Birth Story

August 18, 2008 around 10:30 pm I ate a banana. It was the last thing I got to eat before midnight that night. And actually it was the last thing I ate before 4:37 p.m. the next day. I tried settling down to sleep after my snack. I got about 3 hours total sleep. It was a mix of anxiousness, nervousness and the lady who lives upstairs jumping around her apartment all night long that kept me awake.

The next morning, I got up around 6 or 6:30 am to take a shower and get all of my stuff out the door. My little Anna Brooke was still snoozing away when Brooks and I left, so I didn't really get to say goodbye. Nana was staying with her all day.

Brooks and I got to UAB hospital on Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. We had a great nurse, Jennifer. I changed into my gown and got all hooked up with an IV, blood pressure cuff, and got all my vital signs checked. We had several doctors come in and talk with us about what would happen after birth, including a pediatrician and a couple of cardiologists. Another doctor came in to be sure that Emma Kate was head down. She estimated her weighing around 7 lbs at birth. She also checked me and I was 3cm dilated. I was very surprised, considering the last time I was checked I was dilated zero! Exciting!

Then I was hooked up to a pitocin drip. I was having a few contractions on my own, but nothing too strong. I wanted to go ahead and get my epidural just in case. That took forever. UAB is a teaching hospital, so apparently a "new guy" did my epidural. I surprised myself and wasn't really that nervous. After that, a pediatric cardiologist came in and talked to us again and a few other doctors came in too, off and on, just to check on me. I appreciated that :).

I was feeling really good until around 1 p.m. My mother and father-in-law, cousin Marti and Brooks were all in the room with me when I started to feel contractions on my left side. They didn't really hurt-hurt. It was just uncomfortable. About an hour later, they became more intense and I had to breathe my way through each one. All I was thinking was "this is not right." I ended up having only Brooks in the room because it was getting more painful. Jennifer, our nurse ended up paging anesthesia a few times during the course of the afternoon to give me a bolus of more pain meds. NONE of them helped and I was in a LOT of pain! (Thankfully only on my left side.) Brooks was great. He held my hand (if I felt like it) and helped me through each contraction over about a 3 hour period.

At 4 p.m. Jennifer checked me again as well as another nurse (totally forgot her name). I was 10 cm and ready to push!! I have to say that at that point, I was actually glad that I could feel my contractions. When I was delivering Anna Brooke, I was completely numb and couldn't feel anything at all. I pushed for 2 hours with her. Very exhausting. Pain made it a whole lot easier for me this time around. :) I only pushed for about 30 minutes and there she was. My little Emma Kate. So beautiful. She looked so healthy and her color was great. She even had the sweetest little cry. We took about 15 million pictures before she was whisked away to the NICU. In my mind I knew that she was being taken care of, but all I wanted to do was hold her.

Emma Kate Keisler
August 19, 2008
4:37 p.m.
5 lbs 13 oz, 19 1/4 inches

Sweet Emma Kate

Here is our beautiful Emma Kate.

Please keep up with us through Brooks' blog.

Emma Kate is Here!

Just wanted to update quickly and let everyone know that Emma Kate was born yesterday 8/19/08 at 4:37 pm. She weighs 5 lbs 13 oz and is 19 1/4 inches. She is beautiful and other than her heart, she's healthy and looks great! Her oxygen levels are high and she is breathing room air. She'll probably be transported to Atlanta today sometime, but we have not talked to the doctors as of yet. We will find out more details and post them as soon as we know.

Tuesday!

I had my 38 week check-up today! I waited for forever in the waiting room and finally saw Dr. Ramsey about 2 hours after I got there. In he walked and the first thing he said was, "So, have we talked about a date yet?" I was kind of confused because it was my understanding that they didn't want to induce. I said, "What? I thought you guys didn't want to do that?" He stated that since I will be 39 weeks on Sunday, they would feel safe inducing at that time and would like to go ahead and get the ball rolling with Emma Kate. My guess is that they want to have some control over the situation as far as when she is born.

He asked me how Thursday of next week was for induction (it was fine) but then changed his mind to Tuesday the 19th of August. They would like to have her born on a weekday in order to transport her to Atlanta during the week as well. So, right now our plans are to go in to University Hospital on Tuesday morning at 8am and get ready to have Emma Kate! I was in labor with Anna Brooke for right around 12 hours after being induced. So my guess is that it might be 12 hours or less with EK! After she's born, she will go up to RNICU, get examined by Dr. Colvin (cardiologist), Dr. Carlo (NICU doctor) and whoever else needs to examine her. Then they will administer the prostoglandin. Once she is stabilized (maybe a day or two later? not sure yet), she'll be transported to CHOA/Egleston for surgery.

I've got a lot to get done tomorrow and this weekend, because TUESDAY will be here before we know it! I am so thankful that we have a timeline kind of nailed-down. Its such a relief, actually! I was a little disappointed that I will not be able to go into labor (again) on my own, but after thinking about it, I feel that this is a great option! My mom is coming down on Monday to be with Anna Brooke while we go to the hospital. Please pray that she does well without us for a few nights, especially at first. I hope she gets used to it, at least for a couple of weeks. We want Brooks to go with EK immediately after birth up to NICU, and stay with her as much as possible. My sweet cousin, Marti is coming up to stay with me in the hospital (just in case Brooks spends all night with EK) for a night or maybe two. Thanks Marti! I love you! :)

Thank you everyone who has been praying and continues to pray for us and Emma Kate! Especially remember us on Tuesday and all of next week! We will update as much and as often as possible. I don't know how much updating I will get a chance to do before then (or if there will really be anything to update about!)

Sorry it has been forever.

I figured it was about time for me to update since it has been 2 weeks since my last post! Things have been kind of crazy, as you can probably imagine. We've had more going on in the past two weeks than we have in quite awhile. And I don't expect things to slow down any time soon.

Mostly, it is all moving stuff that we've been doing. We have to be completely out of our old place by tomorrow. We hand in the keys, etc. We still have some stuff in the refrigerator. I'm guessing that tonight when we head over there, it will all be trash. Other than that, all of our boxes are unpacked as of this morning. We don't have anything hung on walls or anything decorative going on right now, but just about everything is in its place. That makes me feel better. I feel mostly settled.

Anna Brooke is still adjusting to the move, I think. Even though this apartment is pretty much identical to our old one, (just bigger) she is still having some trouble. For example, we've been here for a little over a week and she won't go into her new playroom without me or Brooks with her. Actually, this morning was the first time she went in her playroom alone. Yay! She's been following me around and not wanting to part with me at all for any reason. Its really sweet most of the time, and I have no problem with her wanting to help and just following me around in general. She was in the bathroom the other day putting on makeup with me. I love that girl.

However, there are times that I need to be alone for a couple of minutes or I need to step out of the room when she doesn't have to follow me. But she does. Poor kid. I feel so bad for her. We haven't really been outside to play for the past two weeks. Brooks has taken her to the pool a couple of times, but honestly, it is just so HOT outside. I cannot take the heat! So we've been playing with Play-doh a lot and reading books, watching movies, playing in her play kitchen and other fun things.

Okay, now about Emma Kate:
Last week I had my 37 week check-up. Everything went well, except I was measuring small. My uterus was measuring at 34 weeks. The nurse asked if my water had broken. Obviously not. So, I went for an ultrasound to check fluid levels. Amniotic fluid levels were good, within normal range. I also found out that EK is around 6 lbs 8 oz already! That is awesome! Her measurements are within normal range, too. So all is good. I am glad she is going to be a healthy-sized girl. :)