Her 'quiet time'

I love watching our Emma Girl 'imitate' Mommy & Daddy.

Little Byron's birth story

     It is Sunday, August 11, 2013, a normal Sunday by all means -- church with the family, out for lunch with the Morrises, nap time for Byron and Emma while Oma and I chat for a little.  Then off to evening church (Emma and Oma stay home and have some time together), then back home for dinner.  Byron and I had not agreed on a name for our yet-unborn son, so we took advantage of Oma being in town and went out for coffee at around 9 pm.

     As soon as we arrive at Starbucks, I begin feeling cramp-like contractions and pain in my back.  They come and go, come and go.  Byron and I enjoy our cup of coffee, some good conversation, and finally agree on a name for our boy.

    After about an hour, I tell Byron that these contractions are just not normal -- they are happening far too frequently for them to just be braxton hicks.  We head home, decide to finish packing, complete a load of laundry and go to bed at midnight.  By then my contractions were between 10 - 15 minutes apart.  We knew our baby was on its way, but thought we may get a night of sleep before heading to the hospital early in the morning.

     It is Monday, August 12, 2013 at 12:20 am.  I lay in bed and realize that within a 20 minute period, I have had three contractions already.  I get out of bed and tell Byron it may be time to head to the hospital.  I time them again just to make sure, and they are ranging between 4 - 6 minutes apart.  We are out the door at 1:15 am and get to the hospital at around 1:30 am.  Oma is at home with Emma sleeping, and Memma and Poppa have been notified that we are on our way.

     We park the car at the entrance and head upstairs with only my bag.  As soon as I arrive at the triage, they strap me in and begin monitoring me.  My contractions are becoming very intense at this point, and I tell them that I will be needing an epidural.  They check my cervix, but are unable to determine how dilated I am, and cannot give me the epidural until they make sure I am in active labor.  My contractions are crazy painful at this point (never felt this pain when I had Emma -- I had already received my epidural by then).  I don't know what to do at this point, so I just hold on tight to Byron's arm each time they come.  I apparently have a very high tolerance for pain, because when I finally decided to begin making verbal noises to see if the nurses would actually believe me, they finally believe me.

    The nurse brings in another nurse to check me.  They still can't determine how dilated I am, but they do agree that I am in active labor.  One of the nurses gives me some medicine to help me handle the pain until the epidural arrives (she only gives me half, she said, in case I go into labor sooner and needs me to be fully awake to push).  It is 2:55 am and they take me out from the triage and into a delivery room.

     Contractions are just killing me at this point.  Byron encourages me and prays for me through each contractions.  About five nurses are in the room at this point, with no epidural and no doctor.  At around 3:10 am one of the nurses says the baby's head is "right there."  I realize at this point I will not be getting an epidural.  The nurses tell me to wait -- the doctor needs to arrive first.  "What if he does not make it in time?" I ask.  "We can deliver the baby just in case" they say.  So I do what I can to bare through the pain of each contractions, doing what I can not to push.  Finally, I cannot hold the urge any longer, and two contractions later, probably within a 30 second period, our son is born to the world, with no epidural and no doctor to "catch" him.

     It is 3:27 am, and a 7 lb 1 oz 19.75 inch long baby boy is born -- Byron Millard Morris III is born into this world and into our family.  

    "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him" -- Psalm 127:3.

Breastfeeding

At University Hospital
Lactation Consultant Katie

I always thought that breastfeeding would come easy to me. I mean, I had an easy pregnancy, easy delivery, fast recovery, and my mom never had trouble breastfeeding, why would I?

Well, Emma and her little tongue came along and breastfeeding became far from easy. Nurses at the hospital kept mentioning how much she liked her tongue, which made it hard for her to latch on to me. The hospital eventually convinced me to use a shield, which I was not happy about. But Emma had already lost 13 oz and unless she learned to nurse somehow, they were going to have to give her formula.

So I came home and continued to use the shield. This made for a very frustrating time. She still had trouble latching on to me even with the shield on. And because of this, I also don't think she ever got enough to eat, which meant she was up aaaalllll the time, especially at night, wanting to eat.

Before my mom arrived to be with me, I was on the phone with her in tears one day telling her of this. She quickly called Aunt Roberta, and Aunt Roberta immediately called me and began walking me through the process for the next number of days. She would call from Mexico about every day, and we would email each other back and forth on a regular basis. At the same time, I would be calling University Hospital what seemed to be every day, asking to speak to a consultant. I also went in twice to speak to them in person and get some hands-on help. I was determined to make breastfeeding work for me no matter how obnoxious I became.

