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Henry said:
It depends who you ask. The guys who wrote the notes in the NIV study Bible (which I used to read) think that it refers initially to Isaiah's child. They speculate that his first wife died in childbirth, and that "the virgin" is the same as "the prophetess" in 8:3, who is his second wife. Emmanuel would then find it's initial fulfillment in Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.

Others think it refers initially to Hezekiah, Ahaz' son, who would be free of the vices which gripped his father, and would turn the nation back to the Lord. In both these cases, they would be an example of the "already-but-not-yet" principal, i.e. something is fulfilled initially as a type, with the fuller fulfillment coming later, in this case, in the person of Jesus Christ.

Then others reject both of these interpretations, and say it applied directly to Christ. They'll cite, for example, that Hezekiah was 9 or something already by the time this prophecy was made, etc. etc.

I'm not sure exactly where I stand.
Agreed and it is not only the NIV that makes this claim. While we really do not know the child (Isa 8, makes the most sense to me) we do know it was a SIGN for that TIME. Yes, it was also prophetic in that it looked forward to Christ, however IMO we lose much of what Matthew means if we do not look at this verse in its OT context.

In the OT context we understand (1) this was during the Assyrian Judgment and Israel/Judah was being judged (2) a sign of judgment would be given and this sign was directed at Ahaz (3) the sign was a child born of a virgin.... (4) Immanuel is a Holy War term. The name was symbolic in that the child would symbolize God's willingness to accompany Judah in battle against Syria, Israel, and Assyria. God offered to protect Judah, however they rejected the offer. Thus the Immanuel child born later would display the folly of rejecting God's gracious offer. Now, Matthew 1:23 should begin to be better understood...... especially in light of what happens in Matt 2 with Herod, etc.

Reformed and Always Reforming,