Embree's birth story

Read at your own risk...anyone that truly knows me knows I tend to give too much information sometimes and am not modest in the least bit when it comes to sparing the details, you have been warned....

Our sweet baby girl has been here for almost six weeks now. She is an absolute doll and has been the easiest baby. She was born July 23, 2010 at 8:21 am and weighed in at 8 lbs. 5 oz. 21 inches long. She was considered large but is healthy and very happy which is more than we could ask for.

So my Mom had come into town the day before my due date which was July 19th. I felt great pretty much my entire pregnancy no braxton hicks no contractions no pain, just a little discomfort and morning sickness all day the first few weeks. So as my due date came and went I was amazed I was experiencing no signs of labor at all.

Three weeks prior to my due date Embree had dropped and was completely in position I was 90% effaced and between one and two centimeters dialated. I had my membranes stripped twice and it didnt make me have contractions at all. The entire time I was convinced that she would come only when she was ready, but it didnt stop me from trying to hurry it along. Also because I wasnt terribly uncomfortable or in pain I was ok with waiting. The hard part was that it was now Wednesday and my Mom was leaving Saturday and nothing was happening. So the entire week before I was going on several walks a day and having sex several times a day, bouncing on the excercise ball, and praying she'd come while Grandma was in town.

So Wednesday night Ryan and I went to the store and got some caster oil. I swore I wouldnt do it because I absolutely hate pooping but I figured it was better to do at home then in the hospital on the table. So I downed it with some rootbeer just like Grandma Salas said to do. About ten thirty that night we got into bed and by eleven I was on the toilet. It was not pretty or fun at all...After an hour I was pretty sure I was done so I got back into bed and shortly after felt like I should try going again and as I sat there with nothing coming out realized I was probably having contractions. So I got back into bed and for the next two hours I laid there timing them and at two decided to tell Ryan I was in labor but to sleep still cuz I was going to take a shower. From the time I started timing them they were 5 minutes apart and lasting 1-2 minutes. Once I got out of the shower I laid down next to Ryan and he started timing them, they were much worse at this point. Now I am a bit obsessed with always being put together so I had made sure my toes were freshly manicured, I had gotten a brazillian a week before, I shaved my legs in the shower, put lotion on and made sure I looked decent even though I was in a ton of pain.

So 3am hit and Ryan decided I needed to wake my Mom up and that we needed to get to the hospital. We got there and checked in at 3:30am, they came and checked me almost right away, I was all the way thinned out and I was at a 6 which made me very happy. Also I had lost my plug at home right before we left. So they got me into my room the dr came in and popped my water then the nurse came in to do my lab work so they could get me my epidural. About a half hour later they came in to my epidural and at this point I was so delirious with pain I could hardly sit still enough to get the epidural and I was so out of it that I couldnt focus. The doctor yelled at me to hold still which made Ryan mad but it was what I needed to snap out of the state I was in. As soon as the epidural was in I felt so much better. The pain from the needle was nothing in comparison to the pain of the contractions so it really didnt bother me.

I relaxed for a little bit and I think it helped Ryan because I wasnt in any pain at all anymore. He told me seeing me in as much pain as I was in was really hard for him. I guess while I was having contractions before the epidural I just kept saying over and over "this is getting really old" So around six they came in to have me start practice pushing. I was glad that my nurse noticed that I had gotten a brazillian that my legs were shaved and that my toes were freshly painted. I am glad someone appreciated it :) So the pushing started and yes I had the mirror so I could see what was going on. Ryan was an awesome coach and was a great support. The only part that was hard was as I was pushing looking at my Mom seeing her crying because it would make me cry and I was trying to focus on getting Embree out instead of thinking about how I was about to be a Mom.

8:21 she was out and in my arms. My first thought was that I couldnt believe she had been in me. She looked so big and had the most adorable cry. They left her on me for a while then took her to check her and clean her. We were so excited she was FINALLY here and healthy. Then the fun started for me. I had three tares all third degree almost fourth degree. Fourth degree tares are the worst. So it took them an hour to sew me back up which wasnt too bad because the nurse left my epidural on until after they sewed me up. Now the gross details..I tore my labia, butt hole and Urethra and they had to put my Urethra back and sew it into place...nice visual right? So that was the excitement or worst part of the delivery. We had to stay in the hospital two nights which I just wanted to go home after a few hours.

But since day one Embree has held her head up on her own, been very alert, she latched on right away the first time and has had zero problems breastfeeding, she sleeps so well especially at night, when she does wake up she just grunts really loud til I wake up, she already tries to crawl and is so easy. We are so grateful to have her in our family and that she is so good. We joke that she must know how important our sleep is to us at night because she goes to bed for the night at 9 or 10 and doesnt wake up until between 2am and 5am then wakes up at 6am or 7am then wakes up again at 10am. She looks more like her daddy then me but I am totally ok with that. She already smiles all the time and tries to laugh, it sounds more like a cough but we know what shes trying to do. We are loving every minute with her and have loved watching her change and grow the last month and a half. We are very very lucky.