Life on Lofty Lane: Our sweet Emerson... a look back to her entrance to the world!

Tomorrow Emerson turns 5! (let's just let that sink in for a moment... ) I never shared her birth story, so I'll indulge myself and share it now. While I am not going to be graphic, if you are easily grossed out, you should skip down to the last paragraph. :)

Wow, how different life is for us on July 6, 2015 than it was July 6, 2010. At this point on that exciting birthday eve, I was already at the hospital admitted so they could give me medicine to help with the inducement the next morning. It was a long night where I was restless and uncomfortable from being 50 pounds heavier and full term and also thinking of the day ahead. I recall Frank didn't seem to have the same difficulty getting some sleep that night, which is funny now. Sort of a preview as to how different we are when it comes to sleep and why the phrase "I don't want to sleep like a baby, I want to sleep like my husband" is so funny and relatable for me!

Early the next morning we were able to get things going with the inducement. My family was there and the doctor was doing his thing with assessing the situation and preparing to get the delivery in motion. I was almost 40 weeks, just 3 days shy of that, but still, my body was not doing anything on it's own... I mean nothing! I was not dilated (just a 1 or 2) and my cervix was not fully softened, but soft enough evidently. They got pitocin going, but it was not doing much. I was having contractions, but they were not at all unbearable. So the doctor broke my water on his own and I remember that after he did that the contractions I was feeling quickly intensified. So much that I was in tears with the contractions and being unprepared, to be honest, to endure that kind of pain (because I was NOT interested in natural child birth... no thank you!!) I was crying for an epidural pretty quickly. I remember that feeling of getting the epidural was so strange... that pinch and sharp pain in your spine. But then the quick relief from the pain like it is magic. And I mean magic because I felt fantastic after it was in! After that they had to adjust some things with my blood pressure and adjust my body so my BP wouldn't drop. I could still feel my body as my uterus contracted, but with it being pain free essentially, it was awesome. I was sleepy and did a little snoozing through the day as family patiently waited and came in to visit throughout the day. For a while I was not showing much progression, but thankfully after lunch things started moving much more quickly. By mid afternoon I was almost fully dilated and when the time came to start pushing, I had to wait for my doctor! (Which, by the way, he came and left it seems after giving the ok to start pushing!) Frank and I did not attend any lamaze or birth classes so I actually wasn't sure what to do, but the nurse lead the way. She got one leg and Frank the other and she coached us both through each contraction telling me what to do. I will say, the nurses were all just so wonderful in labor and delivery... so helpful and understanding. The nurse set up a mirror so I could see what was happening as I was pushing and I thought that was the coolest thing, yet also so frustrating. I could see Emerson's head just barely at the very end of each push and then she'd go right back in. It felt like I couldn't get her fully into position, but the nurse was so encouraging and after around 30-40 minutes I had to stop pushing while we waited on my doctor to come back. It was not long before he got to the room and with just a few pushes after he was in position, at 4:29 pm, Emerson was born! Woah!! I did it!! Emerson was here!!! After hearing her cry and them cleaning her up we did our first skin to skin time... I was holding our new baby girl... I was just in some kind of new mom la-la land... completely overwhelmed, in love and in awe. They did the initial screening things they do with newborns while my doctor finished delivering my placenta, which is the part where I think Frank almost fainted. Ha ha! As I was bed bound I know there were lots of things happening around me with the doctor and nurses. After my skin to skin time they were ready to move me to my postpartum room, which I know my family was, at that point, not so patiently waiting for. After being in the hospital all day to encourage me and be there for Emerson's birth, the nurses wouldn't let anyone in until after I had the skin-to-skin time with Emerson even though I was ok with visitors. It is a strict policy at Plano Presby!

While I was truly exhausted and a little drugged, and because my memory is not always the best, I don't remember too many specifics of our first night after that... just the happiness of our families getting to meet Emerson and I remember Frank helping the nurse with Emerson's first bath. I remember how Frank instantly was the very best father to her and it both comforted me and melted my heart. My, how his calm nature and kind heart would help me in my postpartum days (and beyond... and still!) as I learned how to be a new mom.

So there, the brief story of how we welcomed Emerson in to the world on that amazing day that forever changed our lives. And now it has already been five years... years that have been filled with almost every emotion I can imagine as life takes so many turns. Through it all, Emerson has brought us such tremendous joy and happiness. So many times now I will wish I could hold her like I did when she was a baby, and up until a few months ago, I would try. But instead of her tiny body fitting in my arms, her arms and legs clung to my neck and fell over my arms. She's become a little lady full of ideas and her own ways of doing things. I love our time together... she is just so giddy and loving. The love I have for both of our kids is so uncontrollable/involuntarily strong ... you know that kind of love, the strongest kind of love and something I couldn't imagine or understand until I had Emerson. The kind where your ability to breathe is somehow linked to their breath... where their cries bring your heart such pain... the kind where just the thought of the person and seeing their happiness brings tears to your eyes... like when I hold her hand as we sit to watch a movie or tv show or cross the street. Sometimes I can't hold back my emotions and even now I am tears as I think about it. Oh, how I love, love, love our precious little girl and am so thankful for her.

I'll be taking Emerson in very soon for her well visit and will also update after her birthday party this weekend so I can share more about our sweet big girl. But first, here are just a few pictures of that wonderful day, July 7, 2010!