Day 5

It's Monday. I think. It's all a little blurry right now, but I'm pretty sure it's Monday.

Everyone here is good... good and tired. Emma is sleeping a lot, eating a lot and pooping a lot. Braden is still doing his usual stuff. Mom is sleeping a little, eating a little and feeding a lot. Dad is sleeping a little, trying to clean a little and changing diapers a lot.

We did have a scare Saturday night. Emma spit up a mouthful of blood, so we rushed off to the ER. After we got there, I started wondering if it could be coming from Kathie's nipples (yeah, it's ok to talk about Kathie's nipples in the context of breast feeding... at least I hope it is.) Sure enough, the doctor told us the most common cause of that is either bleeding nipples or blood left in the system from birth. You'd think they'd tell you about that in at least one of our books or before we left the hospital. We did set a new record for getting to the ER that night and thank goodness Grandma and Grandpa were still here to put Braden to bed. For that matter, thank goodnes for everything they did for us while they were here! It would have been next to impossible without them!

Emma is back to 6 lbs, 1 oz today. Her bilirubin levels are up to 14, but they don't seem worried. We have another blood test tomorrow to make sure they aren't getting up around that dangerous level of 20.

Otherwise everything is going great! She's a great eater, and even better pooper and a good sleeper, even if she seems to think the afternoon is really night time. Then again, she was born at 9 PM, so maybe that makes sense.

Braden has adjusted very well. He's even helping change her, bringing me diapers and wipes. He is even starting to 'cuddle' with her on his bed.

Oh, and Braden went out and played in the snow for the first time today. That is if you consider dad pulling him in the sled for 45 minutes playing. He did walk around a little and took a header off the deck landing face first in the snow. He was both laughing and crying after that... but mostly crying. His favorite snow game is running into snow drifts with the sled. He almost flies out of the sled, but it's the funnest thing in the world!

Here she is...

Pictures! There are more up on our picture site, but here's a teaser.

Everyone is doing well, but we're all a little tired. Braden just left. He was a little unsure of what was going on, but had fun walking around the hospital hallways with mom. He also knows where the baby is and was able to find her nose and ears. I think the first visit went pretty well.

Emma Victoria Ehlke

Welcome to the world, Emma Victoria Ehlke. Born 8:59 PM, January 10, 2007. 6 lbs, 9.5 oz, 17.5 inches.

Mother and baby are both doing well!

Since the contractions were not going away and we were pretty far along, the doctors recommended we have the c-section. 15 minutes later we were heading to the OR. 45 minutes after that, Braden became a big brother. I don't think he knows yet though.

And while technology is cool, I'm an idiot and forgot to bring the cable to hook the camera up to the PC. So... sorry... no pictures yet. I'll have Grandma grab all the cables in the house tomorrow so I can upload them.

Now I'm going to try and get some rest... I hear you don't get much with two kids.

Hello from Waukesha Memorial Hospital

They have a free wireless network here at the hospital! Cool, eh?

Oh, yeah, I suppose you're wondering why we're here. Kathie started having contractions this morning. So here we are. They are trying to slow down the contractions as she is still only 3 cm's dilated and it's a little too soon. I was wrong earlier... we're at 36 weeks 5 days... which is not 37 weeks. So they want us to wait as long as we can.

It's 6 PM and they told us the doctor would be in a little while later to take a look at how things are going and make a decision on whether we go in for the c-section tonight or not. We're a little dissapointed as our doctor isn't available, but I'm sure the on call doctor is fine (even if he looks like he's 12).

Kathie is resting as comfortably as she can. The contractions are still pretty steady and about 4 minutes apart. She's very hungry though, as she can't eat.

Braden is home with Grandma, hopefully behaving himself.

We'll keep everyone up to date as soon as we can. I just realized that I'll be able to have a picture of the new baby up within hours of the birth for everyone to see! Technology is so cool!

16 Days

Yes, we're down to 16 days. Well, we hope it's only 16 days. Ok, that's not really accurate either. There are 16 days left until the scheduled c-section. We wish there were more than 16 days so we can make sure we're ready. Kathie also wishes she could get this done, as this baby has been naughty and is causing her a lot of difficulties. Braden... well... Braden loves playing with all the baby stuff we got out of storage; All the stuff that he hardly played with when he was a baby.

The baby's room is almost ready. The car seat is installed. The swing is setup. The curtains are up. The bedding is on the crib. We're doing pretty well.

Which is good, since Kathie is already 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. If you don't know what that means, I'm not explaining it. Our doctor said she's on call this weekend. So, who knows... it could be any day. We're at 37 weeks, so the baby is full term. So she's probably ready... even if we're not!

Happy New Year!

Do you think 'Happy New Year' is the current most common blog title in blog land? Or 'Ow, my head hurts?'

Welcome to what promises to be a very busy year for the Ehlke family! For those keeping track, we're down to 24 days and counting to the arrival of Emma. Yes. Emma seems to be the final choice unless someone swoops in with a really awesome name we haven't thought of yet.

We already took down and put away the Christmas decorations. Braden was quite confused as to where the tree went, since we took it down while he was napping. We even got up the infant 'toys' we stored, including the swing, the bouncers and the car seat. Now we're setting up Emma's room. Over all, I think we're doing quite well and should be prepared by the time the 26th roles around.

If only we could store up some sleep!