Happy Birthday, darling girl!

I cannot believe how quickly the last year has gone by! Our little Emma turned one on October 30! And what a fun day it was. She asked for a spooky costume party and of course, we conceded! We had grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins over some food and fun. Emma, along with one of her little cousins, was a pig for Halloween. She was the cutest little piggie I have ever seen!

Getting ready to blow out her candle. She almost got it!

Piggie Scout, Wolfey Sawyer and Piggie Emma. P.S. Yes I did make the costumes, yes... you can pay me to make some for you too! :)

Loving the chocolate cake!

Our family: Daddy: the nerdy professor, Noah: the tiger, Emma: the pig and Mom the lady with a lei. Original, isn't it?

Emma is such a light in our lives. She is so happy and ready to go, go, go all the time. Emma and Noah are developing the cutest little friendship and I love to watch them play and take care of eachother. It is absolutely the best when they make eachother giggle over some inside joke, and of course, they don't tell me what it is!

Emma is still a tiny little mite. She weighs about 19 pounds and is about 28 inches tall. I will have to get some precise measurements. She is ready to walk any minute now! She will walk from person to person or furniture to furniture, etc. and looks like as soon as she is walking she will be running! She has never been one to sit idly by; she tries so hard to keep up with Noah and succeeds most of the time.

Now for a quick word on her birth (I think I warned y'all at Noah's b-day). I was put on bedrest with Emma because I had a low and unsafe amount of amniotic fluid when I was pregnant. I was monitored weekly until they felt that it was safe enough for Emma to be induced. Obviously, I was induced on October 30, 2008. I sent Luke a text message that said, "Wanna have a baby today." He just replied, "Sure." The time was here. I checked into St. Marks hospital around noon and they started me on the pitocin drip and IV. The nurse informed me that I would receive another dose of an antibiotic after four hours of labor. Without trying to be too knowing, I told her that we wouldn't be here in four hours. She chuckled and said, "They all say that." I said, "I know, but my first labor was only two and a half hours and I am already dilated to a 4." She chuckled again and said, "I'm sure it won't always be that quick for you. You will get your second dose after four hours of labor." Well they decided that I wasn't progressing quickly and decided to break my water. They broke my water at 3:00 p.m. I was feeling some pretty intense contractions, but the nurse wasn't picking them up on the monitor so she didn't think I was really progressing. She increased the pitocin drip and readjusted the monitors to find that I really was having contractions. Don't you love it when they think you don't know you are in labor!?!

Okay, short story long... About 4 o'clock I was told that I was dilated to about a five and that it was going to take quite a bit longer. I asked to go to the bathroom and after I went I couldn't leave the bathroom because the contractions were coming so fast. I hollered for Luke and he held me up while we waited for the nurse. She came in to help us get me back to the bed. I told her that the contractions were very fast and intense and she ordered some Fentanyl to put in the IV. We walked back to the room and I went to lay down except the bed broke! It was stuck in a right angle position. The nurse called for two aides to swap out the beds meanwhile I am really trying to not push so the baby didn't fall our on her head!! Luke and the nurse held me up through a couple of more contractions and the nurse called for my doctor. The bed got swapped out and the doctor came to examine me. She informed me that I was ready to push. I knew that! I had been trying to not push for quite some time! The nurse looked flabbergasted and cancelled the Fentanyl. Three pushes later our little Emma entered the world at 4:29 p.m. Hello! Yup, an hour and a half and I was done. And as it turns out, all things said and done, I really liked the nurse. She was patient with me and encouraged me to continue with natural childbirth when I started to waver (which I only did because I was told I was only a five... but 10 minutes later a 10!).

The doctor placed our little precious Emma on my chest and I fell in love instantly. I was really in a state of denial until I had her. I was mentally ready for two babies, but all of that changed when I saw her tiny beautiful face! Emma was not as tiny as she looked to me, she weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and was 19 inches long.

We love this little girl so much and thank our Heavenly Father daily for the blessing she has been in our lives.