Little Emma Girl is 12 days old today, and I am glad to say that this is her third day nursing without a shield! She is learning to latch on, but it's still a bit of a struggle at times. I will not sing victory quite yet.

314

Room where I delivered. Only a math teacher can appreciate the humor of this. Anyone know why?

Emma's story - coming home

Monday, August 22, 2011

Emma's story - great grandomothers

Later on Sunday afternoon, two of Emma's three living great grandmothers came to meet her.

Nana

Grandmother

Emma's story - after church visitors

After church got out on Sunday, a few Morrises came over to spend time with Emma. Cousins Levi and McNeill got to meet her for the first time.

Memma and Poppa

Cousing McNeill

Aunt Amber

Aunt Rebecca

Uncle Joseph

Emma's story - Tia Alison

On Sunday, August 21, 2011, just a few hours after Emma's birth, my sister Alison drove all the way from Atlanta to come meet her new niece. This was a sweet and unexpected surprise. She only stayed for a little over an hour before going back to school.

Emma's story - first visitors

Sunday, August 21, 2011 at 3:00 am
We first call my mom through the iPad and tell her she is a grandmother!

Morrises arrive!

With a few other Morrises - Uncle Joseph, Aunt Rebecca, Uncle Caleb and Aunt Amber

Emma's story - her first bath

Emma's first bath at the hospital's nursery.

Emma's story - labor

Saturday, August 20, 2011
4:00 pm - arrive to the hospital
4:30 pm - I am checked into a room. I call Byron. I am 3 cm dilated.
6:00 pm - get the epidural, Emma's heart rate drops, 4 cm dilated.
10:00 pm - 5 cm dilated.
11:45 pm - 10 cm dilated and Emma's head is just 2 in from surface. Pushing will begin soon!

Sunday, August 21, 2011
12:30 - 1:29 am - push until Emma arrives, Byron cuts her umbilical cord.

They immediately put her on my belly for a few seconds and then rush her to the incubator right next to me. I surprise myself by crying. My little girl is here! She has a sweet pitiful cry, but it's hardly even noticeable.


Byron and I get some "Emma time" before they take her to get cleaned up. She is staring straight at us, smacking her lips, her very pink lips, at us. A few little cries here and there, but mostly just looking at her mommy and daddy.

Off to the nursery to get checked out and bathed.

Emma's story

I am going to do my best to narrate Emma's arrival story into this world through the next number of posts. This may take a few days depending on how much down time I have. Some things may be too much information for some people to know, but for the sake of memory purposes, I am going to write it down... sorry in advance :p

On Friday, August 19, 2011, eleven days before my due date, my mucus plug is "unplugged." I did not know what it was at a time, and reality dawns on both B and myself - we don't have anything ready! We scramble around the house, finish packing and get as much as we can set up and out of the way. I go to the doctor that afternoon, and our thoughts are confirmed - it may be a day, it may be a week before Emma arrives. Either way, she is not going to make it to her due date.

On Saturday, August 20, 2011, ten days before her due date, I wake up with menstrual like contractions. I am having discharges, just like I did yesterday, but they are more. Has my water broken? Can these be contractions? We begin to time them. They are already 5 minutes apart, but not very strong. We call the hospital and tell them our situation. They tell us that unless they are strong, we should not worry about them.

So I rest for a little, but become restless eventually. I hit a few yard sales and then head over to the Morrises where I take lunch for B while he works on the crib. I hang out at their house for a few hours, visiting and working on my photo albums. The discharge continues, but not too much as to think that it may be my water breaking. I called the hospital again and tell them what's going on. They tell me that it's probably still the mucus plug, but to come in just to make sure that it's that and nothing else.

So I drive myself to the hospital, get checked, and well... my water has broken! Emma's head is probably preventing it from gushing out, but it's broken. I call B, and he is on his way.

In the meantime, I am checked into a room and get hooked up and plugged into all sorts of machines. I am sad that I am going through this all by myself. B eventually arrives and I break down crying. I am so relieved he is here, and a little nervous.

My contractions become stronger and more painful. I am given an epidural and things get so much better. I felt like such a wimp getting it, but I am so glad I did because I was able to relax during my contractions and had plenty of energy during the labor time.

After the epidural. Much happier :)

Emma's heart rate drops and so does my pressure. I get hooked up to all sorts of things to monitor everything and make sure it does not happen again.