June 2012, Meet Emme!

 Emmeline Hope Lilinoe Ninofranco

Thursday, June 14, 2012, 9:39 pm

Okay, Emmeline, here's your story.  It started with waking up with the runs.  Fun way to begin, I know.  However, that was a sign!  My body was cleaning itself out, which is a good thing, because... I'm sure you can figure out why.  Grandma and I spent the day shopping.  We walked around Brea Mall, had lunch at CPK, and met Auntie Libby later on.

I had my afternoon doctor's appointment.  I was so tired of being pregnant, and scared grandma was going to miss your birth, so I told the doctor I wanted to schedule an induction.  I was ready to meet you.  She made the appointment for 8:00 am the next day, June 15th.  For good measure, she stripped my membranes, which was painful.  I was sitting on the couch watching tv with Audrey around 5 that afternoon while Auntie Libby and Grandma went to get dinner from Islands.  I started having contractions that were about 5 minutes apart.  Then, they were super strong and 2 1/2 minutes apart.  While I was eating dinner, I had to keep stopping to put my head down.  They said I should go to the hospital, but I didn't want to, because I was in labor for 15 hours with Audrey!  Finally, they convinced me to call the hospital, so I took a shower, and my contractions were really, really painful and 2 minutes apart.  By 7, we were out the door and on our way to the hospital.

What was really annoying was standing in the waiting room ringing the bell... and ringing and ringing and ringing!  Finally, someone came and let us in.  They put us in a room to monitor my contractions.  I tried hard not to throw up.  I had a full tummy, and those contractions were pretty strong by then.  I was ready for the epidural, but they said I had to wait until the labor and delivery room.  I didn't have much time to get used to the pain, because they got stronger so quickly!  I was only dilated about 4 centimeters.  They agreed to put me into a delivery room since they saw we had an appointment to be induced the next morning, anyway.

The doctor came in to see how much I was dilated, and pop!  My water broke just 3 minutes after getting into the room.  I had to stand up while they changed the sheets, and it hurt so so so much!  I was definitely ready for the epidural.  I had to wait for the IV first, though, and by the time she got in, it was time to push.  The nurse explained that I was NOT going to get the epidural, that it was time to push, and that lots of women did it without an epidural and ended up doing it.  The women talked me through the whole process.  It took 15 minutes of pushing, of feeling the ring of fire, of grunting, and out came our beautiful little Emmeline Hope.  Worth every ounce of pain and effort.

Baby Sister brought home a fun present for Ate Audrey- a camera!  Audrey immediately started taking pictures (although we never uploaded any of them).  Audrey was a little interested in Emme, but not very.  I'm not sure if she understood where Emme came from or why we brought her home.  Her life was about to change drastically!

Emme was born with froggy legs.  It was like she was cross-legged in the womb.  Because she didn't drop until the last minute, her little legs were scrunched underneath my ribcage (I could have told you that- I had the worst heartburn, and the muscle was literally pulling away from my ribcage, which was incredibly painful.  Bras were my enemy.  It took a few weeks, but her froggy legs finally settled back to normal.

Here's my big girl!  She was ready to go to a baby shower with Daddy.  On her way home that afternoon, she barfed in the car (probably from the heat), which was her first experience with barfing.  Yuck- poor girl!  But she had a good time at the party!

This is how I remember June.  If Emme wasn't sleeping on me, she was sleeping on Daddy.  I loved kissing the top of her little head.  All of the black hair was so soft (it still is).  She made little sleeping noises, and had funny baby facial expressions.  It was so much easier with Emme than it was with Audrey.  With Audrey, everything scared me!  I didn't know what I was doing, and she had colic, and she wouldn't sleep!  This time, I actually knew what I was doing and wasn't scared out of my mind.  I was a little scared, like most moms probably are, but I had confidence that I wouldn't break her, that I was capable of feeding her, and that I had done it before, and I could do it again.  I was able to enjoy her little noises and not worry she was choking.

Meanwhile, Audrey got some special attention with Daddy.  She went to the St. Irenaeus festival and got to ride the rides!  First time ever!  I can't believe what a big girl she is becoming.  Someone told me my tiny girl would look a lot bigger as soon as the baby came, and that was a true statement.  My baby Audrey is now Ate Audrey- a big sister!

Emme had a lot of visitors, but Audrey had the most fun with her friend Celeste.  C was kind enough to bring Audrey a big sister present- a Tangled doll!  That was so thoughtful of her, because Emme sure did get a lot of presents for Audrey to look at!

Baby Emme had her first photoshoot when she was just a week old.  Sara came over and took a million shots, but unfortunately, I had to choose my favorites to post.