The Wiggers Family

If you click on the title of this post you will be linked to our facebook photo album of Emma Caroline and our family.

Emma Caroline Wiggers

Born 12/11/09 at 2:42 am

6 lbs 14 oz

20 inches long

The Delivery Story - I went in for a routine OB exam on Thursday afternoon at 2pm. An ultrasound was also scheduled and a possible amniocentesis for fetal lung maturity. We were thinking of possibly inducing the next day (37 weeks) if the lungs were mature. The ultrasound tech reported to the doctor that the baby was very active and maybe we should postpone the amnio due to the baby bumping into the needle. I was then moved to the non-stress test room and hooked up to the monitor. After 20 minutes the heart rate looked good and the nurse unhooked me from the machine and I started to get out of the chair. I had a couple of hard contractions and walked to the exam room. While waiting for the doctor I had five more hard contractions. The doctor checked me and I was 3cm dilated and she thought I might deliver the baby that night but at least by the weekend. Just in case, we scheduled an amnio and induction for the next Tuesday. I drove home and contracted the entire way home. Once arriving home, I mentioned to Marcel (who was out splitting wood so we could keep our house nice and toasty with a new baby on the way) that I was contracting all the way home and it might be THE NIGHT. I went inside the house and began packing my hospital bag and getting ready to head to the hospital. We were to attend a Christmas concert that night so we went ahead as planned and got the family all ready for the concert. We packed the boys bags to go to Grandma and Grandpa's just in case they would need to spend the night there. Upon arriving at the concert the contractions were uncomfortable enough to just drop the boys off and head to the hospital.

The L&D nurse ushered us into the triage room. This is the room where we were told 2 years ago that little Hans' heart had stopped inside of me and it was all I could do to keep from running out of there. I was so excited about getting on with this delivery that I hoped they would say I was very dilated, but no still 3 cm. The nurse gave us three options: we could stay hooked up to the monitor, go walking to get things going better, or head home. I thought going out in the freezing cold night for a refreshing walk sounded like the best option, so we bundled up and headed out. Contractions continued but did not really get closer together. When they got more painful we headed back to L&D. The nurse checked me again and said I was still 3cm. My doctor came into the exam room and did her own exam and said she would be admitting me and that I was almost 4cm dilated. I'm pretty sure she did some good stretching to call it 4cm. She didn't feel comfortable sending me home, but asked that I do lots of pelvic rocking, use the birthing ball, and soak in the jacuzzi tub. Dr. Medley was not on call but said she would be staying at the hospital that night just to be there for me. After she left the room she entered just a few minutes later announcing that she wanted to break my water to get the show on the road. I was a bit nervous about this but wanted to hold my little girl in my arms just as soon as possible so I was willing. This got contractions coming more frequently and more intensely. After soaking in the tub for about an hour I requested an epidural. The nurse anesthetist was paged from home and arrived in my room 1 hour after being paged. Boy, that was a tough hour after already deciding I wanted pain relief and it wasn't coming quick enough. I almost felt as if it might be time to push but I didn't tell anyone as I wanted that epidural so badly. I had Marcel call my mom and cousin to start driving to the hospital so they could see the delivery. Immediately after the epidural was placed I asked the nurse to check me. She felt I was at 9 1/2 cm and called the doctor immediately for delivery. I wish I could say the epidural was really working by this time but it was just taking the edge off the pain. The doctor arrived and said the nurse must have being feeling something else because she felt I was only 6cm dilated. She said, "Oh, don't worry. I'll use some old midwife tricks and this baby will be born soon." I think she stretched the cervix at each contraction and also used massage oil to help while I pushed. One hour after getting the epidural at 2:42am little Emma Caroline was born with just 12 minutes of pushing. My strength was almost used up once it was time to push and I remember shouting, "I just can't do it anymore. Why did God create us to do it this way?" Emma was placed on my chest and then the heavy load that I had been carrying for the last two years began to melt away. My baby, Emma, was alive and in my arms. Finally, we had had a successful delivery without complications. This is the way it was suppose to be every time! I"m so grateful I was able to experience a beautiful birthing experience with the prize being placed in my arms at the end. What a gift from above. Thank you Jesus!

Emma breastfeed the first hour of life and then snuggled in for the rest of the night. I'd never had this opportunity before with my new little one as the other two had been rushed off to NICU. A couple hours after birth Emma began a bit of grunting and I called in the nurse who detected a bit of chest retracting and nasal flaring. The pediatrician ordered a chest x-ray and found a bit of cloudiness showing up in the bottom of one lung. He consulted with the NICU in the next town and they suggested blood cultures, CBC, and begin two kinds of antibiotics. During the next two days the grunting went away and all tests came back just fine, so the antibiotics were stopped. Everyone was just being overly cautious due to our previous delivery experiences. We left L&D Sunday afternoon with big, huge smiles on our faces. We were taking our beautiful, healthy baby girl home with us. What a blessing.

We had picked her name out before even looking at the meanings of the names. What a surprise to find out that Emma = complete, whole and Caroline = joy, song of happiness. She has brought complete joy to our home this holiday season and we are grateful to our Heavenly Father for our little girl.