Emery is here!!!!

The funny thing about Emery Kehne's arrival was that she was early, 9 weeks early!!!! Her father on the other hand not always so early! We love you Seth, lateness and all!!! Although I have not had the honor of meeting this sweet girl yet, she has captured Andy's and my heart. She is tiny, but oh so precious. I love babies, as most of you know and am aching to snuggle this little one. It may take some time (possibly a whole year) for Andy to feel up to holding her since she is so tiny, but he will come around I am sure.

I would love for you to visit Katie and Seth's blog for a recap of her birth, but you have to have the password. Bummer. I was crying at work as I read it. Seth wrote it, as Katie was still in the hospital being monitored and understandably not up to sending out emails. The email turned blog entry is so totally and completely Seth and I loved it. So I will just copy it here...

From her daddy:

Emery Katherine Kehne is here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warning: This is written by Seth Kehne. This has not been proof-read by Kate Kehne. Expect spelling, grammar, general sentence flow and author attention span errors issues. My editor is currently on drugs and unable to use her English major skills.Warning: This is a long play by play. Cliff-notes are at the bottom of the page. I am giving an in depth story for people who want to know and in hopes I will get to make a guest appearance on Kate’s blog.

We will start from the beginning. Sunday July 19, Katie felt sick in the morning. She felt sick enough that she had to stay home from a volunteer project with our church. She started to feel much better Sunday afternoon. We thought it was not related to the pregnancy. Monday was a normal day. We went walking Monday night and Katie probably walked (with a little bit of jogging) 2-3 miles.

Tuesday morning Kate felt extremely sick. She was throwing up and not able to lie or sit down. For three hours she was laying in awkward positions on the bathroom floor. She felt sick the entire time, but did not think it had anything to do with labor. I came home from work around 2 to check on her. She had been getting progressively worse since 12 o’clock. We rushed over to meet with Dr. O’Kelley our OBGYN. They ran some tests and her liver blood enzymes were low. He immediately sent us over to the hospital across the street. In the hospital they ran more tests and we had an ultrasound on her gall bladder. She was showing possible symptoms of gall stones, which can be common in pregnancy. Dr. O’Kelley came over and checked over the tests and ultrasound. Her Gall Bladder was fine and so he was worried she might have Preeclampsia. He told us we were headed over to UT Hospital to be checked out by a high risk doctor that he highly recommended. He said we would be riding in an ambulance. I being my father’s son asked if I could drive us instead (obviously for convenience and who knows how much an ambulance costs). He smiled and said no.

During this time we were starting to get very scared. With a miscarriage before this and Kate’s blood clot history we were a little on edge. Doctor O’Kelley had a hint of urgency and concerned look about him. One that made us incredibly comfortable in his hands but incredibly uncomfortable with what could happen to Kate and Emery. As we were waiting on the ambulance to come, Kate and I sat scared and squished in her hospital bed. We were nervous and anxious. It is the anxious scared feeling you get when you feel like you have no clue what the outcome could be. We started to get more and more tense till we prayed together. We asked God to take care of Kate and our little girl. We then prayed to give over Emery to God. We prayed that he would give us the grace to truly believe and mean that prayer. The sight of seeing the love of your life being strapped down to a stretcher with the bump sticking up of your unborn 30 week and 5 day old unborn child is chilling. The ride went by fast. I was distracted by the driver telling me he was on hour 20 of his 24 hour shift while (not kidding) almost hitting 2 cars. We got to the hospital and met with the high risk doctor.

After another round of tests and a few hours later Doctor Howard told us that it was almost a certainty that Emery would have to be delivered soon. They immediately set forth a game plan. Kate’s blood pressure was rising with elevated liver enzymes. These are the big signs for Preeclampsia. There is no cure for it. If you do not birth the baby it will start having the mother go into seizures and eventually (what would be hours not days in Kate’s case) kill the mother and or child. The only option is to birth the baby. What!!??? This can’t be happening. Wasn’t it just a few days ago Kate and I were talking and discussing how 9 more weeks may not be enough time to have everything prepared?Dr. Howard gave Kate her first shot of Steroids. Our hope was to give 2 dosages 24 hours apart. The steroids would give Emery a jump start in her lungs forming correctly. Babies at 30-31 weeks lungs still are not fully formed and it is hard for them to breathe on their own when they are born. So we were focused on keeping her in there for another 48 hours. Kate was being tested every 3 hours. 12 o’clock came around and her tests were a little worse but okay. 3a.m., same story.

The next tests at 730a.m. took a while for the labs to get back. Dr. Howard and Doctor Hennessey came in to talk with us and explained possible scenarios. The said that we would watch the levels and as soon as the platelet level was much below 100 we would go into delivery. 5 minutes later they came quickly back in the room to tell us it was at 23!!!!! He said they were currently rushing another test of that sample to make sure but it was time.

