1st bath

With mommy being in the hospital, Amelia's first real bath at home was delayed a couple of days. Of course, that made mommy cry, but what doesn't these days?!?!
When it came time to bathe her, Matt was more than willing. He said he was a bit nervous at first, but you certainly couldn't tell. She is so tiny compared to his big hands, but he did a great job! I was certainly impressed. She fussed at first, but stopped as soon as she got her big green pacifier!

All done! Now warm and cozy!

3 babies in 7 days

Nicole, Janice, and I have gone through this pregnancy together and now we all get to finally meet our babies.  And our babies all finally get to meet each other!  Tonight, Nicole and Janice brought us a great dinner from Al's pizza and brought the boys to meet Amelia. I dressed Amelia in a cute pink gown and put a bow in her hair.  When I asked Matt how she looked for her first playdate, he told me not to use the word "date"...she is too young!!  When they arrived, Matt helped bring in the carseats and told Blake and Declan to keep their hands where he could see them!! A protective Daddy already!

So we got our first picture of us girls with our babies. I can't wait to watch them grow up together. Maybe we will have a similar picture at their high school graduations!

1st doctor's appointment

Today was a busy day. I was released from the hospital this morning at 9am. I was nervous we wouldn't get out on time to make Amelia's first doctor's appointment, but we did. We want Dr. Connolly to be our primary doctor, but for this first check-up we had to see who we could get. Therefore, we saw Dr. Shaw. She is the doctor that also saw Amelia in the hospital when she was born. Unfortunately, she has lost more weight. They are not concerned, but said we must wake her to feed every 3 hours. She was 7lbs at birth and now weighs 6lbs 8oz. That weight drop is the most that is acceptable. We will have to go back in 3 days for a weight check. But for now, we will be doing our best to wake and feed her!!

In my carseat and ready to go

Amelia and Daddy in the newborn waiting room

The nurse getting Amelia's measurements

Being examined by Dr. Shaw

No longer "borderline"

Before leaving the hospital, the doctor very carefully went over the signs and symptoms of post-partum pre-eclampsia. She said it only happens in 1% of patients, but she wanted me to be cautious of any headaches, spotty vision, or progressive swelling. My systolic blood pressures were in the 170s during delivery but had improved in the days following. They did not do any further testing during that hospital stay.

We arrived home from the hospital around 2pm and settled Amelia in to her home. We took naps, unpacked, and started our life at home. That evening after dinner, Matt and my dad ran to the store and mom was rocking Amelia in the nursery, so I thought I would sneak in a quick shower. While getting in the shower, I caught a chill like I have never had before. I could not stand. Somehow I made it to the seat in our shower but was shaking uncontrollably and could not stand. Finally I made it to my feet and stood under the hot water. I knew my mom wouldn't hear me yell in the nursery so I waited until I thought Matt had returned. I yelled his name and he came into the bathroom. He wrapped me in a towel and got me out of the shower. I received a flu shot before leaving the hospital and thought this was a side effect. I slept on the sofa that night and shook all night long. Amelia slept in a baby rocker next to the sofa. In the middle of the night I saw spots, but once again found reason to attribute this symptom to just being tired.

Then in the morning, I woke with a severe headache. Again, wrote this symptom off. It wasn't until I began to swell in my legs that I began to worry. I could barely bend my toes they were so swollen, and different from my previous swelling, I was now swelling in my upper thighs. My mom went to CVS and bought a blood pressure cuff. I know these are not always the most accurate, but I just couldn't get it together enough to leave the house yet. The monitor read 160/107. We called the doctor's office to notify them we were going to the fire station for a proper check, but they advised we return to labor and delivery instead. Once we arrived, my blood pressures were in the 140s. Of course, the doctor on call was...Dr. Foutz, the one that had started and then stopped my induction 2 weeks prior. Matt was not very happy, but I asked him to be patient and listen to what she had to say. She wasn't too impressed by my blood pressures, but once she examined me, she became concerned with the new swelling and how reactive my reflexes were. She said that was a sign of possible seizures. She then ran some labs and was shocked how much my labs had changed in 48 hours. My liver function tests had more than doubled and were very high. She decided to admit me for "post-partum pre-eclampsia". I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I was devastated that I had to be admitted and so scared I wouldn't get to be with my baby. But the hospital allowed Amelia to stay with me. They were not very accomodating though. Due to security reasons, we could not use one of their bassinets nor would they allow us to bring in her carseat. We told them she had to sleep in something and they needed to help us figure this out. We then got special permission to bring in her carseat and the poor thing slept in it for 2 nights.

