Saturday, June 30, 2007

Making Faces


We're working on reading her expressions. So far, we've got: "hungry!", " pooping", "I'm going to burp", "I need a burp", and "where am I?"

just minutes old


Here's a little clip that Auntie Annie captured at the hospital.
She was so quiet those first few minutes of life.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Emily's First Checkup

We went to the doctor yesterday. We were told to go at the two-week mark, but when Ann called to make that appointment they said “two weeks? No, you need to get her in after two DAYS!” So we went in.

My little girl had jaundice, a broken clavicle, and fungus on her tongue. That’s pretty impressive for 8 days old. I felt like we made a bad impression with the doctor. 8 days and the kid’s already in crummy shape. The Social Services people are probably parked outside my house in a pizza truck with a satellite dish on it, watching for signs of abuse.

We had to put her in indirect sunlight for the jaundice, the broken clavicle happened at birth and is actually fairly common. We just have to pin her arm to her chest for a few weeks. The tongue fungus (and as a result, Ann has a nipple-fungus) we got a prescription for and should go away soon.

Of course, Emily doesn’t know any of this. She’s just a happy little baby girl. She’s had a pretty steady stream of visitors, and as a result, a steadily growing list of admirers, since she got here. She’s still sleeping, eating, and testing out the limits of our Diaper Champ. So far it’s solid, and can hold many of the little packages Emily creates, which are roughly the size and shape of White Castle cheeseburgers.

So she’s accident-prone. Big deal. At least we know she’s part Sullivan now...

Monday, June 25, 2007

The Moods of Emily Fern

So far we've videotaped about an hour of her just making faces. as much as I wanted to post the entire tape, here's a minute and a half for your viewing pleasure.

7 days old


still sleeping... not a whole lot of photographic options right now, but it still doesn't stop us from shooting hundreds of photos of her sleeping.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Naps, Craps, and Boobies


It's been 6 days, and we are noticing a pattern. She's only got three things on her mind: eating, sleeping, and creating diapers for us to change. Attached is a photo of the only one of those that's not somehow obscene.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

First Impressions

These are the first few moments of Emily's life. Mommy observes: "You smell like eggs."

Hi Grandma!

Po-po's first grandchild. She's going to spoil me rotten!

Friday, June 22, 2007

Ann's experience


I wake up Monday afternoon and feel a little crampy. My due date is still a week, possibly 2 weeks away, so I didn't think much of this minor abdominal discomfort that I was feeling. Up until that day, I hadn't even had fake or practice contractions. Less than 4 hours later, I was doubled over the counter at the nurse's station while Adam was checking us in at Tri-City Hospital.

I was already 2cm dilated when we arrived and had progressed to 4 within a few hours. I thought this was going to be a pretty easy delivery. The baby had been sitting low for several weeks, they could feel her head during my routine exams. I was dilating fairly quickly and my contractions were minutes apart within a few hours starting them.

Labor pains = Imagine having developed severe food poisoning, the kind that is inevitably followed by explosive diarrhea, and someone stabbing you in the guts every few minutes.

I was in labor for an excessively long time, and it took 3 hours of pushing to deliver. The nurse said that 2 hours was uncommon, so she consulted the doctor after about 2 and a half. He threatened me with a c-section and Emily was out with one minute to spare. She smelled like hard boiled eggs.

This would have been the worst part if the anesthesiologist hadn't botched my epidural. when I stood up after delivery, I had this pounding headache that started from my spine and ran up into the base of my skull and exploded into the top of my head. apparently, he had accidentally poked a hole in my spine on one of his first 2 attempts and i was now leaking spinal fluid that was causing this tremendous pressure that felt like someone had cracked me in the back of the skull with a baseball bat. But, a headache is a headache and I had no idea how serious it was going to be- I was excited to see Emily. I hadn't gotten to really spend any time with her yet, because they had to sew up my tear and I let them take her away for procedures immediately because she wasn't really all that active when she came out. she wasn't making much of a fuss and because she had endured 3 hours of pushing, i thought i should let them see her first.

