Emilynn Iris//01.03.18

The birth of my 2nd niece.

From the start of my sister’s third pregnancy, she was in the mind-set that this would be her last baby. She wanted to make sure that she enjoyed every minute of carrying a child since she knew it would likely be her last time; but when you have two other kids to chase around, it is easier said than done. She had also decided that the gender would be a surprise, so I can only imagine that the 40 weeks of anticipation seemed to drag on forever…

… and it did… for 42 weeks. 

As her due date, Christmas, and New Year’s eve passed she realized that her dream of having all 3 babies completely naturally was slowly slipping away. After talking with her doctor, they decided that it would be best to try to induce her labor so that everything would be healthy for both the baby and mama. They scheduled the induction for January 2nd (dad’s 40th birthday!). 

At 4:00am they got a phone call from the hospital asking that they arrive by 5:00am, and they did. After being admitted, checking vitals, checking progress, etc.- they decided to start her on a round of Misoprostal (which is a tiny pill that is supposed to help soften the cervix). Her doctor chose this route because he knew that my sister desperately wanted to have this baby naturally, and this process was going to allow her to move around and hopefully get that baby moving. The only trouble is that this process is MUCH SLOWER. By the time that I had arrived at nearly 11:00am, she was already on round two and no progress had been made. After going on walks, eating lunch, changing positions, bouncing on a ball, it seemed like this baby just wanted to stay snuggled inside mama forever. 

Around 4:30pm, she was given her fourth dose of the pill in hopes that this one would finally do the trick. During this time, her oldest stopped by for a visit with Grandma. She got to play with daddy in the hospital room, eat crackers, and tell us all about her school day and how her friends were so excited for her to be a big sister again! Mama was so happy to see her baby girl and hold her for the last time as a mommy of 2.

A few hours had passed, with some light contractions throughout the day. They were enough to stop her in her tracks, but not enough to really help her cervix prepare for baby to make it’s way to meet us. Her doctor made a visit around 6:30 and noticed a *slight* change in progression, giving us hope that it could happen tonight and daddy would get the BEST birthday present ever. He also decided to break her water since he knew baby was on it’s way and it would help speed things up. Before he left, he mentioned to the nurse to “call when she is at a 6 because that baby will be here immediately after.” He has delivered all of my sister’s children and he couldn’t be more right. Once her babies are ready to come, they come out in lightening speed. 

More visitors stopped by, this time it was their best friends to help daddy celebrate his birthday with a sushi feast. At this point, my sister wasn’t interested in eating as her contractions started to become more intense and frequent. She had asked the nurse to check her progress about every 30 minutes and each time she had dilated another centimeter. At 11:57pm, the nurse checked and said “you’re at about a 5 or 6, I’ll go call your doctor!”. 

Over the next 30 minutes, reality began to hit my sister. Since this is planned to be her last pregnancy she was overwhelmed by a flood of emotions. She was afraid like I have never seen her. Afraid that she would be in pain, afraid something would be wrong with the baby, and afraid that her doctor wouldn’t make it on time. Our goal was to keep her focused long enough so that she wouldn’t start to push before her doctor arrived. 

At 12:28am a wave of calm swept over the room as her doctor came running in to prepare for delivery. Within seconds, my sister began to push and the baby’s head was making its way out. It happened so fast that she had the entire head out in 4 pushes. All of the sudden we heard the doctor shout, “Stop pushing! There is a cord around the head… Two cords! Three cords!” The room was silent as her doctor immediately untangled the umbilical cord from the baby’s face and neck. It felt like minutes, but was a matter of seconds. We heard, “Go ahead and push!”, and we were greeted by a beautiful, healthy, baby girl! The doctor handed my sister her daughter and said “this is a miracle baby…”

At 12:36am, baby Emilynn Iris was born. She just missed her daddy’s birthday by a matter of minutes, but we are all pretty certain it’s because she wanted to have her own special day. 

Mama got to enjoy an hour and a half of skin-to-skin time and lots of nursing before we found out that she is the second largest baby in the family at 8lbs 4oz and looks EXACTLY like her big brother. 

The three of them got a tiny bit of rest over night before we were back in the morning with all the other kiddos to meet the new addition. Elli and Oliver were both so excited to hold their new sister, Emi, in their “Big Sister/Big Brother” t-shirts and cousin Norah couldn’t stop giving the baby kisses. 

We are so grateful to have another baby girl in the family and even more grateful for an amazing doctor who knew exactly what he was doing. I am so thrilled that I was able to capture this day to be remembered forever. 

In order to respect the family’s privacy, not all photos are included.