Introducing Emilia Wilkie Petrovic

Our sweet baby girl is here! It truly feels like yesterday that I was penning Isla’s birth story, and I still am pinching myself that our second daughter is now at home with us (and her due date isn’t until Friday!). As corny as it sounds, I really did worry that I wouldn’t be able to love another baby as much as I did Isla, but ohmygosh, once that baby is in your arms, that fear dissipates. And now that we’re at home as a complete family unit, my heart keeps growing and growing. We are so, so in love with this teensy tiny baby. I wanted to write down Emi’s birth story before forgetting any details, so here we go!

On Saturday, January 28th, I woke up feeling very nauseous. Sasha and Isla ate breakfast without me, which we never do, then I rolled out of bed at 8am and had a bowl of cereal. When we left to walk Belle at 9:30, I commented to Sasha that I hadn’t felt Emi kick so far, which was rare, given her typical hourly somersaults. Around lunchtime, I had felt her move once, so I wasn’t in full-blown panic mode, but I didn’t feel great about it either. I decided to go and get a foot massage, as Emi typically goes wild when I’m laying down and getting massaged (especially a reflexology one!). Halfway through the massage, I felt one big kick, which was again reassuring, but still strange to only feel one. I got home around 3pm, as Sasha was about to leave for a bike ride. I told him I was going to shower and get ready, and that if, by the time he got home, she still hadn’t moved more, I was going to call my doctor. I bathed, then ate some TCBY frozen yogurt and had some juice, then laid on the couch with Isla, waiting for movement, but felt none. When he got home at 4:30pm, I called my doctor and they told me to go to the L&D ER to get checked out. The hospital is so close to our house (literally five minutes away), so I went by myself and Sasha watched Isla (he was on high alert!). They strapped me up to a million monitoring machines, then brought in the ultrasound and checked out baby girl’s positioning, fluid levels, etc. She wasn’t moving a lot on the monitor either, but all levels were healthy, which was good news. I was having steady contractions every five minutes, and after they were done checking everything, they gave me the option to go home and wait for the contractions to get closer together or just stay here and get induced (I was only 1 cm dilated). They recommended the latter, given the few movements, and I decided to do that. By the time I got moved to Labor & Delivery and strapped up to the new monitors, my contractions were happening every 2-3 minutes apart – I couldn’t believe it, but I was actually in labor! They checked my dilation, and I was already 2cm. After two hours, my parents had arrived at our house and Sasha headed to the hospital (my amazing sister brought me dinner, as I had a cutoff time for eating!). At midnight, I wasn’t dilated further, so they gave me Cervadill to help speed up the process. It was awful! But it did the job – after laboring throughout the night with contractions 2-3 minute apart, I got an epidural (conveniently during the match point of the Australian Open Men’s Final, so both my husband and anesthesiologist were very distracted!), and quickly moved from 2cm to 4, then 5-6, then 7-8, and then 9. The nurse told me that we would be pushing very soon, and I should call her if I felt the baby’s head (or that I needed to poop, as that would be the baby too!). We could not believe it was happening so quickly. I progressed to a 10 just minutes later, and the “pit crew” (as Sasha calls them) appeared in our room, ready to get baby Emi out. I pushed through 3 contractions (about 5-6 minutes), and voila – she was in my arms (all covered in yummy vernix!) at 10:29am. Almost a whole pound bigger than her sister, she weighed 7 pounds and 9 ounces and was 19 inches long (versus Isla’s 20.5). They look like identical twins, despite Emi’s extra chunky cheeks, which I already love squeezing!

We did skin-to-skin for an hour and she nursed like a champ, then they cleaned her off, gave her to Sasha and prepared our move downstairs. Just two hours later, Isla met her baby sister for the first time, and I seriously melted. She was so sweet with her and excited to give her the teddy bear she had stuffed the weekend before. We had a stream of family come and visit after, and by 8pm we were exhausted and went to bed. We requested early discharge, and ended up leaving the hospital around 1pm the next day (just 27 hours after delivery).

We have been home for two days now and are loving life as a family of four (or five, if you include Belle!). Emi wants to sleep all day long – she has stayed awake during maybe one feeding, which seems like the best problem ever, except for the fact I’m very engorged and have many clogged breast ducts (I’m pumping right now as I type!). But I would definitely take this over a baby who was awake and crying all day long! She is the sweetest little lady already – way calmer than her wild older sister was at this age!

We are so grateful for all of the loving calls, texts and messages we’ve received from family and friends. Thank you, thank you, thank you! xoxo

   One hour old – that squishy face kills me!     

PS This Bebe au Lait ‘To the Moon and Back’ blanket is my favorite!!