FINALLY: Baby Emma Arrives

Well, here is the story and pictures you've all been waiting for :)

Part 1:

On Monday, Feb 23, I woke up at 3 a.m. to contractions. They were painful enough that I couldn't sleep. I tried. Mostly I just laid there and timed the contractions until about 4:30 a.m. The entire time my contractions were between 3 and 5 minutes apart. But I didn't think they were strong enough to REALLY mean anything. At 4:30 a.m. Logan got up and showered because I had woken him up and was lonely :) so he showered and got ready to go to his class in Rexburg and I then showered just in case I was going to end up in Rexburg for the day too. So Logan left and I promised to call the doctors office at 8:30 a.m. when they opened. So I went back to bed and my contractions got stronger!!! And I was laying there in a lot of pain and somehow fell asleep for about 30 minutes. I don't know if the contractions stopped for that long or I was just so tired I slept through them. But then I woke up again and it was 8:30 a.m. and I was having contractions still 3 to 5 minutes apart. So I called the doctor and they said to head to Rexburg and to come into the office and they'd check me out.

Part 2: 

My mom and I packed up the van (she had to take me to Rexburg because Logan had the car... and really... who can drive and have contractions at the same time???) and we took off for Rexburg. I called Logan and he said he'd meet us at the doctors. On the way to Rexburg I got sick and threw up in the car :S That wasn't too fun but luckily I had only had some juice and water for breakfast :) Anyway, we got to the doctor and he checked me and I was only at a 2!! So he told me to go walk around Wal-Mart for a while and then either go to the hospital if my contractions were still coming as strong or stronger or to come back to the doctors if I wasn't sure. So Logan went to work and my mom and I went and walked around Wal-Mart for 2 hours! It was NO FUN AT ALL. I kept having to stop and lean against shelves and people kept asking if I was having contractions.... haha. Which made me wonder how many people go walking through Wal-Mart when they are trying to get things going more... since that's the only place to walk around... in Rexburg... in the middle of WINTER :) Anyways, so we went back to the doctors because I didn't think I was ready to go to the hospital. Dr. Allred checked me again and I was STILL at a 2. I almost cried. So he told me to go home and relax and do nothing until the contractions got worse and then go to the hospital. 

Part 3:

So we went to Izzy's apartment (my little sister). My mom went and got Wendy's and we all ate lunch. Even me... and then I threw it up probably 30 minutes later! So for the rest of the day until probably 7 p.m. I laid around and moaned and groaned... being completely miserable. I think I threw up one more time.... but I don't really remember. It's all really a blur... :) Anyways, so Logan started to get worried that I was getting really dehydrated so he called the hospital and they said to just bring me in. So we FINALLY went to the hospital around 7:30 p.m.

Part 4:

We had to check in at the E.R. and that took long enough. By the time we were done I thought I was going to die from standing there so long :) But then they got me into a nice little wheelchair and wheeled me up to be checked. There was Dr. Allred, he smiled at me and waved and I attempted to smile back as we got wheeled into a room. I changed and laid down on the bed feeling awful. About 2 minutes after laying on the bed I suddenly had to throw up and Logan jumped up and grabbed a garbage can JUST IN TIME. And I threw up again, just the juices and water that I had been drinking. Then Dr. Allred came in and checked me. I was dilated to a 3!!! YAY!!! Pretty pathetic... took me all day to get to a 3... but he said to admit me and hook me up to an IV and then get me an epidural. That sounded AWESOME to me! So they wheeled me into one of their nice delivery rooms. And I got all comfortable and they gave me a heated blanket and I was all warm and cozy.... of course still having contraction pains. But that was soon to be over.

Part 5:

After the IV had all been emptied into me and they hooked up the second bag, they called the anesthesiologist (sp?) and he came in and hooked up my epidural. It was amazing. I felt sooooo much better and I was able to sleep a little! So the nurse, Melody (she was awesome!) then checked me and I was dilated to a 5! YAY! And then Dr. Allred came in about 5 minutes later and checked me and I was at a 6! He told us that it would probably be another 4 hours before I was dilated the rest of the way... but then he came back and checked me an hour later and I was fully effaced and dilated!! So we waited a while to see if she'd move down some more so I could start pushing but she didn't so we just started pushing. That was interesting... Logan would count to ten and I had to push REALLY hard 3 sets of 10 seconds every contraction. But I couldn't feel the contractions so they had to tell me when I was contracting... that was awesome!! No more pain! :) 

Part 6:

So then we found out the cord was wrapped around her neck and she was stressing out so much. So the doctor came in and pulled out these shovel forcep things and put them around her head and on the next contraction just pulled her right out! They put her on my chest and Logan cut the cord. She calmed right down when I started talking to her. SHE HAD TONS OF HAIR! It was an awesome experience. I love her to death. She was born at 3:13 a.m. on February 24th, 2009. She weighed 7lbs 9ozs and was 21 and 1/4 inches long. She was really calm and happy and has been a great baby! We love her and hope you enjoy the pictures. I'm sure there will be more to come :)