Emeline's Story

I started having real contractions about a week before Emeline was born. They would come every evening and be about fifteen minutes apart for about five hours. I would go to sleep, hoping to wake up in labor, but every morning I woke up to nothing. On Thursday, the 16th, I took the kids to Walmart to buy some water noodles and when I got home, I started having some cramping. By dinner time, I started having some consistent contractions. We had dinner over at our friends' house and on the way home, at around 9:00 PM, they started to get pretty intense. I think it was the car ride that pushed them over the edge.

We got home, put the boys to bed, and hunkered down for a long night of labor. I was thinking that I would be able to sleep in between the contractions but they were so strong and spaced quite randomly that I didn't sleep at all. I wanted to wait until they were consistently five minutes apart for an hour before we went to the hospital but by around 2:30 AM they hurt so bad that I knew we had to go to the hospital right away. By then they were happening about every five to ten minutes apart. I was so nervous that they weren't consistent but I told David to call our good friend Shelley to come stay with the boys so we could go. She got to our house about twenty minutes later and by then they were a consistent three minutes apart. I was a bit freaked out and David ran several red lights and pushed about 90 mph on the highway. I hadn't felt this much pain while in labor with the boys so I was nervous I would be too late for an epidural. When we got to the hospital they checked me and said I was a "good 6, almost 7" and I begged for and epidural. Luckily the anesthesiologist was fast and the epi took within about three contractions. I was happy I was able to labor so far on my own and was thrilled that we would be having our baby soon. I tested positive for strep B, so they had to give me two doses of penicillin. My doctor got to the hospital around 7 am and said I could start pushing. After a few minutes he said that he would probably have to do an episiotomy (spelling?) even though she was small. I said OK and the next thing I knew, David was falling. He fainted and hit his head on the cabinet doors and was out cold for a good minute. The doc and I just looked at each other and laughed. I was only one push away from having the baby! After he came to, the doctor cut and out came Emmy with her hand on her face. No wonder she didn't come out very easily! She had a squashed nose because of it for a few days but it's straightened out since then. They made David stay on the floor so the doctor cut the cord and they pronounced her perfect. She is beautiful with the dark hair that I was secretly hoping forÜ It has a bit of red in it too so we will see what it ends up like. She also has hair all over her shoulders and back and skinny little feet. David wasn't able to hold her for a while or take pictures so that was a bit sad but the nurses took a few for us instead.

We are so grateful for our beautiful daughter. After everything we went through to get her, we are so thankful that she is healthy and happy. She is two weeks old today and is packing on the weight nicely. She is still just an itty bitty thing but is strong and lets us know when she is unhappy. We get some good smiles now and then too! My mom was able to come and visit for a week but that will be a later post. Meanwhile, here is a photo bomb especially for you Michelle.