Happy Birthday Emma Kate!!

Well guys, after writing my last post, I ended up going into labor on Friday night. So, here is the birth story for those of you that are interested in knowing what I went through. So as you have already read, I started having contractions on Friday early morning around 2am. I continued to go to work on Friday. I even had my brother take me to Walmart because I knew that the triplets birthday party was the next day and I wanted to make sure that I had all of the gifts and everything and I was a bit concerned with driving myself. I already had one gift, but anyway...I got home and once Jerry got home, he began eating dinner, but I just didnt feel well and couldnt stomach anything. I was having contractions that were getting stronger and stronger. Then he told me that they were 20 minutes apart. I talked with my best friend and she told me that she thought it was going to happen pretty soon, but I was honestly not thinking even at this point that Emma Kate was coming early. So, I called Jerry's dad over to our house and we hung some pictures on the wall in the nursery and I had him staple the ribbon on the back of the letters that I made to hang on the wall. I had another couple of contractions while he was there. Jerry's dad went home and it got to the point where Jerry said that he thought my contractions were 5 minutes apart. I called my neighbor who is a labor and delivery nurse. She came over and timed them for an hour. They were 5 minutes for sure. I called my doctor and she told me to go ahead and head towards the hospital and that they would hook me up to the monitors.

Jerry and I headed to the hospital and each called our parents and close family to let them know that we were going to the hospital, but it was possible that we could be sent home if it were false labor. The contractions were absolutely unbearable. The worst thing ever. I was afraid that I wouldnt know if I was in labor or not, which I still didnt really know, but let me tell you. There is no mistaking a contraction! We got to the hospital at 10:30pm. The nurse gave me some pain meds through a shot in my behind and then came back in the room about 20 minutes later saying "You arent asleep yet? I thought you'd be passed out." I told her that I was in too much pain to be able to sleep. At this point, the contractions were 1-3 minutes apart and 3 minutes long, so I was basically having one right when the last ended. I was 3-4 cm dilated at this time. I had to go through the contractions until about 2am and then finally it was time to get the epidural!! I kept squirming because who knew that it was going to be that hard to stay still.

After the epidural, my contractions started slowing down and I was told that I would need pitocin to speed them back up. That didnt really work as planned. The amount of drip which was set was too much for Emma to handle and her heart began slowing down and then my blood pressure began to drop and I had to be hooked up to oxygen. The pitocin was slowed down and I finally dilated to around 8-9 and my doctor said, "Ok Jennifer, get ready to start pushing." I was thinking, "What, is this really it?!" By this time it was 8:39am on January 17th, 2009. I pushed until 9:20am and our little Emma Kate was born. January 17th is my brothers birthday, so I couldnt have asked for a better delivery date! How exciting! My life is absolutely amazing now. I cant believe that I ever had a life without her. She is just beautiful and has me on cloud 9.