Emmi- Your First Month

Emmi,

Your first month was a whirl wind...and in normal fashion, flew by for Mommy and Daddy. What kind of things happened your first month...

You came home from the hospital on September 1. We were a little late leaving that day because you were a little jaundice, and we had to do some additional testing.

Before we got ready to leave the hospital, you spit up all over Daddy's OU shirt...We think it is a sign! hehe!

Your sister, Grammy, and Granddaddy were at our house to greet us when we got home!

You had a weight and jaundice check at the doctor on September 3rd. You weighed 6lbs 9oz and were 19 1/2 inch long. You lost quite a bit of weight and lost length due to your cone head at birth :-). We began supplementing even more with soy formula because you were projectile spitting up breast milk. We began to realize that you were just like your sister (and Mommy when she was a baby) with your dairy intolerance. We switched you exclusively to soy formula at the end of 6 days old. Your jaundice had gotten a little worse, but wasn't bad enough for hospitalization! We were so happy!

You had soo many visitors that came to see you in the hospital and at our house. I am going to try to list them all! ( Note for readers: If I forgot you, please message me so I can add it to the blog. The first month was a blur!)
Mimi, PePaw, Grammy, Granddaddy, Quinn, Mark, Brendon, Ellie, Kerri, Taylor, Tasha, Misty, Maddie, Jordan, Amanda Sh., Charlotte, Becky, Amanda Sm., Megan, Renata, Nana, Jathan, Jocelyn, Sam, Kristal, Zach, Sarah, Alan, Lidya, Meri, Alyson, Mandy K., Lawson, Ken, Sandy, Katie, Jennifer, Caroline, Linda...

We had your newborn pictures made with Mrs. Jessica! You did super...and only pottied on her once! :-)

You had your two week check-up and had gained back up to your birth weight plus one ounce! You weighed in at 7lb 2oz. You were still 19 1/2 inch long.

You ate 2-3.5 ounces this month every 2-4 hours. Newborn diapers. Newborn size clothes. You are a pretty good baby. You like your bath. You like to sleep. You love to pout out your bottom lip. You love to be held! You usually take several baths a day because you are our spit-up queen! You are a "happy" spit-upper (meaning you aren't screaming or in pain at this point), so we just make sure to have lots of bibs and burp rags on hand! Mommy does sooooo much laundry!

Nicknames...Em's, Sis, Sister, Sissy, Lil Sis

We love you Emmi Reese!!! You have completed our family in the most perfect way!!! Mommy, Daddy, and Luci are just crazy about you!!!!

Here are a bunch of pics from our first month!!!!

Welcome Emmi Reese- Birth Story

Emmi is 4 weeks old today...so I figure I better get all of the stuff down before it gets a little foggy! I will post more later on our first few weeks at home!

Mitch and I headed to the hospital about 11:45pm on August 29th. Luci had went to Quinn's...and we knew it was going to be quite a long induction process since she was 3 weeks early, so just the 2 of us went until things started progressing more.

Heading to the hospital!

Left: Heading to the hospital to have Luci...Right: Heading to the hospital to have Emmi!

We arrived at the hospital, checked in, and then I got hooked up to IV's and started the first part of the induction. Mitch was able to fall asleep, but I just couldn't get comfortable. They started pitocin about 6am and then my doctor came and broke my water about 7am...then things started to get really uncomfortable! Family started arriving soon after and just popped in and out to say hi.

The nurse came and asked if I wanted something for pain around 9am. I told her that I would make it a while longer and then I would get my epidural (my doctor had cleared me to get it whenever after she broke my water). Well, a few minutes later the nurse came back in and said that the anesthesiologist had a c-section he was getting ready to go to...and would be gone for probably an hour and a half...and then he had 2 other women ahead of me for epidurals...so it would probably be around 2-2.5 hours before I could get the epi. At that point, I said go ahead and give me something for pain! Well, as luck would have it...like 10 minutes later, she came back in and said he was going to get the epi's out of the way before the c-section. Sooo, he came in my room about 10 minutes later and I got my epi! I almost fell asleep during it from the pain meds!

