Isabel Agnes Emmett was born July 28, 2010 at 9:28 a.m. She was 7 lbs. 5 oz and 19 inches long. I am 88% certain those numbers are right. Score one for reasons not to wait 5 weeks to blog about it.
It was a Wednesday morning. I know that for sure because I just looked it up after originally typing Thursday. She was 3 days past her due date. We showed up to the hospital late Tuesday. Beth was pretty sure she was in labor just at an early stage. I didn't want to mess around since we made it to the hospital with only 40 minutes to spare with Lily. Plus Beth had to go on antibiotics for several hours before birth. And I needed that baby to come so I could get back to work, it was the end of our quarter and I had a ton of business to close. So it was good we went when we did. There was a slight chance they would send us home after an hour if Beth didn't progress enough. After checking the baby's heart rate they agreed to keep us and get the baby out. More on that later.
Beth got her antibiotics going then it was time for the epidural. That was the first drama of the event. See they clean an area on her back with that awful smelling hospital smell stuff. Then they start sticking other stuff into her back including a large needle. Beth hates this part and to sympathize with her I decided to try and pass out. I went white in the face, thought about puking, could not stop the smell from violating my senses, and started to go down. The nurse grabs me and the Doctor takes his attention off Beth to give me care. Soon after another nurse brings me a glass of orange juice and Beth's epidural is finished problem free as I sit across the room. You are welcome honey.
We got some sleep at that point, it was around 3:00 am. The Dr. came around about 7:00 and checked on Beth and the baby. Beth was progressing but not that fast, we probably had 5 or more hours. The baby's heart rate would drop a bit during contractions but was still in the safe zone. Fast forward two hours...still not a lot of progress but the baby's heart rate is getting harder to read. This concerns the staff and they might have to get the baby out ASAP. Fast forward 3 minutes and Beth has gone from a 7 to 10 in a matter minutes and it's time to push. This was truly a blessing as Isabel needed to get out. The on call Doctor was not even in the city yet so the Dr. from the same practice, working the office upstairs, ran down to catch Isabel. Beth pushed once and the Doc could see the cord was around her neck. He had her stop pushing for a second then on the next push the baby popped out. The cord was wrapped around twice and had a tricky hitch over her shoulder as well. Everybody in the room was so calm and matter of fact it blew me away. And was completely comforting. No big deal just got a little hang nail here...
I still long to be a father in the 50s. I don't need all this. I want to sit in the waiting room with my cigar and SportsCenter (they had that then didn't they?) with the other dads. At some point the nurse would bring me word and I could light up and celebrate. They would then bring me the baby, but only after it was been cleaned up. I paid closer attention this time than I did with Jack and Lily. The Miracle of Birth is exactly that. You find tears streaming as this perfect being enters the world and it would be hard to miss that. But I don't need to see Jack's freakish conehead after the Dr. sucks his sideways body out. I don't need to see the nurses working feverishly for a minute to get Lily to breathe. I don't need to see the Doctor carefully untangle Isabel from the cord. I just need the baby and mother healthy and happy as if nothing was ever amiss.
The rest of the hospital was relatively event free. Isabel had a hard time keeping her temperature up so a couple times she had to go under the lights. We will now go in reverse since Blogger is stupid and puts the first photos uploaded on the bottom. If I had to fix it I might never get this posted.
Here she is in the carseat ready to get home. Little did she know the hospital is actually a freaking awesome place to be. So many people to tend her.
Showing off her going home moo moo.
This is a pretty typical scene these days. Someone holding the baby and the other kids all up in your personal space. Just take a step back for a minute and let me breathe.
Isabel had lots of visitors including Uncle Michael and a girl whose name I forget and we may or may not ever see again.
Jack was especially interested at first with the feeding. What is her doing? What are you doing?
With Aunt Kristin.
Grandma McEuen
First time holding their baby sister. Of course the first time had to be together so nobody would fight.
This is the first time she set eyes on mom. If Lily were there she would be announcing to the world "her eyes open! eyes open!"
First meeting.
Skinny legs.
We just love her to death. 100% smitten. What would we do without her?
Here is most of the gang that attended. Stop standing on your tippy toes Michael!
The Emmett Family.
Afterwards we gathered at the Heber House for a fiesta. Good Mexican food, good company, mediocre volleyball, great times.
Lily definitely was not shy about getting in photos. I love that she and her cousin Bobby are separated by almost two years but only about two pounds.
The coolest part of the weekend was Isabel's blessing gift from her Great Grandpa and Grandma Emmett. It is an antique telephone brought across from Denmark. I must admit that I have had my eye on this for a long time. Not only is it an awesome good looking antique, it's from Denmark. I wondered how I could somehow get on the will for an inheritance. Turns out all I had to do was name a daughter Agnes. The antique organ was already 'won' by my cousin Katie Agnes. It is going to look great on the wall next to my KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM eye chart.
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