Emma is 2 weeks old today. It seems like she is growing and changing already. She has been such a good baby. She sleeps very well during the day and night. She usually will eat around 11/11:30pm and sleep until I wake her up at 5/5:30am. Then she goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours, which makes her wake up time between 8 and 9am, just like Will. During the day she eats every 3 hrs, sometimes a little closer together before bedtime. She will take a nap for a couple of hours after she eats and hangs out for a few minutes, looking around. She tries to hold her head up by herself already, which I remember Will doing pretty early too. Will is doing a great job as big brother. He helps me with the baby by getting her diapers and wipes, talking sweetly to her, kissing her, and checking on her when I put her down and to make sure she is still sleeping. If she cries before she falls asleep, Will tells me, "Baby can't sleep right now."
Before Abby went back home on Saturday, we were able to take Will and Emma to library storytime on Thursday (Emma's first library trip!), to see Toy Story 3 at the theater, and out to eat again. She is really getting out and about at an early age! My parents are flying in from Texas on Friday (yay!) and Emma's 2 week check up is on Thursday.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Father's Day 2010 & Emma's First Week
We celebrated Father's Day today by taking Emma out for the first time. We went to church, then to King's Fish House for lunch. She was a very good girl and slept the whole time we were gone from 10:30 - 3pm, wow! I woke her up to feed her after lunch, but she went back to sleep while she was eating. Abby took Will on a "train" (trolley) ride around the outdoor mall after lunch. Tonight, Jered made ribs for dinner. I felt bad that he cooked his own father's day meal, but he enjoyed using his new grill that we picked up Friday. These are pictures from Father's Day and Emma's first week of life.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Welcome Emma Grace Hanschen! Our Birth Story
Emma Grace Hanschen was born on Sunday, June 13th, at 5:38pm at San Diego Naval Medical Center. She was 8lbs 3oz, 21 inches long. She has a full head of dark hair and dark blue eyes. She looks so much like her brother Will it is uncanny!
She surprised us by coming about a week early. I started having contractions about 10min apart at 2am on Sunday. I kept waiting for them to go away, and tried taking a shower, walking around, lying still, but they stayed consistent and got stronger and closer together. I finally gave in and called Labor and Delivery after about 5 hours, with contractions being about 5-7 min apart then. They told me to come in whenever I wanted. I put it off a little longer, then called our friends the Strouses to see if they could keep Will. They said yes (of course they are so sweet) and so we packed up the car and dropped him off, then headed to the hospital.
At the hospital, they checked me at 10:30am and told me I was only 1.5cm dilated still after 8 hrs of contractions that were then about 3 min apart. They told me to go walk around for a while and come back. We walked around the hospital campus, ate lunch, visited my friend Sara (who just had her baby a few days earlier and was still at the hospital, so cool!). We went back in about 12:30pm and I had gone from 1 to 6cm already! They checked me in and got me set up in a room. They asked me if I wanted an epidural, but I decided to wait as long as I could. They were shocked that I was talking and laughing and texting my friends and family still, and thought I would be “huffing and puffing” already. I waited until 3:45pm when I was 8cm then got the epidural. I’m so glad too because very soon my contractions started lasting 3 minutes each, ouch! At 4:30, I was 9cm and they broke my water at 5:10. They said, “This is going to be quick,” and sure enough Emma was at 5:38pm. I only had to push for 8 minutes. The doc said I was helping them out because they were very busy, haha. Since I only had the epidural in less than 2 hrs, it wore off very quickly and I was able to get up and walk around on my own about 2-3 hrs after the birth. I felt so much better than I did after Will’s birth and continued to improve really quickly. A funny thing - our friend Kendra texted us around 3:45 that Will said the baby would be born in 2 hrs. Wow! He was only minutes off!
They took Emma to the NICU around 8:30pm because she had rapid breathing and was “squeaking.” She was there for 3 days. The hardest part was the first day when they wouldn’t let me feed her at all, she was on IV fluids. Finally they had ENT pediatrics come check her out and they said she has Stridor breathing caused by tracheomalasia, which she should grow out of on her own. We will have ENT follow ups just to make sure. She also has a little looseness in her hips, so we have and ultrasound follow ups with orthopedics to check on that.
It was so wonderful when they finally let us have Emma back in our room at 3:30am Wednesday morning. She was wonderful in the hospital, no fussing at all. We had to wake her to feed her, she would sleep 4+hrs if I didn't wake her up to eat! She does eat well though - she only lost 4oz in the hospital, so is already almost back at her birth weight. Little chunker. She is a sweetheart and has won us over already.
Will was extremely happy and excited that Mama and Baby Sister were coming home today. He has been very sweet with her, kissing her many times, trying to hold her hand and share toys with her. I haven't been able to get much of that on camera though because he leaves as soon as he sees me with it! Grrr, hopefully soon I'll get a great photo for her birth announcement with the two of them. Abby is flying in tomorrow morning and we look forward to having her help as we adjust to family life with 4 Hanschens.
