Emery Joy Ramer

Emery (Emmy) Joy Ramer was born on March 12, 2023, at 6:08 p.m. She weighed in at 7lbs 15oz and measured 20 1/8”. She was born via planned cesarean section “c-section.” I, Greg, was allowed to be in the room with Julie during the procedure. Julie was an absolute champ during the surgery. The c-section went as routinely as it is supposed to, and Emmy was born roughly 10-15 mins after the procedure began.

The wonderful staff helping Emmy to take her first breathes on her own.

The nurses and technicians took Emmy to their delivery station to check her out and ensure she was doing well. The station was straight off of my right shoulder, so I could easily see and, more or less, hear what was going on. Within a minute, I could tell something was not wholly right with Emmy, and they were working on getting her to do something. She cried a little when she was born, but it wasn’t very loud, and it was a short burst of cries.

Having been in the room when both my other girls were born, this lack of noise was not normal in my previous experience. Watching them work on Emmy, I could see them massaging her stomach and chest and encouraging her to breathe.

I had been holding/rubbing Julie’s right arm during the c-section and can remember just staring at my hand on her arm while I prayed for Emmy to cry out and let us know that she was breathing well. I kept looking over at Emmy and saw they were putting what looked like an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose to help her breathe. One of the nurses came over to me and explained they were sucking fluid out of her lungs from the delivery as well as giving her oxygen. Because of those two things, her cries would be muffled. She could tell that I was anxious because my “eyes were like saucers,” she told me.

They reassured us that Emmy was okay. She just needed some help breathing. I could hear the primary person working on Emmy say that he wanted to give her a few more minutes before he decides to take her and work on her in a different place. They were able to get her to breathe better slowly but were still concerned enough to need to take her to the NICU. They told us that her stay in the NICU would more than likely be a “transition” time and that she probably would not need to be admitted to the NICU.

As it became clear that Emmy was going to need to be taken to the NICU, Julie and I agreed that I would go with Emmy and Julie would be okay alone in recovery. As Emmy and I were preparing to leave, one of the nurses made sure that Julie could see and kiss Emmy before we went up to the NICU. That was a kind and special gesture for the nurse as Julie was not able to see Emmy from her position and was getting updates from me, who did not completely know what was going on either.

The first of a lifetime of snuggles between these two!

Riding in style to the NICU!

I followed Emmy and her nurses through the maze of hallways, doors, and an elevator to the second-floor NICU. Once in Emmy’s room, I sat on the couch and watched as multiple nurses and staff tended to Emmy and got her settled into her new home for the next few hours. At this point, I had no idea if I am able to touch her or let alone stay in the room once the staff left.

The staff reassured me that I had 24/7 access to Emmy and could hold her as much as I wanted. I was very thankful to hear that and waited patiently as they hooked Emmy up to all of the various monitoring devices she would have on her for the foreseeable future.

Once she was settled and had a chance to rest, I held her for the first time! I was already in love with her, but holding her in my arms and kissing her forehead and plump cheeks, deepened that love for her.

Baby Emmy was well monitored with several leads connected to her as well as her nose cannula.

The only thing missing was mommy being here to hold her, but I know that moment would come soon enough. Mommy was resting in recovery and would be in her room shortly. Once she was settled, I would be able to bring her down to see Emmy, and then she would be able to get some real snuggles!

Initially, Emmy’s nurse said they wanted to monitor her for a few hours and that she was technically not admitted to the NICU but was just in “transition,” which is done in the NICU. They were hopeful Emmy would be stable enough to be released into Julie’s room in a couple of hours. They said that if Emmy needed to be in the transition longer than 6 hours, then she would be formally admitted to the NICU.

Those six hours came and went, and Emmy was officially a NICU patient. Their biggest concern for her was that she could not maintain her oxygen levels on her own. When she breathes on her own, her O2 levels fall below 90%. They want her to be between 95%-100%. For the time being, Emmy would need to have oxygen blown into her lungs through the nasal cannula she was wearing.

While all of the monitoring devices made it harder for us to hold her, we were beyond thankful they were on her to monitor and keep her safe. We knew that in time, each of those devices would come off and we would be able to hold her with no wires getting in the way.