Baby Emmett Has Arrived

Well, it's been a crazy week for the Christiansen's and we apologize for the delay in info.  As many of you have figured out from my Facebook Posts -- Emmett Joseph was born early Tuesday morning.  Weighing in at 8 lbs 15 ozs and 21 inches, he is one big boy!  Monday we went in to the hospital because I was having some upper quadrant pain that I just couldn't seem to shake.  After 4 hours, a lot of tests and a pain killer, we were sent home with a smile and a dilation of a 1 that was generous as the nurse knew how desperate I was to go into labor. 

Disappointed we drove back home disagreeing about what we should have for dinner.  Preggers wanted mashed potatoes, corn and gravy with honey biscuits - so luckily Jeremy was willing to accomodate and I stuffed myself quite nicely.  While doing dishes I started to notice that my Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been having for weeks appeared to be coming more frequently and were really starting to hurt.  Since I've never actually gone into labor on my own I was really at a loss as to what was real and what was not.  I decided I'd better shower in case I did end up going to the hospital.  So while I did that Jeremy gave Miss Avery a bath and packed a bag for her.  By the time I got out of the shower I was pretty sure we were at least starting the real thing as I was in pain and the contractions were about 3-4 mins apart.  We called the dr again for the 2nd time that day and waited for her to call back.  In the mean time, we had the Maskers come and pick up Avery and we finished getting the car packed.  By this point, it had only been 3 hours since we'd been told to go home. 

By the time we got to the hospital and they got us into a room I was in some pretty decent pain.  They checked me and low and behold I was at a 4!!  We were right!  Things moved pretty fast after that and by 2:40 am we were the proud owners of a brand new 8 lb 15 oz baby boy!  Emmett was LARGE and required help coming out because of his broad shoulders, but he made it!  We were shocked to have delivered such a big kid - Avery was only 5lbs 9 ozs, so we are in for a treat.  Newborn clothes are at their max already...

Tuesday morning the nurses had some concerns about Emmett's glucose levels and we were quickly told they were going to admit him to the NICU to start an IV and get some sugar into him.  Apparently larger kids have a harder time getting enough sugar after they are born to balance out their insulin levels.  Once again, we were forced into not having a "normal" experience and let me tell you that just about put us over the edge.  What really sent us over was the call we got from Nana that evening telling us Avery had started running a fever and wasn't feeling so hot.  Fevers still put us into the hospital, so off Jeremy went as I called CMH from the NICU to talk to the Oncologist about Avery.  Needless to say she was admitted and they tested it all. She was found to have another UTI, Strep, and was so constipated they had to do an x ray to see how bad.  She and Jeremy were admitted and started on antibiotics as well as a big dose of miralax and fluids to get her cleaned out.  Not exactly the way I pictured celebrating the birth of our 3rd child, at 2 separate hospitals, but as we all know we are not in control of any of this. 

Emmett had 2 days of needing the dextrose iv to help him maintain his levels.  His iv line blew on Thursday night and they decided to wait and see what his levels did before replacing the iv.  Luckily his body was able to maintain.  Slowly over the last 3 days, his glucose levels have come up to a more acceptable level.  Today the Dr's finally decided it was ok to discharge him.  We are ecstatic to be home.  Avery is feeling a lot better, although we've now hit the other end of the spectrum and lets just say Nana has been doing a lot of laundry.  Hoping to get that issue plugged up here soon. 

Avery is in love with her baby brother.  She has been very helpful and motherly towards him - so far so good.  We've only had one issue of jealousy and it involved Nana...apparently Avery is not quite ready to share her Nana with her brother yet.  We didn't get to watch the Iowa vs Iowa State game today, but we made sure the kids were supporting them from the hospital and home anyway -- NICU or not, Go Cyclones!

Jenn