Emma's Birthday!

So I meant to post this weeks ago, but such is life. Our little Nugget made her debut four days early on Sunday, March 22nd. I’m not going to hold it against her though. She let me get 8+ hours of sleep the night before and let me attend the UIW meet the day before, as well as make it to a delicious family BBQ.

My water broke around 8:30 Sunday morning. It was a semi-panic moment, but I hadn’t felt any contractions…..yet. We read you should wait to go to the hospital until contractions are five minutes apart for around an hour. So as soon as I felt anything Jer started the clock. About half an hour after my water broke I felt a small cramp. It was about 10minutes until the next small cramp-like sensation. I was like, “hmmm, this isn’t so bad”. Well six minutes later it was definitely more painful than a cramp. The next one? THREE minutes later. Ooooof. So I had two more that were much more painful and two-three minutes apart. We headed to the hospital!

Once I got checked into the labor and delivery room the nurse checked me out and I was already 6 centimeters dilated at 9:45AM. The contractions were definitely not the most pleasant to say the least, and the next two hours were...painful. But at 11:45 I got an epidural, and it was absolutely amazing. After finishing up training plans for the team and chit chatting with my family I started to feel a lot of pressure around 3:00PM. I asked the nurse to check things out and by then I was 10 centimeters dilated. They were just waiting for the contractions to get a smidge closer together. By 4:00PM it was time to start pushing and by 4:50PM Emma Patricia Daum made her way into the world.

Playing the waiting game, Dad got a little sleepy

It was quite the experience to say the least! Luckily I didn’t have any complications and it was a pretty short labor for it being my first. Something that was a little surprising was that she was 8 whole pounds! The doctors I had talked to said she’d probably be around 6-7 pounds at the most. All the informational packets mentioned the baby typically takes after the mom’s physique when they’re born. Well mom was barely 6 pounds at two weeks late. So we’re going to say a big ol’ “THANK YOU” to Jer, who was nearly 10 pounds on his birthday. I had my mom, sister, and Jer in the room while all the fun stuff was happening. It meant a lot to have them there and they were nothing short of amazing when things got uncomfortable.

The 8 pounder

First family photo

Both sets of grandparents and my siblings

Jer, unsurprisingly, has been the best dad a girl could ask for. He serenades her at every chance he gets, lets her take naps on his chest, and he’s been the biggest help with diapers, burping, and clothes changing.

He knows how to get the burps out better than anyone!

My baby girl 10 days old

A belly shot with baby on the outside

She’s two whole months today, which honestly blows my mind with how fast time seems to be flying by. She smiles when you make absurd faces at her, it’s great! She now weighs 12 pounds and 1oz. She is growing so much!! She’s absolutely perfect and I still manage to function (mostly), even without getting my normal eight uninterrupted hours of sleep.

My happy baby 2 months old!