Emma Rose Part I

This has been quite the experience, having Emma at 25 weeks was unexpected. I'm so glad that I wrote to my sister on her mission each week, because it helped me keep track of all the things that were going on. This is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to ruby the week before we had Emma.

This week started out really well, I was working on putting a sleeve on a prom dress for a friend's little sister, we were busy at work, and Layton and I were looking forward to our trip to Washington to visit his parents. However, as we were soon to find out, sometimes the Lord has very different plans for us. Here's a brief look at the days vents. 

Monday April 27th: lots of work

Tuesday the 28th: bought a new phone, lots of errands, shopped for a maternity swim suit, and attended our first birthing class. Super fun day!

Wednesday the 29th: Prom week was in full swing, which meant work was crazy!!

Thursday the 30th: I took on another  prom dress, and a friend in the ward brought her husband's pants over to be hemmed. After work I sewed sewed sewed. At this point I was super tired and my stomach hurt more than normal and the placental bleeding had started again, though only lightly.

Friday May 1st: Took Layton to work and began work in my sewing room. I start experiencing more pain and cramping in my stomach and lower belly, then I realized my bleeding had increased significantly. I still hadn't finished one of the prom dresses, nor the pants. I was trying to get ready for the day but I was in pain and stressed out! Finally I knelt down in the middle of the chaos and cried and prayed to Heavenly father for help and comfort. After the prayer I gather up the dresses and drove over to where Layton works. I told him what was going, as well as his boss (who was a mother herself as well as a caregiver at the homestead). When they both recommended I call the doctor immediately, I burst into tears again. Upon calling the midwife she told me to come to the hospital as soon as I could, so I dropped by work to let my boss know what was happening and dropped off the dresses. Layton was able to get work off too. Driving down was scary because they told us to meet them in the hospital, not the midwife center. When I got there they hooked me up to all sorts of monitors and told me I was having small contractions. They tested my urine and kept me on the monitor for almost 2 hrs. After all this they did an ultrasound and couldn't find anything really wrong. So they sent me home and told me to rest. If the pains/contractions came more frequently (more than six/hour) I was to come back to the hospital.

After getting home I was exhausted. My boss texted me and told me to take the next day off. Layton and I went for a short walk to the library and decided to leave early the next day for Washington!
Going to sleep that night was rough, as I was restless and kept having abdominal pain. At 1:30 am it was so bad I told Layton I would move to the couch so at least he could get some sleep. He gave me a priesthood blessing, warmed up my heater pillow and tucked me in. At this point the pain was so bad that I couldn't sleep so I just counted contractions; nine, then ten, finally twelve each hour until 4 am. I was so tired and in so much pain ,but eventually I fell asleep. 

Saturday the 2nd : That morning we called the midwife and again she told us to come in immediately. So, we packed the car with all our Washington stuff and headed down to Pocatello once more. This time we were greeted by the friendliest nurse, by the name of Wendy. She had me change into a hospital gown and hooked me back up to the monitors. First news was that baby birds heart beat was strong and normal! But I was having severe contractions, enough that they prepared the NICU at another hospital for me to be delivering a very early baby. They called the midwife in and had a surgeon on call. They hooked me up to an IV and got another ultrasound done. The baby is healthy and safe but you're going into labor unless we can stop the contractions is what they told us. So they ordered some shots, one that had steroids to help babies lungs develop more quickly, and one that was a muscle relaxant to force the contractions to stop. While we were waiting for the shots the midwife checked my cervix and it was completely closed and hard. A very good sign!  Both were painful and the muscle one in particular made me super shaky. After all this I was so hungry, so Wendy had Layton  order us some lunch (cheeseburgers!!) Finally after all that they sent us some with a prescription for more muscle  relaxants to use if the contractions started again. Luckily layton's grandparents live in Pocatello so we called and they told us we could stay with them until we returned the next day (sunday) to be checked over one final time. So many tender mercies.

Sunday the 3rd: That morning grandma had a big wonderful breakfast prepared, and we got to spend time with some of Layton's Aunt and Uncle, Sheldon and Nikki. Then back to the hospital where Wendy was waiting for us. She hooked me up went to go get the shot. When she came back I had registered more contractions although they weren't painful and babies heart rate had dropped. So they rolled me on my side and her heart rate went back to normal :) yay! they gave me the shot and had to keep me in for monitoring longer, so we missed church. They told me that I am now classified as a high risk pregnancy and that they will help to keep baby Bird inside of me as long as they possibly can but that she will probably be delivered early. The doctors are hoping for at least 4 more weeks, Layton is hoping I make it to July, and I'm hoping to make it until after Ruby got home. I'm officially on bed rest, laying only on my side, not my back. I can get up to use the bathroom and eat, but should do little besides. Obviously, our tripe was canceled, and I stayed the remainder of the week in Pocatello. Layton drove home sunday night to start work early, since we weren't going to be traveling, and I missed him dearly. 

Hospital Selfie