She surprised us by coming about a week early. I started having contractions about 10min apart at 2am on Sunday. I kept waiting for them to go away, and tried taking a shower, walking around, lying still, but they stayed consistent and got stronger and closer together. I finally gave in and called Labor and Delivery after about 5 hours, with contractions being about 5-7 min apart then. They told me to come in whenever I wanted. I put it off a little longer, then called our friends the Strouses to see if they could keep Will. They said yes (of course they are so sweet) and so we packed up the car and dropped him off, then headed to the hospital.
At the hospital, they checked me at 10:30am and told me I was only 1.5cm dilated still after 8 hrs of contractions that were then about 3 min apart. They told me to go walk around for a while and come back. We walked around the hospital campus, ate lunch, visited my friend Sara (who just had her baby a few days earlier and was still at the hospital, so cool!). We went back in about 12:30pm and I had gone from 1 to 6cm already! They checked me in and got me set up in a room. They asked me if I wanted an epidural, but I decided to wait as long as I could. They were shocked that I was talking and laughing and texting my friends and family still, and thought I would be “huffing and puffing” already. I waited until 3:45pm when I was 8cm then got the epidural. I’m so glad too because very soon my contractions started lasting 3 minutes each, ouch! At 4:30, I was 9cm and they broke my water at 5:10. They said, “This is going to be quick,” and sure enough Emma was at 5:38pm. I only had to push for 8 minutes. The doc said I was helping them out because they were very busy, haha. Since I only had the epidural in less than 2 hrs, it wore off very quickly and I was able to get up and walk around on my own about 2-3 hrs after the birth. I felt so much better than I did after Will’s birth and continued to improve really quickly. A funny thing - our friend Kendra texted us around 3:45 that Will said the baby would be born in 2 hrs. Wow! He was only minutes off!
They took Emma to the NICU around 8:30pm because she had rapid breathing and was “squeaking.” She was there for 3 days. The hardest part was the first day when they wouldn’t let me feed her at all, she was on IV fluids. Finally they had ENT pediatrics come check her out and they said she has Stridor breathing caused by tracheomalasia, which she should grow out of on her own. We will have ENT follow ups just to make sure. She also has a little looseness in her hips, so we have and ultrasound follow ups with orthopedics to check on that.
It was so wonderful when they finally let us have Emma back in our room at 3:30am Wednesday morning. She was wonderful in the hospital, no fussing at all. We had to wake her to feed her, she would sleep 4+hrs if I didn't wake her up to eat! She does eat well though - she only lost 4oz in the hospital, so is already almost back at her birth weight. Little chunker. She is a sweetheart and has won us over already.
Will was extremely happy and excited that Mama and Baby Sister were coming home today. He has been very sweet with her, kissing her many times, trying to hold her hand and share toys with her. I haven't been able to get much of that on camera though because he leaves as soon as he sees me with it! Grrr, hopefully soon I'll get a great photo for her birth announcement with the two of them. Abby is flying in tomorrow morning and we look forward to having her help as we adjust to family life with 4 Hanschens.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
38 Weeks - OB check up
I went in for my 2 week check up today. First the doc listened to the heartbeat, which was normal, then she measured me - 40wks fundus height. She then palpated for the baby's size and position. This is what she said, "Oh wow, you are all baby...this baby is not petite. Your son was 8-4? This one is already 7.5-8lbs...this is not a small baby..." LOL. Then she did an internal check - 1cm dilated, 50% effaced, Emma has dropped, and baby's head is low enough to feel that "she doesn't have much hair," which I also thought was funny. I didn't know you could feel that before they are born. I was the same amount progressed with Will 5 days before he was born, and also didn't drop with him until a few days before he was born, so hopefully Emma will not make us wait a whole lot longer. Although it would be good if Abby could get here first - she's flying in a week from today, June 17. My next appointment is June 16 and we will discuss induction then for after my due date, considering the baby's size already and Will's size at birth.
Monday, June 7, 2010
38 Weeks - Jered's Birthday
This week we celebrated Jered's 33rd birthday. He had a really funny schedule all week and ended up working on his birthday, Sunday, but when he got home, we had our friends the Hegards over for grilled ribs and birthday cake. It was great to catch up and the boys had so much fun playing together. Jeffrey and Will are in the same Sunday School class and Will loves having him over, especially because all his other friends are girls! We are now less than 2 weeks from Emma's due date and getting excited (and tired for me!). We have everything set up now, even got my car in the garage today. We did a huge grocery store trip this week and the fridge and freezer are bursting with stuff that Jered and Abby can make while I'm having the baby. I have a doctor's appointment on Thursday and I'm hoping to find out if any progress is going on. I have regular contractions every night for a couple of hours and some erratic ones during the day, so I'm hoping maybe she's getting ready to be on time like her brother!
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