Emma's Arrival

Last fall, I suddenly passed out. I was taken to the ER where there seemed to be no explanation.  About a week later, I was getting ready to have my immunizations to move to China. But instead I had to call our friends and family to let them know that I wasn't able to get my shots. As it turned out, I had a medical condition that was going to last about ... oh... nine months or so. We were going to have a baby! Emma was our very unexpected shot day surprise!

Those nine months were full of lots changes - both exciting and scary. In that time we moved 4 times including time in three countries (America, China, and Hong Kong).  Emma was our firecracker due on the 4th of July. We planned to have her the our home city in China.

My pregnancy with Emma was so different than my pregnancy with Bella. With Bella, I was so organized and had everything so planned. Within a couple months of finding out that I was pregnant, I had bought all my maternity clothes, baby clothes and had the nursery finished. I had a birth plan A and a birth plan B - both typed up, with 10 copies waiting by the door. With Emma, life was chaos. I had to roll with the punches. I had to take each day one day at a time.

I had really bad morning sickness the entire nine months (which unfortunately was true with both my girls). During my pregnancy I faced kidney stones. I was cut by a piece of glass which happened to puncture an artery that caused me to loose a lot of blood. Then around 33 weeks, my water started to leak. Despite each of these events, I did not go into premature labor and Emma was never in distress. She stayed strong and healthy.

Then grand finale was when I suddenly collapsed and had to be taken by ambulance to a hospital in China. My heart went into tachycardia and was beating at over 200 beats per minute during the 40 minute ride to the hospital. I don't remember much about that time, but it from the stories Philip tells me it sounds like a Chinese ambulance ride was quite the cultural experience. He also tells me that as I came in and out of consciousness, my only concern was for Emma's safety.

I stayed in the hospital for three days. Medication had brought my heart rate down some and although my heart rate was still very elevated, I was released from the hospital. During this time, Emma was still perfectly healthy and unaffected by all that was happening in my body. I was home for one day, when it was recommended that our family go to Hong Kong to have the baby. We would be gone for about two months and needed to leave the very next day so that we didn't miss the window that I was allowed to fly.

After several weeks of lots of doctors appointments, being bounced between the OB and the cardiologist, it was determined that I was as ready as I would ever be for a c-section. My heart rate was still elevated and I was at risk for cardiac problems during the surgery, but it seemed very likely the Emma would be delivered safely.  I felt so helpless and uninvolved during labor this time. I couldn't see or feel what was going on. I remember how wonderfully relieved I felt as I heard the first sweet little cry. As she came out, one of the nurses said, "Ooo she has strange color hair." Red! Another redhead! (Chinese people don't seem to know what color to call it). 45 minutes after surgery began I was able to hold my beautiful daughter Emma.

Immediately after the surgery, my heart rate came back down to normal. I felt so good! (I did experience some mild problems again several weeks later, but things are still much better!).

 My recovery from the C-section went really well.  There were things about a c-section that were hard compared to a vaginal birth like not being able to have Emma room in with me at the hospital or not being able to hold Bella when I got home from the hospital. But there were benefits, like knowing when we would have her and being able to make arrangements for Bella and mom's visit.

Tears in my eyes as I came home and got to hug Bella for the first time in several days.

When it was all over. None of it mattered - c-section or vaginal birth, China or Hong Kong, birth plans or to-do lists. We got to bring home our sweet beautiful healthy Emma Jane...