First walk and first outing

Emery with her friend Kate-Wow I forget how tiny she was

Natalie came over and we went for our very first walk! So exciting. We just went around the block because it was getting a little warm. I was so excited to get moving again. It had only been a few weeks, but I felt like a mushy slug. Emery loved being outside ! So fun! Hopefully it is the beginning of many walks together with her friend Kate!

Don't get too comfortable...

Just hanging out...

Don't I look lovely?

So five great and sleepless days had passed when all of a got a headache. Now headaches normally aren't a big deal. However, when blood pressure is involved, a headache is a totally different story. I ignored it on Friday. My mother-in-law came over and checked my bp. It was super duper high. It was higher than when I was in the hospital! I kind of blew it off for some reason. Saturday came and my headache started up again, and of course I ignored it again. So Sunday I decided to call my doctor. He basically told me to go to the ER and have it checked out. So Neal and I went up on Sunday. It was funny because I told my mom that I would be back in like two hours to feed Emery, and I came home four days later! Basically, my bp was really high so they admitted me into the scary ICU area where Neal couldn't even stay the night. That was hard. What was even harder was that I had to leave my little one week old at home. I hated it! I was so depressed over that. Luckily my mom was still in town so she was able to help Neal care for her. I can't say enough about my best friend Natalie. She was up there every day with me. She had Kate with her, who is almost two, and yet somehow made it a point to be up there. It lifted me up so much. I will forever remember that and feel blessed to have such a person in my life. We just snacked the days away, and watched Kate play on the ICU hospital floor. Nice. Kate was so good, and on the day before I left, they were up there all day. So so sweet. Emery got to come once they moved me out of ICU. They brought in some caged crib from the 40's for her. She actually slept in there most of the night. My Mom stayed with me since Neal had to go to work, and Nat came and picked us up that next day. I could not be happier to get out of there! The food is not good at all. Luckily my sweet friends Hillary, Lindsay, and Lauren brought up some pizza on my last night from the outside! They also brought by some letters that my class had written and a cute poster. I was just ready to be back to normal! They put me on some meds and I was on my way. I couldn't wait to just be with my baby at home. At least it broke me of leaving her with someone else overnight...

First doctor's appointment

I guess two days after birth you have to go to the doctor to check for jaundice. So we went and got back on the scary highway during a rainstorm. Needless to stay we turned back and rescheduled. Too paranoid. Well we finally went and Em had lost 5 ounces. She had gone down to 5lbs. 7 oz. That would be the smallest she would get. Everything was great! They just looked at her and gave her an all clear for jaundice. So happy!

Home sweet home

The Grandfathers

The nurse gave us a carseat tutorial

So after seven days in the hospital, we finally got to bring our precious girl home. Getting out of the hospital was ridiculous. It took forever! I think it was 5 before I got out of there. It was a bitter sweet moment. I was now leaving the place that gave me the most special thing in my life. My moment was gone. I had delivered my first child. I was starting to get anxious as they were bringing my wheelchair around. Sure enough I start crying the second it gets moving. It was really funny though because Neal was trying to get pictures, but the tech lady that was pushing the chair was going turbo down the ramp and wouldn't really let Neal get a shot. Then she starts lecturing me on why women shouldn't get an epidural. Weird! So we were off. I was so paraniod, especially since we had to take death highway 635 home. That is the worst. I cried pretty much the whole way home. I called Natalie to make sure that she did the same thing so that I didn't feel crazy. She did. Emery was so tiny in her little carseat. She was so fragile. So we brought the little muffin home and my mom had been waiting at home since forever. It was so neat to bring her home for the first time. Our little family was finally growing. After 8 years of marriage and three dogs later, here was our first child. So great!!

Emery Nicole Staab

The almost Easter baby

Nat, Kate, and Paige

Lauren, Jamye, Neal, Linsay and Hillary-This pic will not get any bigger for some reason

Auntie Nat with Emery

How swollen is my face??? We are with the best doctor ever! So awesome!

My Mom and Emery

My Dad with his first grandchild

Proud Daddy

The NICU people-luckily they left

Me and my little girl

Just waiting...

