The Shock family's latest addition!

Nick, Jada, Aubryn, Keirah, and Leif joyfully announce the arrival of their new daughter/baby sister!!  Emry Braylin Shock was born on Tuesday, September 23rd at 5:30 a.m.

She weighed in at 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 19" long, the smallest of all the Shock babies. :)
She is beautiful and looks a whole lot like her Momma!  Oh, by the way, this is Aunt Kyla speaking.  I thought I'd help out my very busy, super-mom sister!  

Little Emry is healthy and strong, but upon her arrival came the discovery that she has a cleft palate.  Here's the story from Jada's email sent Wednesday the 24th...

"Hi friends and family~ We wanted to send out an email with some of the details that many of you are asking about on the delivery and birth of our sweet baby Emry!  We came in Monday night at 8:30 pm for the beginning of our "induction" which I was not very excited about to say the least.  They inserted a cervix cream at 9:30 and by 10:30 or 11, I was in labor!!! Yeah! I had really prayed to go into labor on my own and was hoping the cervidel was all I would have to have.  I started progressing pretty quickly so they took the cervidel out at about 3 am.  I was at a 5-6 at about 5 am and was very discouraged b/c I knew I was not going to make it much longer on my pain tolerance.  She was born at 5:30!!  The doctor walked in after the baby had already crowned... it was all so fast.  Praise God!!!  I feel great today- just tired from loosing a night's sleep Monday and sleeping little since. Ok, so the rest of the story is... Emry has a cleft palate.  We didn't realize this immediately, but the pediatrician came in and told us at about 9 am.  She had not nursed well at delivery and had acted frustrated about trying to swallow.  We thought that maybe her tongue needed clipped, but had not suspected the pallet.  We then had a whirlwind of emotion, questions, and specialists in our room.  There is a specialists from Dell Children's hospital that met with us today and explained that it is a genetic disorder that occurred at about 12 wks gestation.  We don't know of any cleft palates in either of our families.  The palate can be corrected at about 1 year of age and this will protect the facial features that are still developing from being altered.  Some say that it can be repaired around 6 months, but most agree on 1 year.  We will look into this.  The #1 effect right now is that I will not be able to nurse her.  She is physically incapable of sucking and taking in enough nutrients by breast.  I will be pumping about 8 times a day, for 15-20 minuets, and then feeding her by a special bottle that I can squeeze into her mouth to help her take in milk.  Her chin is recessed a little and this too offers challenges.  It makes her tongue set back in her mouth a little and blocks her throat making swallowing hard. Funny how that she has to be on her tummy (a big no no around here :)  The gravity of it makes it easier for her to breath and helps her not to choke on her tongue and saliva.  She will learn how to swallow better on her own, but right now with excess saliva, mucus and milk, feeding has been hard.  Emry is in the NICU where she might be for up to a couple of weeks.  She is loosing oxygen levels when she tries to eat to the point that she is now on oxygen through the nose.   She is a trooper and did well at her last feeding.  We are having to learn how to feed her sitting completely upright to allow the best airways possible for her. I am doing ok, but it has been a very hard two days.  I am tired and very emotional.  Most of my grieving is over not being able to nurse and the fact that I'm not going to be able to take her home with us. No one else other than Nick, myself and our parents can even see Emry while she is in NICU.  This makes me so sad for our other children who so much want to be around her.  The job of keeping by milk pumped and then getting it here to the hospital, coming to spend time with her, mothering our other 3 and homeschooling Aubryn seems impossible to me right now.  I am overwhelmed right now, but trusting the Lord for His grace and strength to be mommy to Emry.  He has entrusted us with a precious gift and we are truly thankful.  We know that she is fearfully and wonderfully made and that God was not surprised by her situation.  Please pray for God to sustain her oxygen levels especially during feedings so that she may go home soon.  We love you all and are thankful for your prayers." Blessings, Jada

Well, a lot of good things have happened since Jada wrote that email!  Despite the obvious disappointment of Emry not being home yet, we all got to spend some good family time at the Shock's house and celebrate mom's 50th b-day at the Main St. Grill.  It was fun to all be together and help out in any way that we could.  

God is so faithful!!  Emry exceeded the doctors' expectations with her eating and breathing and was able to come home this past Tuesday morning, Sept. 30th!  She will be connected to a monitor for (maybe) 2 weeks just to be able to document her breathing and to give us and the doctors a peace of mind.  We are praying that she does so well in the first week home that they can get rid of the thing and be wire free!  She is getting stronger and more able to control the placement of her tongue, and is really loving to eat from her special bottle.  You can see from the pictures that she's already getting a double-chin!

The kids were soooo excited about meeting their baby sister!  Leif was the lucky one and got to hold her first.  He was happy.
Then, it was Aubryn's turn and Momma took his baby away... he was not happy.  In fact, we think it was at this point that he realized he is no longer the baby and took a moment to grieve.....for the next several hours. :)
Aubryn also could not wait to hold Emry!  She is a pro now at being a big sister.
Emry is looking at her future baby-sitter, advice-giver, and chauffeur. 
Keirah was so excited about her baby sister coming home she almost couldn't stand it!  She FINALLY got to hold her and did such a good job.  
She loved putting her finger down the center of Emry's pacifier and feeling her try to suck on it.  Keirah is going to be such a fun big sister to Emry!
Aubryn and Keirah decided to go in for a kiss at the same time. :)
Family picture time!  Poor Leif. 
Okay, one more time.  That's a little better!  - I'm sure we'll be posting more pictures and updates soon.  Until next time, keep little Emry and the rest of the Shock family in your prayers!