EMMA HAS ARRIVED!

(First few minutes in the world)

(She already has her daddy wrapped around her little finger)

(She is so precious!)

(Our little family of 4)

(Emma and Grandma Tobler)

(I love my little boy! Look how big he is!)

(Emma & Grandma Weeden)

(Emma & Grandpa Weeden)

(Michael trying to share his cooking monster with little sister)

(Uncle Brandon & Emma)

(Is that not the sweetest picture in the world)

('Uncle' Larry & Emma)

On Saturday, April 25th at 8pm my contractions started to get pretty bad. They were taking my breath away and they were pretty consistent. I was scared to go to the hospital because I had already been there a few days earlier with false contractions. I didn’t want to get sent home again. By 11pm my contractions were 1 ½ minutes apart and making me cry they hurt so bad. Adam couldn’t stand it anymore. He called my mom to come watch Michael and forced me to go to the hospital. He was scared to death he would have to deliver the baby at home or on the freeway since we live a good 45 minutes from the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital I could hardly walk I was in so much pain. As they walked me from the ER up to the maternity ward I had to stop several times and lean against Adam. I can safely say I have never experienced worse pain than that in my life. Not even with Michael. There is no way I will ever make the false labor mistake again. When you are in real labor...you know! With my contractions being so close together and the pain of my contractions going off the charts on the monitor everyone (including the nurses) were sure that I would be dilated pretty far and just about ready to deliver. However, that was not the case. Just the same as with Michael my body just doesn’t dilate properly. I was only at 3cm. I had been at 3cm for weeks. However, I was nearly fully effaced. It was clear on the monitors that I was in labor so they checked me in and hooked me up to an IV for fluids. I really wanted to go all natural this time but it was clear the contractions were just getting worse and my dilation was going to take forever to get to 10cm so around 2:30am I gave in and asked for the epidural. It took some time for the doctor to get there because he had to come from home. He did finally arrive and what a relief! Those epidurals are sent from God! J Once I got the epidural I was still only at 3 ½ - 4 cm dilated. Around 4am they gave me patosin to help things along. My dilation still took quite a bit of time but I was making slow improvement as the hours passed. I decided to take a little nap to save up my strength since I’d been up all night and was exhausted. I woke up to an odd sensation and called the nurse to ask if my water had broken. She assured me that it had! YEAH!!! With Michael they had to break my water for me to help along the dilation. After that things went pretty fast. They checked my dilation about 8:30am and said that I was ready to start pushing but I had to keep my legs closed and muscles relaxed until the doctor got there because apparently Emma’s head was clearly visible to anyone that walked by. The doctor arrived and it took me 1 big push and one little push and our little angel entered the world! My epidural had pretty much worn off at that point so I was able to feel the birth process well, which I was happy about. I didn’t want to miss that experience cause I was too numb. Emma arrived Sunday morning, April 26th at 8:49am. She was perfect and healthy and couldn’t be more wonderful! They laid her on my tummy while Adam cut the cord. She was crying at first and then she grabbed hold of my finger and I talked to her and she calmed down a bit. When they took her to get cleaned up, Adam went with and she is clearly daddy’s little girl. He was in love at first site and his voice clearly calmed her down every time she started to fuss. Family and friends came to see our beautiful new arrival and it was perfect! Michael was so sweet and fascinated with his new little sister. He gave her hugs and kisses and even tried to share his cookie monster stuffed animal with her. It was very sweet! So now we have a beautiful family of 4! Adam is already asking when we can start trying for the next baby. AHHH! He he