the trauma of the surgery, but I was still at a good 4 centimeters dilated.

When things quieted down and my parents left, Phil and I decided that our lil' miss needed a name. We both knew right away her name was to be Emmalynn. It was such a tender mercy (one of so many)! Her middle name was always going to be Fern after Phil's grandma, but it was an amazing feeling of peace when her name just came to us.


The next morning I felt a trickle at about 7:00 am and I just knew my bag of water had ruptured. The doctor came in and sure enough, it had. Luckily we could see through ultrasound that only a small portion had rupture and she still had plenty of fluid behind her. She was head down too, which meant I could stay pregnant as long as she'd stay in there (no coughing, sneezing, or throwing up because that's all it would take). They started antibiotics and I got 2 steroid shots for her lungs in 24 hour increments. Because Phillip gave me a blessing on Wednesday night, I asked my brother to give me a blessing. It was an amazing and powerful experience.


The waiting game really began at this time. The goal was 24 weeks...4 days away. I was determined! They consider 24 weeks viable and for some reason babies do better at that gestational age. My nurses said they'd have a party for me if I could make it to Tuesday! I learned quickly that visitors caused more contractions and I needed to stay still and calm. Our names were put in so many temples, and we couldn't believe all the people who were praying for us. I know those prayers helped me be at peace. My nurses (who were almost all LDS) always commented on the peace they felt in my room. My past nurses would come check on me each day and say yay you're still pregnant!


Saturday the youth in our ward did an 8 mile trek from our church building to the new Gilbert temple and they dedicated it in Emmalynn's name. When they were done, the rest of the ward met them at a nearby park for a bbq and the whole ward screamed into the phone "WE LOVE YOU". It boosted me up so much. Again the outpouring of love and support just amazes me!


Sunday brought even more peace as we felt the prayers and fasting of so many. Phil took a break and went to sacrament while my mom stayed with me. I always wanted one of them with me because if Emmalynn was going to come, they said it could take a matter of minutes.  I rested a lot on Sunday and was beginning to enjoy my laziness. I listened to music and cherished every little kick miss Emmalynn gave me. She was so super active! I was also taken off the magnesium drip and was finally eating a little.


Monday was a quiet and, you guessed it, another restful day. I just laid around and listened to music.


Tuesday was so exciting! I made it to 24 weeks! 

My mom brought chips and salsa to celebrate. What made it even better was my 2 favorite nurses took care of me. Dana was my day nurse, and Tammy was my night nurse. I told Phillip if Emmalynn decided to come, it needed to be when Tammy was my nurse because she was so sweet and calm. I guess I got my wish. Late in the evening Phil and I were just quietly talking when I had a HUGE contraction, and I gushed blood. I told Phil, who didn't believe me, that it was going to be her birthday. We called in Tammy who decided to put my IV back in to help calm my uterus. She also called the doctor who decided to check me. When she did she was shocked. My bag of water had resealed, but she was outside of it (?) and she was kicking her hand. Emmalynn had flipped and her feet were already coming out. So things moved very quickly after that. An ultrasound was ordered and I had to take some nasty medicine because I had eaten some crackers just before. Phil had time to call our parents before he had to suit up. 

They rushed me back to the operating room where I got to sit up for the first time in DAYS to get another spinal block. They tried to check me to see if I was dilated enough to just push her out (I was a 6), but they felt it was too dangerous to deliver her breach even though she was so tiny. So, I got sliced and diced both ways to remove her the safest way possible. Little miss Emmalynn made her debut at 12:58 am on May 9th (her great great grandma's 95th birthday - which I was excited about because she is stubborn and I want my daughter to be a fighter). She weighed 1 lb 8 oz and was 11 3/4 inches long.

Stitching me up took a little bit so I told Phil (before I was given medicine that put me out) to just be with her.

Once she was stable, Phil came to tell me about her because I started waking up more. They had me rest for a little while, then they took me up to see my little girl for the first time! Because I was in my bed they held a mirror up so I could barely see her. We took our first family picture, and then it hit me...I was a mom...he was a dad...we were FINALLY parents!!! 

We didn't see her long because I started getting sick and threw up 3 times (not fun after major surgery on the tummy). Again my amazing nurse Tammy took care of me. She even hunted down a fan somewhere in the hospital because I was so hot! We slept for a while the next morning because I didn't get back to my room until 6:00 am. When we did finally start waking up we kept reminding each other that we actually had a baby!

We know we have a long journey ahead that will probably be a roller coaster everyday, but we are in love with our little Emmalynn. She is such a miracle! We ask for continued prayers in her behalf. I am recovering just fine and promise to have lots of updates through Facebook and here on our blog.