hours later, this headache had gotten so bad that I couldn't even pay any attention to my new daughter. I still hadn't learned what it really was, so when they had another anesthesiologist come in and explain it to me, all I heard was that it would eventually go away, or they could go back in and patch it, which meant poking another needle into my spine (that would be poke number four-no thank you) he also said that there was a 50 percent chance of the patch working if I did it that soon. so i thought I'd wait it out. They kept me there an extra night for that, which was good for everyone because we Had the nurses' support for Emily for an extra day or two. It was hard trying to breastfeed and hold and try to interact with Emily, or anyone for that matter because every movement sent paralyzing pain into my skull. It made my eyes throb and muted my hearing for spurts at a time. The shots of morphine were useless and pain pills even more futile.

by the next day, i still couldn't move and the pain was causing tears to literally pour out of my eyes. This day was spent waiting 12 hours for someone to come and do the patch procedure.

we finally made it home by 10 pm Thursday night, having gone in on Monday afternoon-it was nice to be home, but scary to be on our own with this new life that was in our hands. I couldn't even begin to feel the feeling you should feel when you have a new daughter until the next day. That spinal headache robbed me of that for the first few days but now it's starting to become real.

The Story Of Emily Fern


On Monday, June 18 I went to the dentist’s office in Vista to get a couple teeth crowned. When my appointment ended at 11:00, I drove to work. I get there at 11:45, and ten minutes later, I had a text message from Ann. She was having contractions.

I did the few pressing things I needed to, packed up my laptops and drove straight back home. I get there around 1:00.

We packed stuff up and timed contractions. I cleaned the house a little. By 3:00, we were at the hospital. We checked in and Ann had her exam. She was now 3cm dilated. An hour later, she was 4. The contractions were tough. By 6:00 Ann was 6 cm, and the epidural arrived. The problem then was that the anesthesiologist missed the spot twice, which hurt like a sonofabitch, so far as I could tell. On the third try, he got it, and she felt much much better. “It’s like when you get into a Jacuzzi for the first time, only that feeling stays with you,” she said. She also noted that it was the best she’s felt in months. Nine months, to be precise.

Sue was our nurse, and she was a champ. We all just hung out and waited. They wanted to break Ann’s water earlier, but she wanted the epidural first. Which was just as well, it was a busy night in the delivery ward. There were at least 3 C-sections, 3 “natural” births, and one woman who had a seizure during her delivery. And then there was Ann. We were doing so well, we were placed on the bottom of the priority list. The doctor changed his mind about breaking the water bag, as he was already needed in three places at once. So we waited.

Anhao, Annie, Jane and Peter came by for a few hours. Then they went to get sushi. They came back around 10:00 with some for me. Peter and Jane went to the restaurant to wrap egg rolls. Jane came back, and she spent the night in the waiting room with Annie and Anhao.

Around 4:00 Ann was at 10 cm, so with Sue’s help, we began to push. And when I say we, I mean Ann. I held her leg though, and counted to ten a whole lot.

So we pushed for a while, and after 2 hours (which is considered kind of a long time), Sue got the doctor. He came in and it was go time. We pushed some more, and at about 6:00 AM, he said “My shift ends at 7, if we don’t deliver the baby then, I’m going to recommend a C-section.” Apparently, that’s all Ann needed, a threat. She found some more strength, and little Emily Fern was born—at 6:59 AM. Christine Brody came in at literally the last minute—the head was out. They handed her off, and it was all over in less than a minute. Mom had a small tear. Emily got measured and weighed, and as soon as she was swaddled back up she was quiet. Her eyes were wide open, though, checking everything out. She met Aunty Annie, Ja-Po (Jane), and Dad. I think she was pleased.

Fruit Punch Lips And All


This might just be a record. Three days old, and girl's got a blog.

Emily Fern Sullivan was brought into this world at 6:59 a.m. on June 19, 2007. She was grey and slimy and wonderful. Her head looked like a cone.

She got cleaned up and tested, and was in daddy's arms a few minutes later (mommy was getting, um, sewn up). Emily didn't cry. She just kinda checked things out with her pale blue eyes, and met the world. She's got mommy's eyes and nose, and daddy's fruit-punch lips. She's a good little girl.

Saturday, June 2, 2007

almost done baking!

Just a couple more weeks to go!