Emoree Lillian Wockenfuss

With Anya's birth approaching, I decided that Emoree needs her own post that includes her birth story. (Thanks to my friend Sarah for the idea!) So here is all about Emoree's last 4 years.

Emoree isn't named after anyone, I kind of came up with her name on my own. I knew I wanted something unique that you didn't hear everyday. Her middle name Lillian is after her great-grandmother.

I always wanted a baby. Even more so, I always wanted to be pregnant, the baby was just an added bonus in the end. I was the person who could never leave a store without looking at the clearance baby clothes, and ended up with a stock pile in my cedar chest when I was only 18 or 19 years old. I had planned for a long time that I was going to have a baby and not wait to meet the "right person". A good friend introduced me to fertility treatment via donor sperm, and this sounded like the perfect option for me. It didn't matter to me one bit that I was 21 years old. I do have infertility issues, so it isn't like I could have easily gotten pregnant naturally. I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and no menstrual cycle, which means I do not ovulate. I had to take fertility medications to get pregnant anyway. I started the process in August 2007, and it took 3 cycles to get pregnant in October 2007. It was confirmed I was pregnant on November 5, 2007.

This is the last picture of me pregnant with Emoree. This is 5 days before she was born, it was Memorial Day weekend, I had just finished up an academy at work the day before so we decided to take a day trip to Ocean City, MD to subside my craving for Thrasher's french fries. It definitely wasn't warm enough to get in the water, but nice enough to lay on the beach for an hour or two :) The day before I had Emoree I was riding around in my Jeep, top down, I could do just about anything. It was a very easy pregnancy and I was enjoying it, and I was definitely not ready for it to be over.

6:30AM on Friday, May 30th, 2008, I woke up to get ready for work and found to my suprise that I had lost my mucus plug. I was 33 weeks and 4 days pregnant, and wasn't too worried about it because I had a friend who had lost her plug 2 weeks before she had her baby. I always had a feeling in the back of my mind that I would never make it to term (Emoree's due date was July 14, 2008), but was excited that my baby could be born in the next 2-3 weeks. I got dressed and headed to work. On the drive to work, I started feeling "wet". When I got to work just before 8AM, I called my mom to let her know, then I called my OB's office to see what they said. They said to come to the hospital to get checked out. I called my mom back, and she came to pick me up from work and take me to GBMC.

When we got to Labor & Delivery, I was still leaking but had not experienced a gush. They took me to triage where they checked me and said yes, my water is definitely leaking, but at that point (just after 9AM) I was not dilated at all. They got me into a labor room and hooked me up to the monitors and started an IV. At this point, I was not having any contractions. There was talk that I could be there for up to 2 weeks while they pushed IV fluids to try and keep Emoree in as long as possible. I was a little upset by this, because my baby shower was planned for the following weekend and I was really looking forward to it. I called work and told them I was in the hospital, my mom and I called my short term disability company to get that set up, all meanwhile I did not realize I was starting to have contractions. I was too distracted to realize it, and on the monitor it did not register any contractions.

Then I felt the gush of fluid. I told the nurse, and she said it was normal that I would continue to leak fluid. I said no this was more than a leak. They eventually checked and said yes that was probably the rest of my amniotic fluid, so when my OB got there he checked to see if I was dilated any, and to his suprise he felt Emoree's foot sticking out of my cervix! I was also 4cm dilated at that point. My mom insisted I was having contractions, and they moved the contraction monitor from the left side over to the right, and immediately the monitor started going nuts because I was in active labor.

As soon as my doctor told me I was going to have an emergency c-section, the rest of it was a bit of a blur that I remember bits and pieces of. I was one of those people who wanted to do an unmedicated birth and had never considered a c-section! Next thing I knew one nurse was shaving my lower belly (for the c-section cut) while another was putting in a catheter! They rushed me down the hall to the operating room and at this point I was no more good. I was feeling strong contractions and I was an emotional wreck. I vaguely remember entering the OR. Since she was a footling breech, they did not allow me to sit up and once i was in the operating room they inserted the spinal while I was laying on my side, then put me in position on the operating table. The spinal medication took effect quickly and I remember saying "I could do this again!", it felt good and I was so out of it but no longer in pain. My mom came in and sat by my side, and told me everything she could see going on. I remember ocassionally looking at the clock on the wall on my right side.

