She's so cute it hurts!

Our friend Christina said this when she came over to visit Emsley! And boy is it true. Our little girl gets cuter every day and we fall more in love with her. We have had so many visitors and been absolutely loved on. We now know what her cues are for wanting to eat, going poo, and when she wants to be held. She has already started eating 1 more ounce of formula...our girl is growing so much. She has fuller cheeks and even stays awake without being fussy so we enjoy her beautiful eyes more.

I thought it was about time to share her birth story...

On Saturday the 16th, Amy called me at like 11:45 pm and let me know that she was headed to the hospital because she was having signs of preeclampsia (headache, blurry vision, and high blood pressure). After texting through the night and letting us know she was waiting most the night, we got a text from her at like 7 in the morning saying that they decided to admit her to the hospital and they were going to induce her. We got ready (didn't even feel rushed!) and headed to Loma Linda to watch our daughter be born.

We were at the hospital in her room for over 12 hours before the baby was born. During that time, we just hung out with her, played cards, talked, shared funny stories. All the while, Amy was having pretty regular contractions but didn't even feel them. She is the toughest woman I have ever known. It wasn't until about 6pm that she started hard labor. She was feeling the contractions and was definitely feeling this little girl moving into position. She got her epidural and her water finally broke and then the pushing started. Mike and I were able to be in the room for the birth. Mike took a place in the room that where he couldn't really see much but I got the full view. At around 11 pm, the doctors realized that the baby was sunny side up and was having a hard time coming down the canal and with each push, her heart rate was dropping. They decided that they would need to suction her out so that she didn't have any complications. Once they brought the whole team in, they let Amy do one more big push and it was at 11:59 pm that Emsley Breanne made her grand entrance into the world! They looked at the group of us with Amy and asked who would cut the cord...Amy looked at me and told me to go for it. It was such a beautiful experience getting to not only be there as my daughter was born but to also be such an important part of it as well.

They wisked Emsley over so the NICU team could look at her...her color wasn't great and was a little floppy but within a couple minutes she perked up and gave her a bath. That night feels like a blur but yet I cannot forgot the emotions and events that transpired. We took Emsley to the nursery and finally got to our own room to rest at 4:30am. It was a rough night, Emsley probably had a headache...birth is an absolutely traumatizing time for a baby. People always assume that it is hard for the mother but I saw it all from a different perspective this time. I had an emotional morning (I will write about my experience with adoption post partum another time).

On the 18th we were able to visit Amy and just hang out. She held her daughter and we just hung out. Like friends, which is exactly how I would describe our relationship with this amazing woman. After a great time with her and her mom that afternoon, we took a nap with little Emsley and came back later. We left the baby with Amy and our adoption coordinator Michelle and grabbed everyone Claim Jumper (Amy's request!) and brought it back to enjoy together. It was a celebration dinner. We gave Amy the gifts we got her...a recipe book for her culinary aspirations, some bath goodies for relaxing, and an engraved jewelry box with a bracelet. The bracelet had a heart pendant that we engraved Emsley Breanne on one side and "a gift from above" on the other (that is what Emsley means). Amy cried and hopefully she got a tiny glimpse of how much we love and appreciate her for what a gift she gave to us. Amy went around the room and shared how she was feeling and how God just has given her such a sense of peace and led her to this decision. It was AMAZING!

We left the next morning and let Amy hold her one more time and we all left the hospital together. It was so hard to leave Amy...I told her we are not saying goodbye but merely saying see you later (which now seems cliche but oh well!) We miss her often and love that. It means that God worked something absolutely beautiful in this relationship and will continue to bless it in the future.

Now Emsley is 10 days old and as of this past Monday at 5pm, Amy's rights were officially terminated and she is ours. No one will come and take her away from us. Our daughter. Wow...