Happy First Birthday Emma!

Today is the big day, Emma is one! I can hardly believe it! I must admit, I do like today much more than I did a year ago. It's so amazing to have a newborn, but I am happy to have this year done (what a year it's been!).
We celebrated today by going to the mall to have Emma's picture taken. This evening we did birthday cupcakes, Emma thought the candle was great. Poor Todd is on call & has missed her entire day (this does get better, I hope!?).
We are celebrating with the extended family on Sunday, so Emma gets her presents then, good thing she does not care. Emma ooing over the candle.

The cake face.

Pictures from today. She cooperated better than I thought she would. It took her a few minutes to warm up to it all, but then she did great.

Last night as I went to bed I was remembering a year ago. Once again, I'm going to give the birth story, read on if you'd like....

Todd was on a liver transplant month, which meant he was on call all the time. He'd done about 10 cases or so by this time, more than some do during the entire month. I was nervous that I'd go into labor in the middle of the night with him not home. I had Jenni & Rosemary on standby with a few others willing to help if needed. I was still nervous about it.

Emma was due the 19th, but I planned to have her the 10th (Sarah is an 8th & Mason is a 9th, so that would have been great). I had a doctor visit on the 9th & she stripped my membranes (not fun). I'd had contractions at night that entire week, so I thought for sure this would move things along. I slept the best I had in weeks that night & was very disappointed on the 10th when I woke up!

On Monday the 12th it was a nice day. I went for a long walk with Mason riding his big wheel. I did some yard work. I even put up a little Christmas tree downstairs at Sarah's request. I was trying to get Emma out!

Todd got home around 7:30 that night. We got the kids to bed & I was so tired. I went to the bathroom & had a huge gush of blood. I was scared to death! So, we pulled the kids out of bed & ran them over to the Glines. The kids were thrilled for a sleepover.

We hurried into the hospital & was whisked up to an observation room. I was not bleeding any more & the baby seemed fine on the monitors. My doctor said it would be fine to stay & be induced, the charge nurse wanted to send me home since it was a really busy night. I was not about to go home without a baby! My kids were taken care of, I had Todd with me & was 39 weeks along, no reason to leave!

So, around 2:30 am they started to induce me. I started having contractions right away. After about an hour they were about every 2 minutes. I asked when I could get my epidural, I was really hurting (being induced was way worse than starting on my own). I had to be checked first. An intern came to check me & break my water, but she just could not get it to break & I was not doing well. Finally I got my epidural done by one of Todd's friends around 5:00. Then I was ready to push (before it had fully taken effect, at least that's how it felt). Emma was born at 5:29 am. She weighed 6 pounds 6 ounces & was 19 inches long. She had lots of light brown hair & big eyes. We were so happy to see her!

We called the kids that morning. Sarah was excited to have a baby sister then immediately asked if she could still stay at Mary Jane's for the day. Mason was a little shy on the phone, but happy. It was fun to call our families & surprise them with the news since none of them knew we'd even gone to the hospital. Thanks to our friends who helped with the kids! They thought it was great.