The story of Emma

Emma is a blessing and a gift from above.

She was the best gift a little girl turning one could ever ask for. Emma was born exactly one year, two hour and 18 minutes after her big sister, Ava. Her entrance into this world was quite dramatic, but that little girl, she wasn't phased.

After being born and baked in my oven for almost 38 weeks (one day shy), she was delivered in a non-emergency environment.

The story begins like this.....



Ava woke up on her first birthday with a fever. She had a fever all weekend and kept me up. I just knew she was getting me ready for the newborn that was about to make her appearance just two days later. I had a scheduled NST (non-stress test) which I had twice a week with this pregnancy starting at 30 weeks since my BP (blood pressure) was starting to rise. And I also had my pre-op appointment with my perinatologist (high-risk OBGYN). I had to move my NST until later in the day when I had someone to watch Ava because she was sick and I didn't want anyone else to catch whatever she had.

So my lovely father-in-law came to watch Ava and I promised I would be back in about an hour or so.

Well, after my pre-op appointment, my NST didn't go as planned (quick and out of there in 20 minutes); my BP was outta the roof and I was summoned to go upstairs to triage and to see if they could get the BP down. (My BP was like 170/110.)

After a couple of frantic calls to my husband, mom and father-in-law, and a couple of hours-- I was told that I was probably most-likely going to go home. The nurses told me that they just needed to call and touch base with my perinatologist and he would probably allow me to go home. I started to rest a little and my BP went down... a little. I reminded the nurses and the doc on call that it was my girl's first birthday and I did not want these girls to have the same birthday.

Well, my pleas weren't not granted and my doctor said that it would be better for the staff to deliver the baby soon, that he didn't want the baby to die or anything else to go wrong- since apparently, I had preeclampsia and they didn't want it to go any further.

I started to get prepped for my c-section and family got into their positions to take care of Ava and for husband to get off of work and to the hospital! It was the smoothest process I've experienced with deliveries. I didn't hear the tools inside the OR being counted and I wasn't rushed through paperwork.

At 10:19 p.m. we heard the cutest cry and Emma was born! I got to see her face and really got to take in the moment of seeing my second born daughter for the first time! She was beautiful.

While Emma was being cleaned up and put in the well baby nursery, I was being stitched up, but it was taking a while. I was told- 'Wow, you are a bleeder!' 'Everytime I make a stitch, you keep gushing out blood!'

I was on the OR table for an hour and a half after delivering Emma. I was told that it usually only takes 15-30 minutes to sew someone back up.

I don't remember much, except that the nurses in recovery kept having to wake me up because my heart rate was so low. I just remember telling them "I'm sorry, I will listen for them so you don't have to keep waking me up." (Strangest thought and comment to nurses, right?)

About 6 a.m. is when things started to going into play. I was still in recovery because they couldn't get the bleeding to stop (not where I was stapled, the other place) and they saw pockets of blood in my uterus. I was told I had lost so much blood that I need a blood transfusion.

Okay. A blood transfusion. This is the worst-of-the-worst senerios after having any kind of surgery. But it will stop. The bleeding will stop, right?

No. The bleeding didn't stop. I was given four bags of blood (total) and a couple bags of platelets.

I remember they tried to get me into a regular room on the post-pardum floor so I could be with my baby and out of recovery. Once we got to a room, they checked me and I had lost more blood and they knew they had to turn around and go back to recovery.

Finally, I *think* around 1 p.m., my husband showed up with Emma and I was so happy! And some annoying lactation nurse that kept telling me to hold her skin-to-skin and how it was important to bond (duh- dumb nurse.. I had a baby in the NICU for five weeks, I'm fully aware of kangaroo care). I was holding Emma in the crook of my arm in the most uncomfortable position and was being forced to nurse her. I wanted to nurse her, but I was not strong at all. I couldn't even hold my baby properly. What was this lady thinking?

My husband quickly told the lactation nurse that we needed to put Emma back in the nursery and the doctor on call at the time was there at my bed with us, and told me, that I shouldn't have anymore babies because of all of this drama and I needed surgery.

That's when I started to cry. No more babies?? What? And then I was thinking, 'but I don't want to have surgery... I just had surgery. Huh?' And then I got very sleepy and fell asleep.

In-and-out... in-and-out, was what I was when I was in surgery. The surgery they were doing on me was an uterine artery embolization where they put a small catheter through your groin and go through each blood vessel to find where the bleeding is in your uterus. This surgery took 3-4 hours and it was successful in the end. They were an inch close of doing a hysterectomy and I am so grateful that the embolization went well.

I remember being woken up through the surgery by, "Mrs. X! Mrs. X! Are you doing okay?!"

And I remember thinking "Don't call me Mrs. X! I'm Amory."

And I remember them saying, "Okay, we are going to put this machine over you and it's going to be very, very warm and don't breath at the count downtown of 15."

"15, 14.... 2, 1! Don't move!"

Finally, I was woken up to being told that this overly large and very tall man was going to hold pressure on the incision where they went in with the catheter for 15 minutes. FIFTEEN MINUTES??!?! Nooo....

"Don't worry, you will forget about the pain after a minute or so."

And I did. I woke up to me being rolled out of the OR and through the waiting area where all of my family was. Amazing! Everyone was there! My husband, parents, sister, brother, sister-in-law, father-in-law, bro-in-law, my niece and..... my little Ava. I remember thinking-- why are they all here?????

..... to be contined