Before I can go into detail about Ema's current condition, it's necessary to give some background information. After Becky and I found out we were pregnant, the first thing we prayed for was a pregnancy free of complications, because we had already gone through a difficult pregnancy and birth with our son, Grahm. Several months went by with what we thought were answered prayers. However, by around week 24, Becky had a sonogram that revealed she again had polyhydramnios (too much amniotic fluid in the uterus, where baby lives before birth). Because our first pregnancy involved poly and resulted in a premature birth, the doctors working with were taking every precaution to make sure this baby would go full term. One of the interventions they decided was to have weekly biophysical profiles, which involved a weekly sonogram, and a monthly visit to a prenatal specialist in Wichita.
Even with this intervention, we still had a few hiccups along the way. Becky was admitted to the hospital at 29 weeks because of contractions. This happened at least two more times before week 37. Nobody wanted to risk Ema coming early, since her brother spent two weeks in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) at Wesley.
As weeks 37 and 38 passed by, it looked like were finally going to enjoy a stress free, and full term, birth. Again, this was not to be the case.
Becky's Cesarian Section was scheduled for Friday, November 11th (11/11/11) a day we picked out back in August. On her last weekly biophysical profile before the C-section, we got some less than great news. Ema seemed to be doing fine except she wasn't moving. Because he heart rate and breathing motions were normal, the doctors weren't immediately concerned, but they wanted us to come back early Thursday morning so they could check again. After all, babies like to sleep, so maybe Ema was just sleeping.
We arrived at Newton Medical Center at 6:30am for Becky's sonogram. By 7:45am, doctors had explained to us that while Ema was moving around this time, she was not showing any breathing movements. This sounds pretty scary, like she was suffocating, but remember that babies don't really breath in the womb. Breathing movements really just show that she's prepared to take her first breaths when she enters the world. Still, this was a problem because those movements should have been there.
The doctors decided that Ema was going to be a day early.
As Becky got prepared for surgery, I quickly, and not so calmly, informed our family. Without going through all of the details, Emaline Belle Buchta was born at 9:49am on Thursday, November 10th. She weighed 5 pounds 14.9 ounces, and was 18.5 inches long. She was healthy and everything was just fine. It was a welcome relief for us. After our experience with Grahm's birth, it was nice to be able to hold our baby girl right away, and to have her in our room free of tubes and machines. Everything was normal, and we were happy.
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