Emily Claire is FOUR

I love birth stories.  Yours, hers, mine, theirs.  The miracle of growing a life inside of you and then the amazing process of labor and delivery makes me cry every single time... well, only when reading...  never in the moment. I actually never did cry when I first looked into my babies' eyes.  The only time, during one of my L&Ds, when I almost teared up was when the wicked nurse told me I didn't have time to get an epidural with Sophia and, even then, it was more of a angry cry while I dreamed of kicking her in the knee.

The night before life really got exciting.

No, with sweet Emily, my labor and delivery was as controlled and comfortable as checking into a 4 star hotel and then heading to the spa with your husband and mother.  Her due date was January 8th but on December 26th we had an appointment with the OB and, given my progress and history of easy deliveries and a previous uneventful induction, he offered to induce me on December 31st 2007.  Are you interested?  Yes, indeedy.  Any conviction about desiring to have another one of those Sophia spurred - "Hi, honey, I know its 5:30am but I think it's time!" - and rushing to the hospital only to have the baby 30 minutes later deliveries - jumped right out of that two story window.  Oh how I loved that exhilarating experience and absolutely would not trade it for anything but I was done and done on that day after Christmas and so ready to meet my Emily Claire.  So, it was scheduled, and that afternoon my mother was planning her trip up to Greenville to share that special day with us.

Waiting to get all hooked up.  I love love love this feeling of anticipation and excitement.  Nothing could be more exciting than meeting your child for the first time.

And then she was here.. Emily Claire Page.

 

This was the first of my labors where it truly was a "been there, done that" experience since with Joshua I had never been in labor, much less an induction, so that day was full of unknowns but pleasant surprises.  With Sophia, I went into labor spontaneously for the first time so I didn't really know what to expect there either.  But with Emily, third time was a lucky charm.  With our bags packed we headed to the hospital that morning to check in at 7am.  I got all hooked up to the monitors and the pitocin started dripping around 8:30am.  I allowed myself to experience maybe three, ok two, of those really strong contractions to prove to myself that I am a real women before I requested that heaven sent anesthesiologist to come in and insert that gigantic needle into my spine.  Where after I was able to relax and control the amount of pain and pressure, then voila, about forty five minutes later the OB forced Freddie to finally cut one of his children's umbilical cords and all of the precious 7lb 4oz of Emily Claire was placed on my chest around 11:30am.

We have been in love cubed ever since.

And then we promptly found a urologist to snip and clip.


The end.

 

Proud big brother and big sister.

 

Emily Claire's First Birthday a week before moving to France...December 31st 2008

Second  Birthday...  December 31st 2009

Third...  December 31st 2010

And the 4th birthday celebration.. 

December 31st 2011...

 I am SO excited to be four!

 A little Hello Kitty bling from Daddy.

 Ready to ride.  

Happy New Year everyone!  
May you have a blessed 2012 filled with peace and love.