Emery Lyn

So my last post was Valentines Day of Last year, shortly thereafter I went from feeling like this


to this! I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to pregnancy!

And at one point I had grand plans of documenting my pregnancy with a monthly photo to show the growth of my belly, and instead I spent most of my time on the couch with a bowl. Though it's probably a good thing that stories of my pregnancy are not forever documented, as forgetting them is Emery's best chance at getting siblings! :) And now that its been 8 weeks since Emery was born I feel I need to at least forever document her birth story, so here goes!

As you know, Emery was forecasted to grace our presence on 11/11/11, which in our opinion, was to be the coolest birthday ever! So as that date approached, everything looked on track to deliver that day or very close to it. We were ecstatic, and really hoping it would work out. So on the 9th, at my last office visit, I was dilated to a 2 and 75% effaced. Consequently, Dr. Mayuga (who's mom delivered me! And who also happens to be our neighbor!) said I was a perfect candidate for being induced and asked how I felt about that. Wonderful, that's how I felt! So she scheduled us to go in the next day at noon to slowly start the induction process. We were outrageously giddy with anticipation, constantly reminding each other that we were going to be parents in a few short hours!!!
12 o clock finally rolled around, and we were dying to get this process started! We grabbed our bags and headed out. Upon arriving at the hospital, we went to check in only to be told that our induction had not been scheduled. I however knew this couldn't be, because I was there when the Doctor called it in. So the receptionist looked again in the planner, and lifted up the sticky note on 11/10/11 and lo and behold, there was our name! Lame. In the end, they made us come back at 5:00pm.
5 o clock finally rolled around and we made our way back to the hospital and were welcomed to room 1110. We settled in and the process began! I got all strapped up with the heart monitor and could see that I was already having contractions, though I couldn't feel them yet. By 2:00am I was ready for Pitocin. Slowly but surely the contractions got stronger and stronger but nothing too bad yet. So I spent the early morning watching Pride and Prejudice on Lifetime with our fabulous nurse Olivia. We were her only room that day, so she paid us a lot of extra attention. She was lovely.
Shortly after my favorite movie ended, the anesthesiologist came in and asked when I was planning on getting an epidural. I told him the Dr. was coming to break my water soon, so anytime before that. My contractions were pretty strong at this point. To which he says, "Why wait?" Touche, he had a point. I got the epidural right then and there and it was wonderful. I could still move my legs and could still tell when I was having a contraction, but magically, the pain was gone! FABULOUS.
After awhile it was time for me to start pushing. At this point it was just the 3 of us in the room, Dennis, Olivia and I. She began talking me through the process and then the nausea kicked in....of course. As the nurse handed me the all too familiar little blue bag, we joked about how it wouldn't be me if there wasn't some puking involved which happens to be exactly what the Dr. said as she was told briefed on my condition. :)
The whole thing was just the most calm, tranquil birth experience I could have possibly imagined. We joked and pushed, puked then pushed, joked some more. At one point Emery decided she wanted to help us out a little and began kicking the baby heart rate monitor. And every time she kicked her head popped out a little! The nurse and Dr. kept saying how hilarious it was and that they needed to remember to tell the other Doctors about it. She's not even born and people are already talking about how AMAZING she is! ;)
After a bit I got a huge urge to push and then BAM, her head was out and BAM, she was crying! Yes, she started crying with just her little head out. Once again, the Nurse and Doc were flabbergasted as they had never seen that before. Need I say it again, she is AMAZING! :)
Once she was born Dr. Mayuga put her right on my chest. There were no words. All I could do was smile as tears rolled out of my eyes. A misty eyed Dennis came and kissed his new little family and there we had it, we were parents. And we couldn't be happier.