Emberly Marie

Here I am on my due date.



And here I am after they broke my water. I told Michael I didn't even feel pregnant anymore because it was so much lighter and smaller than before. He pointed out that I still looked very pregnant.



And here is Emberly Marie Whitley. She was born at 11:57 am April 5th, 2007. She weighed eleven pounds four ounces and measured twenty one and a quarter inches long. It was three and a half hours of natural labor, an hour of which was pushing. The only complication was classic shoulder distocia, which was scary at the time, but everything turned out okay once she was out.



Things have been very smooth since then. Emberly is our best newborn yet (I don't say baby because we are still waiting for the other shoe to drop). She sleeps two to three hours at a time at night and rarely cries (actually, it's probably a normal amount of crying, but just feels like nothing to us). My stitches are healing at a remarkable rate (was able to walk around the post partum floor 24 hours after delivering). Nursing is interesting, messy, and somewhat awkward, but not overwhelming now that the soreness is starting to go away. I've lost all but 4 pounds of my pregnancy weight (half of which was the baby, placenta, and amniotic fluid). Ansley and Hailey are adjusting to their new roles rather well, and Michael and I are actually getting at least the minimum amount of sleep needed to function (we could always use more, but we're not zombies). Overall, it's been our best newborn experience yet.