Then Comes the Baby...

She's here, she's here, she's here!!!! Emory Elizabeth graced us with her sweet presence on Sunday, April 13th, 2008 at 6:51pm. She weighed 8lbs, 8 1/4ozs and was 20in long.

Chase laughed at me when I told him that the microwave had to be mounted before Emory would come. Less than 12 hours after it was mounted, I went into labor.

Ok here is the short version of the story...
I had be working around the house ALL day Saturday trying to check things off of my check list. Chase slept REALLY late that day because he had had a VERY long week at work and was lacking in sleep. At around midnight I told Chase that I wasn't tired at all and that I didn't think I could go to sleep if I tried. Since he had slept until 2:30 that afternoon, he wasn't tired either. We were finally ready to go to bed around 4am and I had done everything on my list that I could do. The rest could wait. But God and Emory had other plans.

Around 4:30a I started having contractions. They didn't feel any different from the ones I had had before. However, it appeared that these were coming every four to five minutes. I decided to get up and get in the bath and see if that helped relieve them...nope, and to top it off, my water broke. At least I thought it had. I went and told Chase and of course he got VERY excited. Me, I was trying not to get my hopes up. I had this fear of going to the hospital and thinking I was in labor and then be sent home! I got in the shower and Chase packed everything else that we needed that wasn't packed already. We called the doctor and told him that we were going to go to the hospital and he said he would see us there. We checked in at 7am, placed in a VERY small and hot triage room, and they confirmed that my water had broken. The nurse said "Well, it looks like today is going to be Emory's birthday." That is when the excitement started! I was going to be a mommy!

The contractions started to get very intense but they weren't as intense or as close together as the doctor wanted so they decided to start pitocin and I decided to get an epidural. Chase was happy about that because I think his hand was being to hurt from being squeezed so hard. I got the epidural at 2pm and fell asleep (one of the best discoveries in modern medicine, ever!!). I slept until 5pm. Now when I fell asleep I was only 2cm dilated and 80% effaced, when I woke up at 5pm, I was complete. I had slept through the hardest part of labor. Now came the pushing.

That didn't go so well. Even though I was fully dilated, Emory was still at station -2. (for those of you who don't know, that means she was still way too high). At that time it meant I was going to be pushing for at least an hour maybe longer. Emory didn't like that very much so she started to pitch a fit. Every time I pushed, no matter which position, Emory's heart rate would drop into the 80s. Not good. I pushed about 5 times with the same reaction. That is when the doctor decided to do a C-Section. I didn't care at that point I just wanted her to be healthy. 20 minutes later Chase and I were parents!! Turns out Emory's shoulders wouldn't go past my hips, the doctor said that a C-section was the only way she was going to come out. It is the most amazing thing that I have EVER experience. She is perfect and we could not ask for more. I thank God for her every second!!

Minutes old, kinda swollen, and she looks a little pissed off!!

Our first family photo. I don't remember much after that. I was given a very high dose of morphine and the rest of the evening is a little blurry!

The very proud daddy. She already has him wrapped around her little finger. She loves her daddy!

Getting ready to go home on Wednesday, April 16. That is the same dress that I wore home from the hospital when I was born.

Ready to go home!

Love from Mommy!!

Ready to go on her first car ride. Which by the way, went VERY well!!