Emma June

We sure love Emma June and can't get enough of her baby snuggles and blanket snuggles.

Park Stop

Our first outing was to the park. We were all going a little stir crazy and were definitely ready to get out of the house. I am just thankful that Arizona winters cooperate and we can go outside and play. 

Baby Emma Comes Home.

After some tears and promising, they let baby Emma come home. She was a little jaundice so they were going to make us schedule an appointment with the pediatrician before they would discharge us. But they didn't tell us this until after the pediatrician's office was closed. Luckily, they trusted us when I promised I would take her first thing in the morning. We were greeted at home by some very excited big siblings. The next morning we headed to get her little heals pricked. She was not a fan, but I was because her bilirubin levels dropped and we were in the clear!

Meeting Emma June

After the kangaroo hour and the epidural wore off, they moved us to the recovery room. We were anxious for Emma to meet her siblings and couldn't wait for them to come visit. The first meeting did not disappoint. Henry claimed Emma as his and wanted to hold her the most. Iva and Charlie both held her. 

I still can't believe these are our kids.

  

Baby Emma got a present for each of the kids. Iva didn't fall for it and said babies can't get presents. I told her Emma whispered to me what to get and Iva said babies don't whisper. There is no tricking that girl, but she was happy with her new kitty and dinosaur. 

 

Emma June Catmull

 

Born January 22, 2017 at 2:31 pm.

Height: 20 inches

Weight: 7 lbs 10 oz

A little back story first. I was called to serve as the Primary president in our new ward. Shortly after I was called to serve, my OBGYN, Dr Erickson, was called to be the second counselor in the Bishopric- the counselor over primary. We have gotten to know Dr Erickson through serving together in church. And what a blessing it turned out to be- even though I thought it was going to be so weird and awkward.

Dr Erickson found out that Shawn was going to be leaving for the month the last Sunday of January, the 29th. Dr Erickson thought it would be good for Shawn to be home with the baby (and me) for a week before he left for his rotation in Kingman. Dr Erickson scheduled us for an induction Sunday the 22nd at 930 am. (He did not think I would make it to Sunday so it was more of a just in case you do.) Well, I did.

We got to the hospital at 9:30 am. (Grandma and Grandpa Catmull came and held down the fort for us while we were at the hospital. And the kids still are missing them and asking if they are in the shower when they can't find them.) Having a 9:30 Sunday morning induction is apparently a very uncommon thing. We checked in and headed to the labor room. A nurse came in and said "Did you talk to Dr Erickson about this induction? We don't think he will be here. He doesn't come in on Sundays." Shawn said, "Yep, he scheduled it for us and chose today." The nurse was shocked and then said, "You must be a family friend?" We got to explain to her we went to church with Dr Erickson, Shawn was leaving, etc. and she became the nicest nurse ever. She even called in a different nurse to do my IV because the other nurse was the best. (The other nurse missed the first time and ended up having to do it twice anyways.)


We got all hooked up and set up. At check in, I was dilated to almost a five so they decided to wait to start pitocin until after Dr Erickson stopped by on his way to church to check me and break my water. Our goal was to deliver after 2 o'clock church around 230 so they didn't want to start it too soon. Dr Erickson came in at 1030 and broke my water and headed to church. I knew I wanted an epidural early because the last two pregnancies were so fast. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural. It turned out Shawn knew him from his surgery rotation he had done at the hospital. I seriously felt nothing. Shawn and I watched a movie while Shawn studied for his shelf exam. They did a small dose of pitocin, but held off on anymore because after breaking my water, my body did its own thing. I started to feel a little uncomfortable at 2. The nurse (we had a nurse change at this point because the other one had to help with an emergency c section) checked me and immediately said that she was going to call Dr Erickson. About 20 minutes later Dr Erickson came running in. He said, "two pushes and baby will be here." Sure enough two and a half pushes later and he was holding up a baby for me to see the gender. My guess for delivery time was 230 and Emma was born at 231. Dr Erickson said it was perfect timing because he finished up all of church and got to hand off tithing duties to Bro Burnett.

The nursery nurses didn't make it in time to the delivery. It was just my nurse and Dr Erickson. He helped the nurse do the apgar test, wipe the baby down, weigh her, and then he brought Emma to me while the nurse cleaned me up and got me taken care of. It was a neat experience to have such a hands on doctor who we knew. (Dr Erickson delivered Henry, but that was before the ward boundary changes and we didn't know him.) The nurse seemed really frustrated when the nursery nurses finally arrived and made some snarky comments to them about being all alone and Dr Erickson was there special for this delivery. Shawn and I had a good chuckle about it later. We felt like VIPs.

A couple things were different this time... 1. They no longer bathe the baby until 6-8 hours later. I was not a big fan of that. I ended up with sticky, white stuff all over me and nursing Emma was a different experience. 2. They, also, made kangaroo hour mandatory. I completely get it, but really wanted Shawn to have a chance to hold her. And they didn't put a diaper on her for that hour.

Zoo Days

We had one last family outing to the zoo before Emma was born. I was hoping to walk her out, but that didn't work. I think my kids would live at the zoo if we let them.

 

SunBEAM

We thought Charlie would be so excited to be sunBEAM and in primary with Iva and I, but we were wrong. He cried and was not a fan. He kept saying he wanted to go to nursery with Henry. They really do have the best nursery leader so I don't blame him. Eventually he settled down and cuddled on Sis Fields' lap. It is a good thing he is so cute.