Birth Story (2 weeks late!)

So I'm finally finding some time to blog about the birth of our baby girl. It was a WONDERFUL birth! With Talmage, he came exactly 2 weeks early, weighing almost 8 lbs! So, naturally, when 38 weeks rolled around, I was anxious and good to go! Then 39 weeks rolled around and still nothing. My doctor was kind enough to schedule an induction for me at 39 1/2 weeks. Well, that day came and went out the door. I was scheduled to be induced on Saturday, December 11th at 11:00 am. Jacob had taken off work to be there. We had our bags packed and were heading out the door when my cell phone rang. And, lo and behold, it was the hospital! They called to tell me they were way too busy and would call when they had a bed available. Soooo.... we waited around all day for a call...nothing. Sunday came and we waited...all day and nothing! I was getting so frustrated and even mad that the hospital would even schedule me to be induced if something like this was going to happen. Anyway, Jacob decided to call the hospital around 5:15 pm, Sunday night, to see what the status was and if we were next on the waiting list. They told him no and unless I could go into labor on my own, it'd probably be Monday. Well, at 5:30 pm, my water broke! I was sooooo excited! Finally! I knew that there was NO WAY I could be turned down now! It was an answer to many of our impatient prayers.

We arrived at the hospital around 6 pm, got checked in, changed, etc. They hooked me up to the IV (after 3 painful and bruising tries!) and checked me. I was 5 cm dilated. I was also contracting every 2-4 minutes and in pain but not bad. They gave me some medicine in my IV to take the edge off and ordered for my epidural. It was so nice to have the epidural already ordered and in progress before I was in immense pain. I received my epidural at 8 pm and was feeling great! My nurse checked me and I was still at 5 cm! Boy was I discouraged. I pretty figured we'd be there all night and deliver sometime Monday. The nurse said she'd check me 2 hours later since I was only at a 5. 1 1/2 hours later, I started to feel lots of pressure but thought it was nothing. So I decided to just wait another 30 min until the 2 hours were up when the nurse was going to check me. At 10 pm, the nurse checked me and I was fully dilated at 10 cm! Holy cow I was shocked! I had no idea that in less than 2 hours my body could go from 5 to 10 cm...with an epidural. They called the doctor and got everything prepped for delivery. I only pushed through 3 contractions! She was posterior so during the pushing process, the doctor had to turn her face down for delivery. Emma was born at 10:32 pm on Sunday night, December 12th. And the best part of the delivery...I didn't tear...at all!! Woo Hoo! It only took 5 hours from the time my water broke to her delivery. It was awesome!

I have been feeling so good and recovering great! With Talmage, I was in soooooo much pain and had countless stitches from tearing. After Emma, I'm happy to say that I have felt ZERO discomfort in that area. The worst part was the after birth contractions and a few days of mood swings. Other than that, I'm great! My body is getting back to its normal size very quickly, which I am so excited about!

I love my baby girl! It's definately been more challenging with 2 kids but I'm learning.