Our little baby girl was born at 3:07 in the afternoon on April 13th! It was a weird day for me. I actually don't remember most of the labor and delivery. As I was saying in my last blog, I really wasn't there physically or mentally. That could actually be a good thing! I don't remember getting the epidural or really when I began pushing. The Moms and Nat came in during one of my breaks while pushing, and I hardly remember them. It is almost like I went to bed that night and all of a sudden I was pushing. It was crazy. It is like I snapped out it in time to deliver. All of a sudden there was this girl in front of me telling me pull a towel out of her hands. So weird. I remember begging Neal for ice chips. I was soooo thirsty. I was on a magnesium drip for my blood pressure, and I think that combined with everything else made me so thirsty and sleepy. My poor doctor would be talking to me, and I would just fall asleep in mid conversation. After 3.5 hours pushing he finally suggested using forceps. I was like sure! I was so tired by that point. Now that I definitely remember! That hurt alot. I am sure it was because I was tearing in half, but I was definitely awake then. I just remember waiting for her to let out her cry. I was so relieved she was ok. They whisked her off the her little warmer thing, and I just saw all of these people come in. I guess she wasn't very responsive, and I remember seeing her just lying there, and not really moving very much. Everything ended up fine, and they handed her to me. Well I started falling asleep with her in my arms, and my arms felt like mush. I had to hand her off to Neal because I felt like I was going to drop her. She was so precious and small. She weighed 5lbs. 13 ounces. It was so surreal. I can't believe we were parents! That night they kept her in the nursery since I was still out of it. My poor friends, and the grandmas came in to visit me, and I didn't remember much of that. How embarrassing! I apparently asked my friends for push pop and, I think it was Paige and Nat that I asked for chocolate. How random. Aside from all of the medication mess, it was the best day ever. I was so glad to have her safe and out of my belly. I never knew what she was doing in there so I was always a little concerned. Undoubtedly the best day of our lives!

What happened??

My Mom and Nat-visits in between pushes

Betty and Nat-So sweet- I am so happy Neal took these pictures

Not my best moment-definitely not my best hair day

I had these visions of what having a baby would be like, and I wasn't even close to my little fantasies. The night before giving birth to Emery my nurse gave me Cervadryl(spelling??) which makes your cervix ripen. That was not too comfortable. Also, let me say that Nat had that same thing put in, and she told me nothing would happen overnight. She said they gave her Ambien and that all was well. So I was like, great! Uh huh. Well I immediately started cramping. I then decided to ask for the Ambien because I didn't think that I would be able to fall asleep. 45 minutes later I was still awake and the pain had gotten worse. Now I had crazy back pain. It hurt alot! So I asked for a painkiller or something. I was given Demerol. That is when it all ended for me. That was the last thing that I truly remember. I have two flashbacks from that night. One was me standing up telling Neal that I think my water broke, and the other was me sitting on the bed being wheeled out getting sick and holding a little bag. That was it! What on earth??? I guess it was the beginnings of me going into labor, but I didn't know it at the time. Poor Neal was let to handle it all basically alone. I was of no use to him. Little did I know my little girl was ready to come out a little quicker than expected...

37 week appointment

Just waiting...

Thanks to Nat I have this tiny picture from that weekend

So Neal was out of town for my 37 week appointment so his Mom Betty went with me. I left straight from school and picked her up. Let me just note that I left my classroom a mess, and was going to start my maternity leave plans the next day. Okay, so we go off to the hospital with my fat feet and knees. The school nurse had taken my bp that day, and it was a little high, but I didn't think anything of it. So the nurse at the OB office takes my bp twice and weighs me. I had gained 7 pounds in a week. That added up to 15 pounds in three weeks. That is a ton of weight for the the last trimester. Still, the nurse didn't say anything. So I go in and meet with a new doctor. My office rotates so I had to meet everyone. She came in and basically said that I had preeclampsia and that they were going to have to run some labs, and that I was going to be admitted right then. What??? It took all I had to not freak out and start crying. I kept my cool, and called Neal who was 3 hours away. Luckily my mother-in-law was there! I would have totally lost it. I felt so nauseous from the nerves, and was just in shock when the doctor said that I could be having the baby that weekend(my appointment was on a Thursday.) So scary. So I was admitted and my doctor told me that I would have to be on hospital bed rest until the following Thursday because of the high bp. Poor Neal had to sleep there on the worst bed ever. So my parents decided to drive up and arrived on Saturday. At this point we were still thinking it was the following week. Well apparently my bp was going up, and my platelets were low so my doctor called me on Sunday at 10pm and told me that I would be delivering the next morning and that they were going to go ahead and give the thing that makes your cervix ripen that night. Gulp! I felt sick again. I was so scared and nervous. My legs started shaking. So begins a crazy night and day that I never would have predicted.