Welcome to the World Emma Grace!

She is here! Our beautiful little girl was born Friday, May 8. We are so happy and amazed everyday by her! There is much to update and plenty of pictures. Every couple of days, I'll try and do a post to get caught up on everything. But first thing is first - The Birth and Hospital Story!

As mentioned in the previous post, I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and things were still up in the air as far as when she could decide to come. I was back to being worried about how late I would go. Little did I know, that was the last thing I needed to worry about! I started having contractions at 7 that night. They were definitely stronger and longer then I had felt before, so I figured these were something I needed to pay attention to. Robert was still at work, so I called my mom to get her opinion. She thought I needed to write down the times each one happened at so I could keep track. We pretty much stayed on the phone until Robert came home! I called Robert at work to see what time he thought he might be home. I told him I was having contractions and they were anywhere from 5 minutes apart to 10-15 minutes apart. Robert got home around 9 and things were pretty much the same. At about 11 we wound up calling the on call doc to see what his opinion was. We didn't want to head to the hospital to be told to go back home! The doctor said that it sounded like this was the real thing, but that we still had a couple of hours before we even had to start thinking about heading to the hospital. So the timing continued and we both decided to take showers just in case. While I was in the shower they all of the sudden started coming very quickly (about every 2-3 minutes) and very strong. I thought maybe it was just because I have been standing, so I decided to sit down. They still came. By this time, it was about 1am Friday morning. I told Robert that when he was done eating, I thought we needed to head to the hospital. So off we went. We got there about 2, and I was 6 cm dilated, 100% effaced. They said I probably had another 4 hours to go, and most first time moms push for about 2-3 hours. So with having 6 hours still to go, I decided on the epidural! Things got moving pretty quickly because the nurses didn't think they would have time to get everything done before Emma would make her removal. Little did they know that Emma would decide to take her own sweet time. Since I thought we would be done with everything by 8am, all of our text messages and calls to family and friends gave the impression that she was going to be here in the next couple of hours. My mom even wound up coming down to the hospital around 3am. She was worried that she was going to miss it! We caused some worry when they still hadn't heard from us by noon. (sorry about that!). I sat at 9 cm for 3 hours, and finally at 12, I was ready to start pushing. Emma was born at 1:40 weighing 7lbs 10oz and 20 inches long. All of the grandparents were able to be there and were the first to get to meet her. The rest of the hospital stay went well. We had a little scare with her blood sugar that first night, but she is just fine and a healthy baby. Since she was doing so well (and the labor wound up being long enough for them to give me an extra bag of an antibiotic I needed), they surprised us and gave us the option of leaving on Saturday. We jumped at the chance! We were glad to have people we can ask questions too every time she hiccuped or looked cross eyed, but were very happy to be heading home and being in our own house. Enjoy the hospital pictures!

Last time it will just be the two of us!

Hi Mommy!

Hi Daddy!

Proud Grandparents!


Proud Grandma!

Dad, Grandpa, and their little girl

Meeting Uncle Josh

Meeting Uncle Darren

Great Grandma!

Our happy (and tired!) little family!

She's so advanced! Not even out of the hospital and already found her thumb!

Going home!

On our way!