Emerson Michael...

So obviously it has been pretty much my ENTIRE pregnancy since my last post. Well ok, I guess I was 18 weeks (but that was a LONG time ago considering my little man has arrived!!) We were induced on May 12th after many painful nights of 4 cm dilation & costant drops in baby's position. I don't think I could have made it one more day so I was very grateful to get the show on the road!! We were admitted to CMC Northeast (amazing hospital by the way) at 5:30 a.m. & by 7:30 a.m. the process was in full swing. Going into this birth experience I had a game plan & I am SO glad I did. I requested my epidural BEFORE my wonderful dr broke my water because I KNEW things would speed up rapidly at that point. The epidural man was a God send. He was an older "grandfather" type & listened to each of my concerns (from past experiences) very intently. He did such a wonderful job and came back to check on me 3 and 4 times (even AFTER the baby was born!) All I know is that after this labor, I can CONFIDENTLY say that my epidurals with the girls did NOT work the way they were supposed to. So after starting the Pitocin and setting up the epidural, my water was broken. In about 3 hours time everything had pushed me to 8 cm & driven my contractions to 3 minutes apart (I arrived at the hospital 5 cm & contractions every 5 minutes apart). My Pitocin was slightly increased and by 11:00 a.m. we were ready to push!!
I had joked with my dr earlier that morning that if she could get me through this labor with LITTLE pain and NO need for any extra medical attention, that I would award her the honorary plaque of 5 golden stars to add to her wall of achievements. She was happy to accept the challenge & after 5 contractions of pushing she certainly earned those stars! Right before we began pushing, I noticed that the heart monitor was dying out COMPLETELY with each contraction I had. I called in the nurse and she assured me it was simply because of how low the baby had dropped in order to deliver (but I could tell by her demeanor & quick action to get my dr that something was wrong). Turns out, Emerson had the cord wrapped tightly around his neck so there were a few moments of concern for sure. My dr talked me through each step however & my amazing son was delivered happy, healthy & without causing ANY "damages" to his mama :)
7 lbs 3 oz & 20 inches long, Emerson Michael Knott was born on May 12th, 2011 at 11:13 a.m. I had WONDERFUL nursing staff during my hospital stay (which was only an amazing 1.25 days haha) and I could not have been any more blessed from the Lord through this experience. For those of you who know me well, you know that my labor, delivery, recovery and breastfeeding journey with BOTH my girls was ROUGH. I am sitting here very happy to report that Emerson has been a breeze. He nurses, sleeps, poops, pees & participates in family life like a champ. God is SO kind & I want to thank each of you for praying for me and loving us. More to come (pictures etc...) once I get the internet re-activated on MY computer. Thanks for reading!!