Every birth has a story, and here’s Emma Lynne’s!

I had a repeat C section scheduled for 39 weeks. My first pregnancy ended in a nearly 24 hour labor followed by an emergency C section. Read Jett’s birth story here. It was really nice having the C section scheduled so that I could arrange childcare for Jett, have my nails done, get everything packed, and make sure my husband and doctor were in town!

November 20, 2024

We had to check in to the hospital by 5:30am the morning of my scheduled C section. I woke up at 4 something and got ready, did my hair & makeup and we packed up the car to leave for the hospital before the sun was up. I was nervous but excited.

5:30am – I checked in at the front desk of Baylor Frisco and said, “I’m here to have a baby!”

5:30 – 7:15am ish – A nurse walked us up to the L&D floor and I changed into my super cute hospital gown. The nurses placed my IVs and I had to sign some consent forms. It was pretty chill. Spencer scrubbed up, then we had about an hour to wait until it was time to go to the OR. This part was very nerve wracking because we had nothing to do but sit and wait.

7:30am – I walked back to the OR.

With Jett, I was wheeled in on a stretcher, since it was an emergency. It was very surreal walking myself in to the OR. And if you know me, you know I do NOT do well with anything medical – even getting my blood drawn. I did not enjoy getting a good look at everything in the OR and knowing what was about to happen.

I sat down on the table and got the spinal (eeekkk), then they laid me down as everything started to go numb. The anesthesiologist asked me a bunch of questions and it got very busy in the OR. A bunch of people came in and began surgery prep. Spencer talked to me to make sure I was ok, and tried to keep my mind off all the medical prep going on. It was all relatively quick and we were nervous but excited. I couldn’t feel the pain of being sliced open, but it is a weird feeling being awake during a major surgery and feeling tugging when the baby comes out!

7:54am – Baby was born! I had been praying for a peaceful experience and for her to cry right away, and that’s exactly what happened! Thank you Jesus! My anesthesiologist was awesome. She talked to me and reassured me throughout the whole surgery, and took my phone to get a bunch of pictures for us! I got to hold EL while they finished stitching me up, which was amazing – I couldn’t hold Jett right away because I couldn’t feel my arms during my surgery with him.

I wasn’t paying attention, but Spencer recalls the song playing when she was born was “American Girl” by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

I heard the nurses guessing her weight and could not believe she was over 9 lbs! Jett was 8 lb. 11 oz. and I thought she would surely be smaller since she was born a week earlier, I had gained 20 less pounds during my pregnancy, and she’s a girl, but nope! She was 9 lb. 6 oz!

Happy birthday Emma Lynne!

EL’s birth was great! I was conscious in recovery (unlike my first) and soaking up all the newborn snuggles! I felt great and actually had an appetite. I remember wanting to eat chicken minis from Chick-fil-A while I was in recovery, but could only have ice chips. I was eating solid food by dinner time though and didn’t have any issues.

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Jett, my parents, and my brother and SIL came to visit that evening. Jett meeting Emma Lynne was sooo sweet and definitely a highlight! He is the best big brother.

A surprise diagnosis

While Emma Lynne was in the nursery, one of the nurses noticed she had a cleft palate and brought that to our attention. This was a surprise to us, because it was not detected on an ultrasound. Within hours of giving birth, we met with the OT and pediatrician at Baylor who were great. They gave us special bottles and showed us how we would need to feed her a little differently.

EL will need surgery before she turns 1, which no parent wants to go through. But, we have met with an incredible team of doctors and specialists in Dallas – one of which I went to college with at A&M, and we are meeting with our surgeon in a few weeks to learn more. I know we have a big road ahead of us, but we are thankful she is healthy and is not having any issues eating or gaining weight so far! I will share more of our journey later.

The second day…things went downhill

Overnight things took a turn for me. I have a history of hemiplegic migraines that started when I was in high school. I don’t get them often, but when I do they’re really bad. Half my body goes numb, my vision goes out on one side, I can’t read, remember words or speak clearly, and I get a pounding headache and this usually lasts for hours. I get maybe one a year – sometimes a few years in between – so I’m not on any medication since they are so few & far between. I got one in my first trimester that was really scary, but before that it had been a few years.

Well, I had a hemiplegic migraine the night after giving birth in the hospital. The right side of my face and arm went numb and my vision went out. I could only see half of my nurse and I had a really bad migraine. I also had a panic attack overnight. The next morning I had another migraine episode.

After it had passed, I took a shower, which I was really looking forward to after giving birth and sitting in a hospital bed all day. While I was showering I felt myself passing out, so I yelled for Spencer. The next thing I know I had blacked out and woke up with 3 nurses surrounding me. Apparently Spencer had come in and held my head up so I didn’t fall, but I have no memory of that at all. It was really scary 🙁

I was in bed with a migraine most of the day and my doctor ordered an iron transfusion. My blood pressure was super low. It had been low throughout my whole pregnancy, but was dangerously low after giving birth. I did one round of the iron transfusion, then after a visit from the internal medicine doctor they determined I needed a blood transfusion. Initially the nurse placed the IV wrong and the blood was literally going into my body instead of a vein. I’ve never had a blood transfusion before, so I didn’t know what it was going to feel like, but the pain was excruciating. After telling my nurse how much it hurt they finally switched it to my other arm. I got a nasty bruise from that that lasted a few weeks. The blood transfusion took 4 hours and I was finished at 1:00am the following (3rd) day. Spencer was amazing and took care of feeding and taking care of EL since I couldn’t do anything and was in so much pain.

Day 3

By the next morning (day 3) I was feeling a lot better. My parents and Jett came to visit every day and brought us food and coffee ◡̈ Our last night in the hospital we had a celebration dinner of steak & lobster! I do miss ordering room service…the food at the hospital was pretty good! I was able to walk the halls a few times a day, which I’m proud of myself for doing because I was not able to with Jett! This recovery (minus day 2) was a lot better this time around. Still very painful recovering and difficult getting cut open, but knowing more of what to expect and not laboring beforehand definitely helped.

Day 4

We got discharged day 4 and got to go home to start our new chapter as a family of four!

Emma Lynne’s name

We had her name picked out long before we got pregnant with Jett. Lynne was my grandma’s name (my mom’s mom) and I’ve always thought southern double names were sweet. We thought Emma sounded good with Lynne, and call her “EL” (pronounced “Elle”) for short.

My grandmother was creative (quite literally an artist an owned an art gallery), generous, and devoted. I hope Emma Lynne can follow her legacy.

Spencer & I talked about having another child at the beginning of 2024, and got pregnant on our first try which I know is not the case for a lot of people. We both had been praying for a girl, although any baby would be a blessing of course, but God honored our desire for a girl and we are so in love with her!

We are overjoyed with our sweet baby girl and this answer to prayer. She has been an easy baby so far and so so sweet!

“Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.” Psalm 127:3-4

Link to name sign