Thanksgiving

November has been a whirlwind of emotions here at our house.  And before we knew it, it was time for Thanksgiving.  I kind of assumed Thanksgiving would be a wash this year 'cause Emma was due on the 26th.  But since she came 2 1/2 weeks early, we were already pretty settled in by the time Thanksgiving actually came.  My dad came out to visit from Rhode Island.  Here he is with baby Emma.

Since the new baby is here I thought I would try to get John's baby quilt assembled.  John is over 2 years old now.  But hopefully he will still enjoy it.  I decided to make a maze quilt for him and here it is laid out before getting sewn together.  Grant saw it and said he wanted one like it, so maybe John will let him play with it once in a while.  Most blankets in this house are generally viewed as community property anyway.

See Matthew's baby quilt HERE

Anna's baby quilt HERE

Grant's baby quilt HERE

I've noticed I only finish a quilt for a child when the next child is born.  That's not a good pattern.

For Thanksgiving Anna was supposed to bring in to school an item or picture of something that she was thankful for.  Instead of a picture of the family or anything like that she picked her favorite husky dog stuffed animal and her blue blanket.  Not even the quilt I made for her.  Just a generic blue blanket she has had for a while.  It's her linus blanket.  :)

And here is Emma.  She is starting to be more alert during the day.  She still sleeps a lot but has more wakeful periods now as well.  She is pretty easy going.  She does wake up a lot at night to eat and wants to be held during the day.  And she is still so little!!  I think she is about up to 6 lbs.

We had our first snow this week.  There was enough to build a snowman.  Grandpa Keeler helped Matthew and Grant build a snowman.  I think Anna helped too.

And turkey time!!  Scott and I have Thanksgiving down to a science.  The food doesn't always turn out perfectly, but we have a schedule of what to do when so it isn't too stressful and everything works out pretty well.  Here we are getting ready to put our bird in the oven.

Trying something different this year - maple cranberry Brussels sprouts.  This recipe didn't work out that well, but I still enjoyed the Brussels sprouts.

 Pies this year are pumpkin and cherry

Cherry was the most popular

 Getting ready to eat!!

It was a great Thanksgiving and fun to have my parents there.

Emma in the baby carrier.  She likes to be held and its hard to get things done, even with my mom here.  I'm worried about when my mom is gone and I'll have five kids on my own to take care of.  So Emma in the baby carrier is a good solution.  She is happy to be in there for right now.  It's a happy snuggly place.

Little Emma in the carrier.  She is plumping up ever so slightly.  Her face and her legs look a little plumpier than before. But she is still so tiny!!  She can't fill out her newborn sized clothes yet.  Her legs and arms still disappear inside.  But she's eating good and hopefully will keep growing bigger.  We're thankful she's here!!

Meeting Emma

Here are a few pictures from our first few days home with Emma.  Everyone was so excited to meet her.  John and Grant were the first to meet her since Matthew and Anna were at school when we got home.  John and Grant were a little shy at first.  They were curious about her but a little slow to approach her.  It was cute.  John learned to say "Emma" right away and that was sweet.  Grant eventually wanted to hold her, deemed her "cute" and then went off to play with toys.  John was more interested and wanted to watch her more.

When Matthew and Anna got home from school they were so excited!  Here they are checking her out for the first time.  They all commented on her tiny hands and feet.

 Matthew, John and Anna talking to Emma (Grant was off playing with toys).

Anna with her new little sister!  Anna is the most excited for Emma to be here and wants to hold her a lot.  She will sit and hold her for a long time while Emma just sleeps.

 Matthew holding Emma.

 The big kids spent a lot of time with her (notice Grant in the background with Grandma Keeler)

 Emma with one of her front door hearts

Anna took this picture to school to show all her friends and teachers a picture of her new sister.

Taking Emma Home

While we were in the hospital, Emma had some trouble with her blood sugar levels.  Small babies can have trouble regulating blood sugar and Emma had some trouble so she had to get her blood checked before and after most of her feedings.  Her blood sugar started to stay more stable after the first day so we were able to take her home on Monday (she was born on Saturday).  Here we are getting her dressed to go home.  She is so excited to go home!

We had trouble putting her in the car seat at first because she was so little.  We couldn't get the straps to tighten down enough.  She looks like she isn't too happy to be in there.