After I was comfortable, Luci came in a few times to say hi. We had brought her a Big Sis gift...and she wanted to bring "Blue Ribbon Bunny" that she had made for Emmi. Luci was scared to go near me at any point during the day. The IV's scared her...so the most she would do was stand next to me. She never let me hug her until the next day when I got the IV's out! It was ok though...it didn't bother me...I knew she would eventually get brave!

As close as she would get!

Getting her Big Sis gift!

After that point, they just kept turning up the pitocin every hour or so trying to progress things. Mitch had a list of people that he was texting updates to all throughout the labor process. Around 2:30, I had made it to an 8...and was very uncomfortable...so he sent out the final text and said the next text he would send would be when Emmi arrives!

Just a little bit later, everyone besides my Mom and Mitch left to the waiting room, and we got busy! For some reason my epi did some weird stuff...one side of me was more numb than the other...my stomach was numb...but pretty much everything below that wasn't. I could totally move and lift my legs up the entire time. They had said they would send the anesthesiologist back in to figure things out...but of course, he never showed up. I brushed it off and figured things couldn't be worse than they were with Luci! A few hard pushes and I would have this baby out...wrong!!! About an hour and half later...Emmi finally arrived! That little diva did not want to leave her home!!!! But we did it!!! Mitch and Mom were great...and I survived!!

She was 7lbs 1 oz and 20 1/4 inches long! She would have been a big baby if she would have waited until 40 weeks!

After things were cleaned up, Mitch went to get Luci from the waiting room and brought her in to meet her sister! We wanted it to just be our little family when Luci met Emmi, so the other visitors waited patiently while we got to spend a few moments together as a family!

First look!

This pic makes my heart melt!

Giving her Sissy "Blue Ribbon Bunny"!!!

Our next 48 hours were filled with family, friends, and getting to know our new little arrival!

Mitch and I are so blessed...so thankful...and just in awe. We have two perfect gifts from God...and we couldn't be happier!!!

Welcome to our Family Emmi!!! A Circle of Love and Strength, founded on faith, joined in love, kept by God...forever together.

Last Weekend as a Family of 3

I am finally getting around to the ole blog! Things have been slightly hectic around here! ;-)

Let me rewind a few weeks. I went to the doctor on August 19th. For the first time this pregnancy, my blood pressure was very elevated. Elevated enough that my doctor decided that she probably wouldn't let me go past 37 weeks. If you remember from Luci, I was put on bed-rest at 32 weeks and was induced at 37 weeks. I was very fortunate that my BP stayed low enough until right up at the end with Emmi. We still weren't 100%, but she threw out August 30th (my 37 week mark) as a possibility...but we would discuss more at my next appointment that following Monday.

Well, Mitch and I started kicking things into high gear. We put family and close friends on alert...just in case. In addition, we figured that the next weekend might be our last weekend together as a family of three...so we decided to make it a fun one!

We planned a FULL day of fun activities for Luci...and let me tell you....it wore the preggo Momma out to the max. I am still soooo glad we did it though! So, what did our day look like?

We started out for breakfast at the Egg and I! This is Luci's all time favorite place to eat breakfast!

Then, we headed out to the Nature Center for Luci to explore around a bit.

I had to take a little rest while we were there...

Then, we went and bought Luci a new pair of shoes...

Then, we headed over to the movie theater to catch Despicable Me 2!

I got realllly miserable at the movies, so we headed home for a little rest. While we were at home for a bit, we got a surprise gift delivered from Katie, compliments of Team McCormick! Are these shirts not adorable!?!

We also had a visit from Renata, Jathan, and Nana!

After a rest, we loaded up and headed out to the Park at West End. Luci rode the carousel...

and we had dinner at Boomarang Diner!

We finished off the evening with some ice cream! Mommy was sooo tired that we decided to get the ice cream to go...and this is why we don't let Luci eat ice cream in the car...she had it allllll over the place!!!

We enjoyed our last weekend together as a family of 3...but it did make me a little sad. One phase of our life was ending...however, I had no idea what was in store for the next few weeks...Emmi has completed our family in the most amazing way!! More on her birth and the first days at home to come!!!