Emily's 9th Birthday

Emily celebrated her 9th birthday on Friday. The day before on Thursday we had a family party, because dad had to work Friday night. We had some Korean food. Emily didn't like the Mandu Guk very much, a potsticker soup. But she did like the Bulgogi, like teriyaki meat. And instead of cake, she wanted donuts. She got a Build-A-Bear and even got to sew the whole body up, except the head, it was already sewn. Happy Birthday Emily!

So here's Emily's birth story. I'm writing it down now so I don't forget as I've never written it down before.

With Emily, I never had Braxton Hicks. It was weird because I did have them with Alex and Kate. So with Emily there was nothing. She was due on February 17th, Kate's birthday. Emily was born on a Monday. The day before I remember going over a list of things that I needed to do during the week and because I was having no signs of labor, not even a Braxton Hick, I pretty much assumed the week would come and go and I would get everything done that I had planned. Todd's mom was going to come up when she was born, so I was planning on getting one of the rooms ready for her to stay in. I had hoped Emily would come early, but was resigned to the fact that it may not happen because nothing seemed to be happening. Early Monday morning I remember waking up and having a strong contraction. A while later I had another one. So, I figured I need to get up and get showered and ready to go. I'm not sure what we did with the kids, I can't remember exactly, did we take them over your house LaNae? Anyways, we weren't in a rush as the contractions were not too close together, but they were strong. We got to the hospital about six in the morning. The amazing thing about Emily's birth is that the contractions never got closer than 5 minutes apart, so I always had time to rest and regroup. We get all set up in the hospital and I can't remember how dilated I was, perhaps a five, but not sure as the details in my head are fading. I was having intense back labor and I would have Todd rub my back real hard during the contractions. I think it was worse on him! Finally after going through several contractions, I tell the nurse that it's time for some pain killers. She thought I was doing so well and I could do it without, but I didn't want to get to a point where you start panicing because of the pain and there's no turning back. Granted, I was very calm during it all, I had been praying for that and everything was going real smooth. So I was given an interthecal because as fast as I was dilating the doctor thought for sure I would be delivering in less than an hour. With an interthecal you feel your legs and feet and can even walk but there's no pain during contractions, just pressure. But no one's perfect, so I suppose the anesthesiologist didn't do it exactly right as I could not feel my legs at all and couldn't even feel myself pushing. I began pushing around 8 am. But because the contractions would never get any closer than five minutes apart it seemed like there's was a lot of waiting going and less pushing going on. It seemed like forever and everytime I pushed it was as if nothing was happening. Nine o'clock came and we were still pushing. Ten o'clock rolled around and still we were pushing. The doctor had called his office twice to reschdule appointments as he thought I'd have easily been delivered by now. Ten thirty was approaching and by now the interthecal was wearing off and I was starting to feel pain of the contractions. I was also getting really tired. The doctor decided to do an episiotomy on the next push and wallah! Out popped Emily! 7 lbs. 4 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She was sunny side up! Instead of her head facing down towards the ground so her crown could come first, she was face up with her forehead wanting to come first. This is why she wasn't coming and why the back labor was so intense. Her head couldn't shape and conform to come out so easily. She wanted to see us all first, not the ground! She was the easiest baby out of all my babies! And honestly I will admit, she never slept in her crib! She was too easy and she would sleep so soundly next to me. She was generally always happy and even took a bottle when needed! The only down side to her birth was that I developed a spinal headache that lasted for four days! But I didn't realize it was a spinal headache until months later. I just thought I was tired. My head only hurt when I would sit up or stand, but laying down I was perfectly fine. Weird. Had I known what it was the doctor could have fixed it. Oh well. At least it did subside. I love you sweet Emily!