So roughly around 830a.m. our room turns into a Chinese fire drill. 8 people came into the room which seemed like all at once and started telling us what was going to happen. Words like blood transfusions, vertical c sections with no more vaginal births possible, and general anestithia were flying around the room. If we thought we were overwhelmed before, then that was a puddle and this was the ocean. Scared, frightened, in the dark, nervous, happy, and even a little bit of excitement were all our emotions. We were scared to death, but we were going to be parents so that brought excitement and happiness. I didn’t know those type of emotions mixed. Honestly I thought Kate carried all the emotions in our marriage and I didn’t really have any. The 22nd of July put that to shame. Kate and I were trying to smile at each other and stay positive. Mostly just not have both of us loose it and ball our eyes out with all these people giving us instructions and asking Kate questions.

Since Kate’s blood levels were so bad they could not give her an epidural. She had to go under general anesthesia. This meant I could not go back with her. They wheeled her away and sent that beautiful little scared soon to be mom through the metal doors. They told me I could sit out in the hall and get a quick glimpse of Emery when they were transporting her from the OR to the neonatal intensive care unit. As I waited and worried about my two girls excitement came over me. I don’t remember ever having excitement, and happiness (that I would soon be a dad) mix with total terror and extreme worry (will anything be wrong with my wife or baby). 40 minutes go by with 3 people coming out to ensure me mom and baby are doing good. The door opens and an unfamiliar voice says “Dad, do you want to see her?” I get up and walk through the door to see my new daughter enclosed in an incubator surrounded by 4 people with medical apparatuses for her. They said she was breathing on her own when she was born and even peed on the doctor. That’s my girl! As I focused on her I was overwhelmed by what I saw. This little tiny, tiny thing wrapped in blankets and cloth. They had to pull things away just so I could sneak a 20 second view of her face. A man was using a manual breathing device that he squeezed with his hand. Just as I started to grasp her in my sight and heart they wheeled her off.

Now how was my Kate? They said she was doing fine but it would be another forty minutes till I could see her. I went out to see our familes and my friend. I had snuck a picture with my phone so Kate could see her when she woke up. I was starting to feel a little less freaked out and a little more excited. I got to show off the picture of her and distract myself for more waiting for Kate. Forty minutes went by and I went back to the recovery room. I sat down beside her and watched as she came into consciousness with an excrutiating amount of pain. It looked worse then when she would get terrible migraines. It took her another 45 minutes before she was close to her regular self. We still did not really feel like parents because all we had to show for it at the time was a small picture of our little girl on my phone.

They moved Kate back to our room and put her on some medicine that helped the pain quite a bit. We started taking visitors of family and friends which helped distract our thoughts from focusing on not being able to see our new baby girl. Six very long hours pass and they finally let me go see her. I will refrain from describing her and let the pictures do the talking. She is breathing totally on her own with a very small amount of oxygen going in through the nose. The mix of oxygen they are giving her is actually the same mixture of air we breathe. She is moving around and opening her eyes every so often. She even lets out little yelps of small short cries. When you hold put your finger in her hand most of the time she grabs it. Talk about being an ice cream cone in the dessert. The nurses say she is doing very well but babies born this early are day to day and have to be watched closely. I think we will expect her to be in the incubator for at least 2 weeks. They were saying she will stay in the hospital anywhere between 4 and 8 weeks. Kate is doing very well handling not being able to see her. They still haven’t let her see her because she has to stay put in her bed for monitoring.

When I go visit Emery you can stick your hand through two openings to touch and hold her. The glass box around her actually acts as a great place to rest your head while looking at her. Here are some pics of her and her 3lb 1 ounce body, 16.75 inches long. It is amazing that there would have to be 65 little Emerys to equal 1 of her father. I always saw parents just stare and stare at their child. I thought to myself “I guess it will be different when I have a child but sheesh how can they just sit there and stare? It must get boring.” It is very different. When I am with her I just lay my head against the shield and could stare for hours.

As of Thursday morning Emery is entirely breathing on her own. It is amazing to see her little lungs take such big puffs every once and awhile. The doctors are not specifically concerned about anything other than she is 3 lbs. Kate had a very hard night and is resting up. Hopefully she will be healthy enough today to go see Emery.

More updates to come!!Please feel free email this to anyone who is not on this list that would care to know.

Cliff Notes:Emery was born 9 weeks early. 3 lb 1 ounce. 16 inches tall. Currently no signs of anything wrong. Breathing on her own. Will be in hospital for at least 4-8 weeks. Kate is doing well. She is extremely tired and still in quite a bit of pain. As of right not I would say she is ready to see her daughter for the first time so we are hoping that is coming soon.

Now I am going to steal this from a post that was written by one of the best photographers that I have seen in a while. I went to high school with Jessica Cudzilo, and everyday that I see her pictures I am amazed even more. Her post for Emery's birth is beautiful and amazing and you should head on over to her site to read and see more awesome pictures. The post about Seth, Katie and Emery is called A Giant Small Surprise and was written 8/4/09.

http://503galleries.com/blog/

Here is your sneak peak of the beautiful family of three...

The pictures look better on her site, so hurry on over there...

love always,