Wow! I am crazy behind in blogging but right now I don't care. I'm just going to tell you about our beautiful new addition to the family:
Emma Lee Rose Griesmyer
was born July 11, 2011 at 6:10pm.
It was kind of a weird story so here it goes: You see, the doctor's and I had a disagreement on my due date. The conception wheel said July 7th, the ultrasound said July 17th. That's a big difference in my book! I talked the Dr (the 2nd one cause I fired the 1st) to induce me at 39 weeks due to my history of huge babies and them distressing during labor. So the date was set for July 11th. I figured I would start trying to induce myself on July 7th. I tried-nothing happened. I tried again the next day, nothing. No progressive contractions or anything! I was shocked! My OBGYN visit revealed that the ole cervix was 100% rock solid and I was only about 1.5 cm dialated. UGH!!! So Monday Gary and I went to the hospital to be induced for the 3rd time. Zech was the 1st, Elijah the 2nd, and now Emma. They finally hooked me up to PIT around 9am. We waited, the nurse eased me in and at about 2pm, we opted for an epidural. Not b/c the pain was bad, but b/c I have a history of not progressing without one. I'm weird, I know. But after 5 hours on PIT, I was still only 1.5 cms! I got the epi and got to a 4. Then around 4pm, I started having SERIOUS pain. I mean, BAD!!! I mean, what's the point of the epidural if I'm going to be in that much pain? I worked through it for about an hour with Gary's help until it got so bad that I asked for the nurse. She came in and found that Emma was sunny side up and that is why the pain was so bad. (And the epi wasn't working?) She got the anesthesiologist who came and gave me a little bit of pain meds and they left. Bad idea. Remember when I said that the only way for me to progress in labor is to have an epidural well that really means that I need to be pain free. wouldn't that be nice? :) Anyways, as soon as I got the pain meds I started asking Gary what was going on. He said nothing. I said, no, she's ready, check for her head. He said he didn't see her. The nurse came in and said she couldn't find Emma's heartbeat on the monitor. She moved it around and still couldn't find it so she flipped me over to my right side-nothing. She flipped me over to my left side and still couldn't find the heartbeat. She then checked me and I was 100% complete and ready to go. So, she left to get the Dr. It was hilarious. He walked in with my nurse and another nurse. My nurse and Dr. went to the monitor to read all the stats but the other nurse had come over to me, looked down and said, "I need a suction!" Yep, Emma's head was already out. The Dr. didn't even have time to put on his jacket. He slapped on the closest gloves and told me to push and out she came! Just like that. He then took his sunglasses off his shirt and put all his other gear on for the rest of the procedure. Emma was immediately put on my chest and took to nursing like a champ! I gotta say, she is practically perfect in every way. I am still in shock and awe that we have our girl.
What a blessing from heaven she is!
Introducing Emma Lee to her band of brothers.
Ammon and Eli clung to their Dad-they really needed some love and attention.
Kisses from Zechariah
Here is our attempt to get all the boys lined up for a picture with Emma. It was OK. :)
Gabriel has turned into Emma's protector. He loves her, adores her, and barely leaves her side. He is first to help whenever I need something.
I've got loads more pictures but they will have to wait for the next post. I'll just close by saying that my life will never be the same and I am excited for the new adventure!