The Story...

As you know, we scheduled my induction for May 22nd.

Well, at 11:30pm on Thursday, May 14th, I woke up with really bad cramps. I thought "huh... what did I eat?" Then 6 minutes later... more cramps. Another six minutes later... more cramps. Two hours later, I'm still cramping every 4-5 minutes... and they're lasting anywhere from 45-70 seconds each.

At 3:00am, I called the hospital and asked the OB department what they thought I should do. She asked "Are the cramps taking your breath away?" My response: Oh yeah!

She said, "Okay, then come on in!"

At 3:30am on Friday, May 15th we set off for Lakeland Hospital in Elkhorn, WI.

I checked in, got hooked up to the monitors... and was confirmed to be 4cm dilated and contractions occurring every 4 minutes... and getting progressively worse.

At 6:00am, the doctor confirmed I was in labor!

Twelve hours later I was STILL four centimeters! By this time, I had gone on nuemorphine for the pain (highly recommend it!) At 5pm, the doctor decided to break my water and put me on an IV to speed up dilation. At this point, I also opted for the epidural (greatest decision!). Just after 7:00pm, I was 8 cm... and around 7:45pm, I was 10 cm! I started pushing just after 8pm... and at 8:33pm, Emily Rose was born!

Her ambilical cord was wrapped around her neck once, but no problems with that. Dr. Joy did have to use the suction "kiwi" so Emily has a cirlce shaped bruise on the top of her head... but it's going away quickly.

We stayed at the hospital until yesterday morning and got home just before noon. Check out the photo album for pictures of our arrival. I have to give a huge shout out to our neighbors for going through so much trouble to decorate the place! I love you guys!

Our first night home wasn't too bad... just getting use to our new sleeping patterns. I think I'm doing okay... but Toby's another story. He's kind of struggling... that man values his sleep! He'll have to change that! hahaha

Thanks again to everyone for all your wishes and support! If you haven't already, you'll get to meet her soon!

Love you all!

Now time to feed the little one...