Once admitted, I had to be on bedrest. This meant a foley catheter! Yes, that is right. I have been putting catheters in patients for 5 years and now it was payback time! The did an ultrasound of the liver (which was normal) and then started IV magnesium sulfate. This drug relaxes every muscle in your body. The point is to lower the seizure threshold. With every muscle relaxed, I could barely chew and my eyelids drooped. I looked like a mess! My blood pressures still fluctuated but I diuresed 10 liters of fluid in 24 hours!! That is 22-25lbs of weight in 24 hours! I felt like a new person! It was unbelievable...thank goodness i had a foley catheter, that's a lot of urine!

After 2 nights, they felt that my blood pressures were stable and my labs had returned to normal! I was finally able to go home with my family. I have never been so excited. Now, we had to rush home and shower so we could make it to Amelia's first doctor's appointment on time!

A family of 3

That first night, we were moved to our room on the 3rd floor. It was a big room and we later found out a VIP room. I was STARVING and kept eating M&Ms until my dad could find us some food. Eating and more eating...that's what went on that first night. No sleeping! Amelia ate non-stop!! Matt and I could not believe how much she was eating (and she snorts when she eats!). Between the constant feeding and being checked by the nursing staff, we maybe slept a total of 2 hours.

We had several visitors the next day. We were so happy to see Christy, Brandon, Tiffany, and Catherine. I meant to get pictures, but that just didn't happen! Aunt Laurel headed back to Georgia and Aunt Dana and Uncle Steve stopped through town on their way back from a cruise (again, no pictures!). By the second day, the doctors thought we were good to go home. Amelia had lost weight and dropped to 6# 9oz, but they felt this was an acceptable drop. My blood pressure was stable in the 120s-130s. It had been markedly elevated during delivery (170s) but had not been that elevated since. We were exhausted and ready to get home. My good friend Jenny had told me when she had her baby all she could think of was that they entered the hospital as husband and wife, but left as a family. That has stuck with me since and I couldn't believe it was finally happening for me! We bundled Amelia up in her carseat. She looked sooo tiny. The nurse had us put her in the carseat in the room before heading downstairs so we don't have any of those cute pictures of mommy holding the baby in the wheelchair! It is so funny, I worried over picking the right "take home" outfit, but in the end, you can barely see her anyway!

We were so nervous putting her in the car for the first time. Matt drove very slowly over the train tracks on the way out of the hospital. I knew it would be a long ride home! We stopped and picked up Cubbie on the way home. He didn't even realize there was someone new in the car! I guess we are actually a family of 4!

The fancy towels in our room

Wreath on my door made by my sister-in-law out of the ribbons from my shower

Brandon meeting Amelia

Amelia Mae Everett

After a much anticipated wait, we are so excited to introduce our daughter Amelia Mae Everett. She was born on September 8, 2011 at 8:23pm. She was delivered by Dr. Boyd and a wonderful L&D nurse, Mindy. Matt was more involved than he thought he would be, but loved getting to meet his daughter. I had some complications at the end of delivery, so I didn't get to hold Amelia immediately. Daddy got to hold her for the first 30 minutes of her life and he was hooked! She kept rooting around and he told her he had nothing for her. She puckered out her bottom lip and Matt's heart melted. He would have given her the moon at that point if he could have!

After 30 long minutes, I finally got to hold my baby girl! Words cannot express the flood of emotions and immediate love I felt. Everyone left the delivery room and I got to be alone with Amelia and nurse her for the first time. That was such a special moment that only I share with her. I will never forget how I felt!

So, Matt went to the waiting room to finally announce to the family our daughter's name!! The long awaited moment...Amelia Mae, no longer Baby E. We have known the name for quite some time, but managed to keep it a secret. Matt was very adamant when looking at names that we not choose a popular name. We referenced all of the baby lists as well as the social security website. They post the top 100 names that received new SSN each year. It is neat to look all the way back to the 1920s! When we came across Amelia, we both immediately knew it was a top contender (and not in the top ten of popular baby names). As you know, we got married in Amelia Island and the theme of the nursery was based on our wedding. How perfect it would then be to name our daughter Amelia! An added bonus...Amelia is a derivative of the name Emily. Emily was my grandmother's name and a name I had always considered to name my daughter...but it was # 6 on the most popular name list.

So on to a middle name. There are several names that sound pretty with Amelia, but we wanted to choose a middle name that had meaning to both sides of the family. That is how we chose Mae. Matt's niece is named Maegan. She is 13 years old and a well rounded young lady. She is the eldest cousin and we know will be such a good role model for Amelia. She has a strong sense of family, faith, and friendship. On my side, Mae comes from a very close family friend Ellamae. When I was born, she and her husband, Papa Jack, were our neighbors. Ellamae never had children and took to me immediately, and later my brother. She was a very independent and strong woman with a big heart. Amelia is lucky to have Maegan as a role model and Ellamae as a guardian angel.

Gigi and Amelia

Mimi and Amelia

Aunt Laurel and Amelia

Induction Day!

