Monday, June 6, 2011

The story of Emma June

The morning of April 25Th I'm asleep but I'm dreaming, dreaming about being in labor, every time I roll over I have a contraction. You know the dreams where you're not sure if you're dreaming about the alarm going off or if it really is...? This is the dreaming about labor I'm having. About 4:30 am my husband wakes me to give me a kiss before leaving for work. I tell him "I might be calling you later every time I roll over I have a contraction". Still half asleep so I'm not sure what's real. 6:30am comes and it's time to get the older boys up for school, I notice that while walking around the house I'm becoming crampy. The bus comes at 7:20 I kiss them and send them out to the bus. I decide that I would go ahead and start packing my bags for the hospital meanwhile the contractions/crampy feelings start having a rhythm to them coming more frequently. I decide to take a shower and give my husband a call. I know from my own experience, that once the contractions start coming, my baby will be born in a couple of hours. Since my husband works a half hour away in the town that the hospital is at where we plan to give birth I know that if I wait till the contractions are minutes apart I could have the baby on the way. So about 10:00 We drop Phisher off with Phil's sister Jennie and we head to the hospital. Every pot hole gives me a contraction. We get to the hospital and they check my vitals, and my blood pressure was high, they have me lay on my left side in which case stops my contractions. They check me and I'm dilated to 2 maybe 3, in which that's what I was on Friday (this is happening on a Monday). So they let me lay for an hour check me again and I haven't progressed at all. The nurse tells me to go home have sex and come back on Wednesday when I'm scheduled to be induced. She reminds me that this is my forth baby and that I haven't gone on my own yet and won't, that my body just doesn't know how to go into labor on its own. She also proceeds to tell me that what I'm feeling is just the weight of the baby pressing on my uterus... So while waiting to be released Phil decides to take a nap.


We get released around 11:30 and decide to stop and have lunch at Pizza Hut. While walking into Pizza Hut the contractions come back, all I can think is this is so dumb, I KNOW This is LABOR, but maybe I don't know, because I have never gone into labor on my own. We finish lunch and we are getting ready to leave the parking lot and I experience another contraction followed by me peeing myself.... I think maybe this is my water breaking but I chalk it up to "how nice I just peed myself in my new vehicle and caused my husband to lose a days wages for nothing". We make it home do as the nurse tells us to do, not to be to descriptive but I'm having contractions the whole time. We are all adults here and just duly note that it was ALL business and no fun. True story. By this time its 2:00, the contractions are getting stronger (of course my water broke, than I had my husband do "work" to soften my cervix for Wednesday, novel idea nurse). My mom calls me and I tell her the situation my contractions are coming every 5min, and lasting a minute. She tells me I'm in labor and that I know this and to go back to the hospital. We had already picked Phisher back up from Jennies, so we take Phish back to Jennies and then we head back to the hospital. The nurse Is COMPLETELY annoyed with my return. Picture if you will the receptionist from Monsters inc. It's 3:15 she checks to see my progress still 2 to 3. She hooks me up me back up says she will go ahead and monitor me for an hour. The contractions are very strong at this point, and all I can think about is going #2. So what do I put my poor dear husband through now? You might have guessed it, but probably not.... I make him hold my hand While I poo. (Too much information absolutely but this is Emma's story, nothing pretty about it though nothing short of a miracle). Around 4:00pm the nurse comes in, she's looking at the monitor, she's feeling my huge belly during my contractions, and than she tells me... your not in labor, your just having braxton hicks contractions, we are going to have to send you home. Now imagine being in full blown labor and hearing those words, shear panic went through me. I knew that if this was labor that it would be over in a couple hours tops, but braxton hicks................... when will this end? I looked at my husband and I told him "there is no way I can do this" In a moment of despair I ask the nurse "please just check me again, I know I'm in labor" so she ho hums around the foot of the bed slowly putting on her gloves, completely annoyed with me, reiterating the point that I'm not in labor that I'm having braxton hicks contractions, she checks me............ and says "OH MY YOU'RE AT 6" In one hour I dilated 3 cm. Thank you sweet baby Jesus. I know as soon as she says 6 that I am going with out an epidural, which is what I wanted but at this point I wish I could take a Tylenol or something just to dull the pain. By this time it is 4:15pm and the nasty nurse has done a 180 and become the sweetest, most helpful nurse I have ever had. Reminding me to breath in through my nose out through my mouth. Crazy how hearing someone tell you that can make labor so much easier. In less than two hours after she told me I was experiencing braxton hicks I gave birth to my Emma June. 5:45pm 9lbs 1 ounce. And all I can think is that if she would of sent me home I would of had Emma at home.



In the birth of one special little girl I got everything I had ever wanted. I wanted a little girl, (though I just never wanted to admit it or say it out loud) I wanted to go into labor on my own. (I was induced with all 3 boys), I wanted the experience of my water breaking. I wanted to give birth getting the whole experience with no epidural. I wanted the experience of not knowing the sex till I gave birth and I wanted my baby born on the 15Th or the 25Th.(Cody has a 29 birthday and Levi has a 19 and Phish had a 5 so I thought it would be cool if she was born with a 5 in her birthday).Oh and of course I wanted my husband to have to hold my hand through my bowel movement? Just kidding.
She Completely completed our family, and we love her so dearly.