At 12:45pm on May 30, 2008, I heard Emoree's first cry. For a 33 weeker I was relieved to hear her cry right away. My mom told me they were cleaning her off, and trying to give her oxygen but she was fighting it. She was breathing on her own just fine. After a minute they brought her over and showed her to me, and quickly took her away to the NICU. She weighed in at 3lbs 15oz, and 17 inches long.

After Emoree was out of the room, they were continuing my surgery and closing me up. At one point my OB called everyone over to look at my uterus, because I only had half of one! He told the other staff in the room that they probably wouldn't see another one like this in their medical careers, that is how rare it is. This is when I was first diagnosed with a unicornuate uterus. At some point in which I do not remember, they told my mom she could go make phone calls and wait for me in recovery. I do not remember her leaving at all.

Next thing I knew I was in recovery. Slowly, I started getting feeling back, but all I could feel was pain. All I remember was it seemed like the nurse took FOREVER to find a battery to hook me up to a morphine pump. I was sooo out of it. I don't remember leaving recovery, but I remember being taken into my room in the postpartum unit and being transferred into the bed there. I barely remember people visiting that day too.

This is one of Emoree's first pictures, my dad took it when she was a few hours old in the NICU. I did not get to see Emoree again until she was 8-9 hours old. This was the first time I got out of bed and into a wheelchair, still hooked to an IV, morphine pump, and catheter.



They took me up two levels to the NICU to see Emoree for the first time in the NICU. This is also when I got to hold her for the first time too. The sights of the NICU didn't scare me, nor did seeing her hooked up to an IV, pulse ox, feeding tube, and other monitors. I could see her through all of that, and she was beautiful <3 Everytime I had to leave her, I cried.

I was discharged on Tuesday June 3rd, 2008. It was really hard leaving without her. Here are a few pictures of her next few days in the NICU:

 

She was off of the feeding tube in 3 days, and was under phototherapy lights for jaundice for two days. Her biggest goals to go home were to gain weight and maintain her body temperature. I went to see her every day. Her lowest weight was 3lbs 9.2oz.

 

Sunday June 8th was my baby shower, and Emoree was still in the NICU. I had a huge baby shower and received soo many gifts! I loved it.

 





The next day, June 9th, at 10 days old, Emoree gained an ounce and had been maintaining her body temperature for 48 hours. I was sitting in my living room re-looking through all of the bags from my baby shower, and I got a phone call from the NICU. Emoree was ready to go home. I was so excited, but panicked because nothing was ready for her. Emoree's Mom-mom and Poppy came over and put together the pack and play and the stroller while I took all the tags off of her new preemie clothes and put them in the wash. I then picked out the outfit she would wear home, and waited for my mom to get home from work so we could go pick her up.

 

I finally got to bring my little baby doll home <3

 

Emoree in 2008:

 

Emoree in 2009:

 

 

Emoree in 2010:

 

Emoree in 2011:

 

Emoree in 2012:

 

Emoree starts pre-k at Sussex Elementary School in less than two weeks! My baby girl is growing up so fast. She is excited about starting "big girl" school, and I am looking forward to spending more time with her (pre-k is only 2.5hrs M-F) and saying bye-bye to nap time!!! At daycare they take naps and she ends up being awake past 11PM, so giving up naptime is a good thing because then she falls asleep at a reasonable hour. She is a sassy little drama queen who likes to shake her booty :) She is excited about becoming a big sister too. She loves Disney Princesses and Dora, but right now her favorite movie is The Lorax because it was the first movie she saw in a theater and she makes us watch it now every night. She loves to wear dresses and skirts, and hates jeans or anything non-stretchy.

 

I love you princess!!!