So for my 39 week check up, I saw Dr. Boyd. I was at 2cm and about 75% effaced. He said I could go another 2 weeks before progressing into labor on my own. I must have given him an absolutely pathetic look, because he then decided to induce me. He was scheduled to be on-call Thursday Sept 8, so he said he would have his scheduler book me a room and get things started. It was a roller coaster of emotions knowing that in 48 hours the process would start. I called the hospital at 5:45am as instructed on the morning of the 8th to ensure there were still enough beds. They assured me I had a room and Matt and I left for the hospital. We got all checked into room 7 and Dr. Boyd stopped by to say hello and get things going. The Pitocin started around 8am to start labor. Things were very busy in Labor and Delivery and they kind of forgot about me for a while! Around noon, another physician stopped in to check me and break my water. I was only 3cm dilated and devastated I wasn't farther along.

Our families started to arrive and our room was a mini-party! Early afternoon I got my epidural, but still was not progressing very quickly. There were a lot of phone calls, texts, and facebooking!! No one could believe I was on facebook, but once the epidural was in, I felt great and needed something to pass the time. Actually the epidural only took on the right side, but if I laid on my left side for 20 minutes, the left side would numb up enough to keep me comfortable. So, every hour or so, I would lay on my left side to "re-numb" it!! The right leg was soooo numb, that it fell out of bed and I didn't even realize it was hanging on the floor!

Time was ticking by and still no progress. Our families left the room for a while so I could rest. With the room quiet, Matt began noticing a dripping noise. We called in the nurse...and there it was...a big puddle on the floor! There was a hole in the IV tubing and my Pitocin had been infusing on the floor! We don't know how long this had been going on. Once they fixed the line and restarted my Pitocin, I progressed quickly...I went from 4cm to 10cm in under 2 hours. We were ready to have a baby! Unfortunately...the staff wasn't ready. It was change of shift and, although I was 10cm at 6pm, I had to wait until 7:30 to start pushing. That was the longest wait. Matt and I both got nervous, I began with nausea and shaking, and our families were anxiously waiting in the waiting room. Finally my new nurse, Mindy, came in and we got things started. She was a fantastic delivery nurse and things went smoothly. After 7 intense pushes, we had a healthy baby girl!! Amelia Mae Everett entered this world on September 8th, 2011 at 8:23pm! Matt and Mindy were awesome coaches. Matt said he is sending Dr. Boyd a bill because he did more work than he intended!

Birthing room 7

Mommy and Daddy excited to meet our baby girl!

Gigi and Papa are excited to meet their first grandchild!

We got bored...and silly!

Papa, Mimi, and Aunt Laurel came down from Georgia!

Mimi is excited to meet Baby E...and find out the name!

39 weeks...and counting down!

Happy Labor Day...but no LABOR here!! Not yet so far. 4 hours and Labor Day is over. Today was one of my due dates!! Hahaha. But I guess Baby E had other ideas. There is nothing new to report. I have a few contractions here and there but really nothing consistent. Dr. Barnes told me to start walking to try to stimulate things, but nothing has helped. I have walked the beach, around Costco, around the block, through Target...over the river and through the woods...but nothing. This little princess is quite comfortable.

On a happy note, two of my friends that have been going through this pregnancy with me have both delivered happy and healthy baby boys. Nicole was first. She was due September 6th, but had a scheduled C-section on September 1st. Declan Michael O'Sullivan was born at 10:36am on September 1st and weighed in at 8 lbs 4oz. He is really sweet and mommy is doing great. I was able to go up to the hospital and meet him!

Then on Saturday, Janice was induced. She was due the day after me, September 13th, with baby number 4. She never finds out the gender so the anticipation was great and it was fun to find out. She had a bit of a longer labor because her baby was trying to come into this world hand first! But baby figured it out and she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Blake Edward Batsch, on Sunday September 4th at 12:47am. He weighed in at 7lbs 15oz. She had the pleasure of being delivered by Dr. Barnes...one of his last deliveries before retiring. All 4 of her babies have been delivered by him. Today, Nicole and I went up to see her and meet Baby Blake. They took a picture of me holding both newborns on my big belly...trying to encourage Baby E to make an entrance. I asked the nurse if they had an open bed that I could use and get this party started! No such luck!

I have a check-up tomorrow with Dr. Boyd. We will see if I have made any progress. I understand he is not a fan of inductions, so we will see what he has to say.
Thank you to everyone for the sweet emails, texts, and calls checking up on us. We truly appreciate all the prayers and encouragement. We will keep you posted.

*In the pictures below, you can see the hospital gowns the girls sewed! Mine will make its debut soon!

Janice (38 weeks), Nicole (beautiful new mommy), me (38 weeks)

With Nicole and Declan

Nicole, Janice (beautiful mommy of 4!), me (blowfish face)

Blake and Declan telling Baby E to come out and play!