It's the story...of a lovely lady...

After a long and emotional Wednesday, the hospital called early on Thursday morning and told us that a bed was available and we were a go! I could not contain my excitement as we prepared to leave the house, knowing that when we returned we would be a family of three! We arrived at the hospital around 8:30, registered and were put into a birthing room.

The whole process started very quickly. (a lot quicker than I had expected) The gave me pitocin and a folly bulb (?) to start contractions and dialate my cervix. I quickly went from 2cm to 4. That was when I asked for the epidural. Anastegeologists are my best friends!! Ours was absolutely wonderful and I was amazed that the pain was not as bad as I thought it would be. The only complaint about the anastegeologist was that he was a Tarheel fan and he kept cracking jokes on Clemson while trying to stick a needle in my back. I was worried that my laughing would make him stick the needle in places it didn't need to be, but he did make me feel very comfortable. After the epidural, the wonderful Dr. White came in to break my water. He said that I had a " bag of water of steel." That is why I had not gone into labor on my own.

The rest of the dialation process went fairly quickly, that is until I hit 9. That last centimeter was a killer. We finally made it to 10 cm around 9:00, but the doctor wanted us to labor through the birth canal before pushing, so I wouldn't have to push as long. (I thank him for that now, but at the time, I just wanted her out!) The nurses told us it was time to push around 10:00. Up until that point, my contractions had been 2 minutes apart and very consistent, but it's like Emma heard them saying it was time to come out and she said "No Way!" We waited almost 10 minutes for the next contraction so that I could push. My contractions became increasingly irregular, so my pitocin was upped. Finally after three hours (yes THREE hours!!), Emma was born at 1:02 am. It was the most amazing moment of my life and John Allen surprised me with his reassuring and caring nature. He did very well during the whole labor process and even cut the cord! I am so glad that Emma has such a wonderful daddy! I can tell he loves her so much! She has been such a joy and reminds us every day of the wonderful power and love of God.