We had to take her out again to readjust the straps.

She liked that.

But then we got it figured out and back in she went

Not happy!

Time to head home

Some of our friends decorated our door to welcome Emma

 And Anna (who is excited beyond words to have a new little sister) made some signs

This one says:

You are a wise owl little Emma

To Emma, From Anna

(she spelled Emma E M U because U says uh...it makes sense)

This one says:

Welcome to the world little Emma.  You are a flower.

Her signs were so sweet.

And here is a bonus photo.  We were home Monday night but had to go back Tuesday morning for a jaundice test.  Emma's jaundice levels were too high on her test so she had to stay in the hospital for treatment.  Scott and I stayed with her in one of the recovery rooms they had available.  She laid under lights in the baby nursery most of the time and they brought her to us every three hours for a feed.  We were there for over 24 hours.  But her levels went down and stayed low and we were able to take her home again on Wednesday.

Baby Surprise!

I got a bit of a surprise on Friday when I was called in by my OBGYN for what I thought was just a routine non-stress test.  After monitoring the baby's heart rate for a while, my OB deemed it normal but then said, because of her IUGR diagnosis, he would like me to be induced...today (at 37 weeks, 2 days).  A week earlier I had had my final ultrasound and her growth had significantly decreased again.  The doctor mentioned this later, while I was in labor, but it seemed he had had a change of heart about our baby and been inspired to have me come in and deliver right away.  He was worried about losing the baby.  And I appreciate his vigilance.  But I was very surprised.

After freaking out for a while and then getting all the details in order, Scott and I were in the hospital to be induced that evening.  It wasn't the way I really wanted things to go, but most of this pregnancy was not the way I wanted things to go.  But that's not really what matters.

Here I am ready to leave the house and head to the hospital to be induced.

And just under 24 hours later (yadda yadda yadda), baby Emma was born.  The induction was not great.  Nothing really went wrong.  Things proceeded slowly, but not terribly so.  I had to be hooked up to LOTS of machines.  So many cords and tubes and things.  And because of the circumstances of the pregnancy and coming in to have the baby so unexpectedly, I was an emotional wreck.  But soon enough the pitocin did its work and I was ready to have the baby (20ish hours after getting to the hospital).  Emma was born pretty easily after that.  She had the cord wrapped around her neck two times and a true double knot in her cord that looked like a square knot, which the doctors and residents all oohed and aahed about because they had never seen one in a cord before.  We wondered if that could have been the reason for her growth problems but they said it could be but not necessarily.  They saved the knotted portion of the cord (and other doctors came asking about it over the next few days) and sent the placenta off to be tested, since it was another likely reason for Emma's growth problems.  Some of the doctors said we were lucky she made it here safely with the cord the way it was.  We are feeling very blessed.

 She was tiny (5 lbs 8 ozs) especially when compared with our other children.  But other than being small she appeared to be healthy and happy.

While we were in the hospital she had trouble regulating her blood sugar and had to be continually monitored for that.  This was an effect of being so little.  By the end of our stay she started doing better and regulating her blood sugar levels.

She is nursing well, but because of the blood sugar issues the doctors are having us supplement with formula for a few days.

 Here she is with Scott

With me.  She is not a loud crier and made cute squeaky sound when she cries and in her sleep.  It kind of reminded me of a little monkey.  Here is our little monkey.  That's her tiny knee sticking out from under the blanket.  So little.

 Sleeping

 Scott got a better picture of her.  Cute.

Mom and Emma's first selfie

My emotional state about this pregnancy/child can (and has) filled up many a long blog post.  But to sum it up, I was worried.  Even during and after the labor and birth I was very worried and emotional.  These are big life events linked to strong emotions anyway.  And there were lots of ups and downs along the way with this one.  But finally today I stopped feeling so anxious and was able to feel just happy and grateful that she is here safe and healthy.  Babies are a miracle.  And I'm grateful for our little miracle.  I think she may have been prayed to safety by people who care about us.  I don't know. We're so grateful for our early Thanksgiving gift.

Her vital stats:  Emma Ruth Guptill

born Saturday, November 8th, 5:37 pm.  

5 lbs, 8 ozs, 18 1/2 inches.