Ainsley is here!

Man, pregnancy is tough! 10 months of dreaming about the arrival of your bundle of joy, watching your body transform before your eyes, progressively acquiring aches and pains, and finally wishing that this little parasite would hurry up and make their "grand debut" already! (Did you catch the sarcasm?) But really, I think that God teaches women patience during pregnancy that we will need immediately for the labor, delivery and recovery, but also patience that we will need in the future to stay sane when the 18 month old wants to sit in your lap while you are nursing the newborn and throws a mini tantrum when you gently say "I love you honey, but I can't hold you right now." Give me a break kid, I was nice about it!! But most of all, I think that God lets that baby grow slowly and delicately in our wombs for 10 long months so that by the time they do enter the world we already love them more than we love ourselves. We immediately would sacrifice our bodies (delivery and nursing, ladies?) our freedom (I haven't worn makeup in a week), our sleep (can I get an Amen?), and if it came to it, our very lives for these little beings whom we adore and stare at for hours at a time dreaming about the kind of person that they are going to become. Ahhh, Motherhood!

Ainsley Karis Emberger was born at 4:14pm on January 15th, 2010. She was 6 lbs, 14 oz, and 20 in. **Warning** I am about to tell the story of her birth. If you are squeamish, don't like babies, or can't handle candor, please don't read on!!

The day started off quite well. I was being induced, so we arrived at the hospital at 5:30AM, tired, but excited about the imminent birth of our second child. We strolled into the labor and delivery ward, laughed with the registration nurse, and hung on to every word of the "plan" for the induction and delivery. I received my IV fluids, the labor-inducing Pitocin medication, and the well-wishes of everyone who came in the room. I comfortably watched TV (A Baby Story, ironically, but only because nothing else was on at the time) while Jason studiously worked on his grad school work. After a while, I started to have minor contractions, but nothing that I couldn't handle and I felt proud of myself for holding out on the epidural for a while and actually experiencing what labor felt like. (Last time, I was knocked out for 12 hours straight and suddenly there was a baby in my arms!) Around 12:30pm, the contractions started to get extremely painful and so I requested the epidural. Again, things went beautifully as I laughed with the anesthesiologist and was surprised by the relative painlessness of the gigantic needle he had just plunged into my back. Somewhere around 3pm, my nurse said that I was 9 1/2 centimeters and was almost ready to go, so she notified my doctor who would be on her way in about 20 minutes. She was a little longer than that, but it made no difference to me because I couldn't feel a thing. They quickly got the room ready for the arrival of the baby, had a nurse for the baby on standby, and reminded me what they expected of me in this labor process. I began to push when they informed me that I was having contractions (epidural, remember?) and that's when the nightmare began!

Unfortunately, because of that wonderful epidural, I couldn't exactly make my body do the kind of heavy-duty pushing that it needed to do to eject this baby from my womb. I heard my doctor's voice change as she told me that I was going to have to push a lot harder. As I closed my eyes, held my breath, and gritted my teeth again and again, the mood of the room became all business. The baby's heart rate had dropped, I was given oxygen and the doctor quickly moved on to the suction device. I watched as blood splattered all over her face mask as she carefully tried to force the baby out. Jason removed himself to a chair as his body succumb to the overwhelming stress of the situation. Suddenly, I was terrified! Several extra nurses entered my room and my doctor said they were from the NICU, just as a precaution. I didn't know at the time, but she had already ordered that an OR be prepped for an emergency C-section. My doctor quickly made a skillful incision and PRAISE THE LORD, was able to pull the baby out! She cried immediately and I cried as I frantically asked over and over again, "is she ok, is she ok?" My doctor reassured me that the baby was perfectly fine and that it was a short umbilical cord that had kept her from victoriously emerging from the womb on her own. (Cords are usually 30+ centimeters, but hers was only 10!) I am happy to report that Ainsley is extremely healthy, nursing and sleeping well, and has already gained 2 ounces! She does have a hematoma on the back of her scalp from the suctioning, but her doctor is going to keep an eye on it and we would appreciate prayers for a full recovery from that trauma to her beautiful little head. We are so blessed to be the parents of two beautiful little girls and we look forward to watching them grow up and become beautiful, Godly women!