Settling In...

We got sent home from the hospital Friday with our sweet little Emory. And it has been crazy a crazy start. Very fortunately, my mom was/is staying with us this whole week to help out. I had some problems right off the bat, probably from lack of sleep b/c of the hospital experience. Emory seems to be doing great. She also wants to eat ALL the time. It does seem to be getting better though. She also wanted to stay up during the night for a few hours which was not fun, but we are really enjoying holding her. I know we don't need to spoil her, but it's nice right now to be able to do that.

Then Monday we woke up to a world of white outside our windows. We hadn't been following the weather, but I don't think it was predicted to have sleet & then snow, snow, snow. We needed some things from Walmart, but made do b/c that just was not possible. We did get some good snow pictures and Kaleigh had a lot of fun playing in it. So did Nathan! Then Nathan got an extra day off work today! Unfortunately, we had an unpleasant surprise today finding out that Alexis and Kaleigh are sick. The pictures below might be why... Both were running fever, and Alexis' was pretty high. I felt terrible but we had to bring them to Nana's (Nathan's mom) to keep them away from Emory. Kaleigh was excited, but I felt bad about Alexis. She always scares me when she is sick b/c she acts so lethargic and unlike herself. We have a doctor's appointment for all the kids tomorrow except Avery. So that's where we're at so far. Crazy start to life with 4 kids!

Welcome Emory!

As I said in my previous post, we were scheduled to have a c-section Friday, but things obviously didn't turn out that way! I was praying about whether a c-section was the right decision & really wanted a VBAC so that I could recover easier & care for my other girls with less complication. At the same time, we went ahead & set Friday as the "deadline". I know things would have worked out either way, but I don't think God could have answered my prayers any better. There was no point during this experience that we questioned whether doing the VBAC was the right decision.

We decided on her name, Emory Christine, at 11:30 last night, and the contractions started about 30 minutes later. I wasn't sure at first, but it got painful quick! We got to the hospital around 2:00. The contractions were probably 3 minutes apart at that point. The first time they checked me I was a "5" and right after I got my epidural (praise God for that!) my water broke. A couple of pushes & she was born at 4:45. It was the kind of labor I have envied friends having. Now I've gotten to experience all kinds of labor - inducement, a c-section, and now "natural". We were so glad to meet our little Emory. She's sleeping soundly right now. Looks nothing like her sisters. More like me, but with Nathan's dimples. We are tired but excited about embarking on this adventure once again!