Everyday With Emily: Four Years Ago Today...

Today our sweet little girl turned 4! Seriously, I have a four year old child. Because I taught 4 year olds for 7 years, it is so strange to have a child who is old enough to be in a one of my 4 year old classes.

I can't believe that it was four years ago today when our sweet little girl came into our lives. Today as we ate dinner we were talking about this day, four years ago, and Emily loves to hear the story. It's fun to remember such a wonderful day so here is what happened...four years ago today.

I was 5 days overdue. We were hoping I would go into labor on my own but not expecting it to happen. I had shown NO progress and my doctor scheduled an induction for the next Tuesday night/Wednesday. Jeff and I had it in our minds that Emily would be born when we went in for the induction because we just didn't think I would go into labor on my own before then. My doctor scheduled an ultrasound for Friday (August 3rd) just to check the baby and my fluid levels etc. This was my 8th ultrasound by this point.  My appointment was for 8:30 in the morning. I had a dishwasher full of clean dishes to be unloaded and a dryer full of clothes to be folded. Jeff went to work on his side job with his friend Kenny and he left his truck at Kenny's house while Kenny drove to the job site.

I went in for my ultrasound. The tech said that Emily looked great. She had a small head (yeah!) but my fluid was very low. She was pretty sure that the doctor (not mine) that I was seeing that morning would send me to the hospital. It still didn't seem real as I waited for the doctor and played a game on the phone instead of calling Jeff to give him a heads up. The doctor called me in and said that my fluid was so low that I needed to go home and get my bag and come to the hospital. I called Jeff and everyone else and headed home ASAP. I couldn't imagine bringing home a new baby to a dishwasher that needed to be unloaded and a dryer full of clothes so I quickly finished all of that as I waited for Jeff to make his way home. I ate a PB&J sandwich and when Jeff got home we went to the car and headed straight to the hospital. Well, okay, we stopped at Hardees so Jeff could get lunch first. At least he got it to go:)

I arrived at the hospital and was back in a room with an IV by 11:30am. I walked right past the poor women who were actually in labor because they were expecting me. The first few hours of labor was great. We had family in the room. I played more games on the phone and talked on the phone a lot. I started feeling contractions fairly soon but they were mild. Then about 4:00 they broke my water. Then things picked up and I was asking for an epidural by about 6:00. They ordered the epidural around 6:30 and I was about 4.5 centimeters dilated. I got the epidural around 7:00 and things changed quickly. I had been watching the baby story shows on TV where they had to look at the monitor after the epidural to feel the contractions. That is not what happened to me. The pain quickly increased!  It got REALLY bad REALLY quick. I told them that my epidural was broken. We tried different positions and nothing helped. It just got worse. They gave me more medicine in the epidural...worse again.  Finally the nurse decided to check me and I was 9.5 centimeters dilated. I had gone from a 4.5 to a 9.5 in 30 minutes.  The epidural sped up the labor and it never could catch the pain. I also had back labor which didn't help. Anyway, they had to keep telling me stop pushing so the doctor could get her scrubs on in time to catch Emily. I pushed through 11 contractions for 24 minutes and then our precious angel was born at 8:39pm just twelve hours and nine minutes after my ultrasound appointment that morning. In the end I'm glad she came so soon and she was just perfect!

She came out looking really good.  Her color was good and her head was a good shape too. I guess because she came so quickly. She nursed for awhile before they took her back for her bath! I didn't sleep at all that night.  I was excited. I kept checking her to make sure she was breathing. I was also maybe a little over tired. Here she is in all her "newborn glory"!

Emily is such a joy even in her challenging moments. I can't imagine our lives without her. She really is a ray of sunshine in our lives everyday.

Every year Jeff and I put together a video of pictures to show how much Emily has grown throughout the last year. Make sure your volume is up so you can hear the music. Here is the VIDEO LINK:

http://vimeo.com/27241380

If you have trouble with the link try to copy and paste it.

Emily has had a great birthday and we have much more planned this week to celebrate so I will post all the details in a few days. For now, here are a few of Emily's 4 year old pictures.