Emily Lynn

Today is September 19th, our daughter's original due date.   However, we have already been parents for 3 weeks :-)  Sometimes life doesn't go quite as planned!  And that's okay.    

I didn't really tell too many people, but at 20 weeks, I was told I had placenta previa, which means my placenta was partially blocking my cervix (Baby's escape route!).  I wasn't too concerned because my doctor also told me that the great majority of people with this problem see the placenta move far away from the area in plenty of time before their due date.  So earlier this week I went down to Yokosuka (the bigger Navy base that has a full hospital and a better ultrasound machine than our small clinic has) to check on my placenta problems.  I was absolutely not worried, as my doctors told me I shouldn't be.  I assumed my appointment would take about 20 minutes or so and I'd be done.   No.  It was 2 hours.    About 25 minutes into the appointment, I asked the ultrasound technician if my placenta had moved out of the way.  He tells me it did a little bit and shows me specifically where it was 1.75 cm away from the edge of my cervix.  He also tells me that the doctors want it to be at least 2.5 cm away for a normal vaginal delivery.   He said he had other things to check on as well.  And then he said he needed to check out some more things. He did his thing, didn't mention anything else, and then another guy came in to confirm I would be meeting with my doctor within the next few days to review the results.  Out I go and back home.

Later that week I had my 36 week doctors appointment.  As soon as I sat down in the office, my doctor came in and told me we had lots to discuss.  I told her, yes, I made a list of questions.  She told me no, there's a lot more than my list covers and that I have an appointment the next day at Yokosuka with an OB and some testing  and that I will be moving into the Storks Nest (more on that later) on Monday, because they discovered I have Vasa Previa.  Here is a quick thing on it I just cut and paste:  Vasa previa is a serious pregnancy complication that occurs in an estimated 1 in 2,500 pregnancies. In vasa previa, blood vessels involved in the baby's circulation grow along the membranes in the lower part of the uterus at the cervical opening. When the condition is not detected in advance, the blood vessels can rupture during labor.  The important part of this condition is discovering it.  If they had not discovered it, there's a good chance that we would have lost her during delivery.  As long as they do a C-section, the baby's health should be A-okay. 

If I were back home, there's a good chance that I may have been taken in for a C-section that day.  However, since the hospital here doesn't have a NICU, they decided that since I wasn't showing any signs of pre-term labor, they would try to wait until she was 37 weeks, which is officially considered full-term.  To confirm that I wasn't having any contractions, I had to be monitored several times via a Non-Stress Test.  They just hooked up a monitor to listen to her heartbeat and check for contractions.  We both passed with flying colors each time. 

Because it can sometimes take several hours to get to Yokosuka from our base, there's a tower available for pregnant couples to stay in around the time of their due date.  We arrived on Monday afternoon and stayed the week.  We only had about 10 TV stations to choose from (and half were Japanese) and no internet, so I kept busy by working on the quilt that I'm sewing for Emily.  It was a lot of measuring and cutting and finally a lot of sewing, but the top is finished :-)  (I'm hoping to bind it and finish it within the next month.)  Bryan did a lot of reading and going to the gym.  We both enjoyed the greater variety of dining options, including American Pizza Hut and Chili's.  

That Friday morning at 11:00am we went in to the hospital to prepare for the C section.  I've never had any kind of surgery or been the patient at the hospital (except when I had to get stitches on my head when I was 2) so I was a little nervous.  And then oh yes, we will walking out as parents!  Such a strange feeling!   It was a fast 2 hours, full of monitoring, signing consent forms and getting IVs.  And then before I knew it, I was walking into the OR.  Yes, I actually walked in myself, which for some reason I find entertaining (probably because I've only seen an OR on TV and they're always rushing the patient there on a bed.)

A lot of people complain about military medicine.  I've decided that it's probably because they're the people who don't like being a part of the military to begin with and then they don't like that idea that they don't have a huge choice (if any) when it comes to selecting a provider.  Personally, I'm not bothered by this, probably because I've always received excellent care so far.  Our hospital stay was no exception.  Everyone was very nice and professional, including the doctor who performed the surgery, the anesthesiologist (he was very informative during the whole surgery, letting me know what exactly was going to happen next or what was currently happening, which I really appreciated), the nurses who took care of me afterwards, and the corpsmen who assisted the nurses. 

The surgery went very well and pretty quickly.  Although I was numbed from the chest down, I could still feel the pressure of them working inside of me.  Very strange!  My doctor said that they had prepared for some possible issues associated with both of my conditions, but everything went as planned.  

Emily Lynn arrived at 1:40pm.  She was 7 pounds and 19.5 inches long.  She's perfect.  
  
We chose the name Emily simply because we liked it.  It's pretty and timeless.  Also, it was the first name that we both completely agreed on.  Lynn is my and my mother's middle name. 

Our first days as parents have gone well.  While in the hospital, none of us slept very well.  We were allowed to leave after 2 nights and we jumped at that opportunity.  Emily has been sleeping reasonably well (for a newborn) and I'm usually up with her just 2 or 3 times per night.  She's a happy baby, but still a baby, which means her big activities are eating, getting her diaper changed, and sleeping.  She only smiles in her sleep (except one time she farted really loud and then had the biggest smile across her face!).  And speaking of sleep, in the past few days she's become a very loud sleeper--lots of grunting and growling.  I think it's really funny.  She's apparently also still recovering from being scrunched in my belly and is constantly stretching.  She is not a fan of car rides yet. (Fun story: On the car ride home from the hospital, she was not happy, but as soon as James Taylor started singing, she immediately stopped screaming.  And then once the song ended, she started back up.  So we're pretty sure she's a fan.)   All in all, she has us wrapped around her tiny little fingers already.   She brings a big smile to my face and I love to greet her with kisses, even at 3:30am when she's yelling for me to wake up and feed her. 

Bryan was given time off from work from the whole time we were in Yokosuka through 10 days after she was born.  It was great having him home, especially since I was limited in my movement with the surgery.  And he, of course, enjoyed it as well.  He's totally smitten by her.  She will definitely by a daddy's girl. 

My incision is healing well.  It was much more painful than I had expected and that pain also lasted longer than I expected, but I'm past the worst at this point.  I had some strong uterine contractions for over a week and a half (no one told me about those!) and those were terrible, but those too are gone.   Although I'm not supposed to do any heavy lifting or exercising for many more weeks, I have started walking on the track.  Emily has been great and she just sleeps in the jogging stroller the whole time.  

Okay, that's all for now.  I could go on and on about her, but instead I'm going to go feed her and hopefully put her to bed for the night.  And by "for the night", I mean hopefully at least 3 hours. 

Me at the hospital the day of Emily's arrival, me seeing her for the first time, and her getting weighed.

First family photo!

Footprints, monitoring, and a shot!

Getting ready to feed her before going home and daddy carrying her to the car. 

She's an excellent nap buddy!

Napping at the track, just chillin', after bath time, and checking out her new entertainment.  

I almost forget to include her newborn photo shoot pictures!  The photographer, Natalija Quinn, did an amazing job with her.  Emily can be extremely spastic and does not hold poses well at all.  Somehow, she managed to calm her down long enough to get some great shots!  Here are some of our favorites:

This is my favorite since she has a tiny smile and she's on the quilt I'm making for her.