Emma Rae Flynn is here!!!!!

Wow - where to even begin!!!! I guess we start back at our 40 week appointment on June 25th!! I truly never thought that we would see that doctors appointment, I was always convinced that Emma was about as impatient as her mother!! Turns out she is as laid back as her dad!!! Come to find out in later days - she is truly dad's daughter!!! We headed to our appointment in much anticipation that they would be telling me that I had made progress and that she should be here anytime!!! So not the case - no progress has been made since the last appointment so it was time to start discussing induction. Being full term with her they were okay with us scheduling anytime as long as it was before the following Friday - well we of course said the sooner we can see her the better! So we opted to go in to the hospital on Sunday giving us our final weekend of just the two of us - this time she really would be here the following week!!!! We got some date time in with a few nice dinners, Dan was able to get a few bike rides in, I got my last pool time in and a much needed final pedicure!! It was a great weekend and our anticipation for Emma's arrival just built. Around 7 on Sunday night we headed to the hospital to start the process!! We of course stopped by Starbucks one last time - Dan would need the caffeine and I went for a yummy java chip frappacino - was the next best thing to ice cream.

As we unloaded our bags and walked into the Labor and Delivery floor we felt like out of town guest checking in to our hotel - it was a weird feeling!! And we had no idea we would be having an extended stay! We thought this was a two night deal, not the case.

At 9pm I was given my first dose of Cervadil - a drug meant to soften the cervix, it is not intended to start labor, just basically get the body ready. I would have to more doses throughout the night at midnight and 3 am. By the third dose my body had the kick in the pants it needed and things were getting started!! By 4:30 am I was having contractions that were anywhere from 3 - 4 minutes apart. They started strong and never stopped!!! I was supposed to begin Pitocin at 7 am, but since my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart by then they held off giving it to me. My contractions continued through the morning and boy were they strong!! I was determined to hold off on an epidural for as long as possible - although I am not real sure why!! There really was no need to be in that much pain if it wasn't necessary!! By 10:30 am my contraction were so close and I was dilating about a cm an hour it was time for some medication!!! Once I had that all was well in the world!!! I was continuing to progress and just spent the time chatting with visitors as well as being fascinated by the fact that I couldn't feel my legs!!! It was the strangest feeling. As the day progresses so did I! I continued to dilate a cm and hour and things were looking good. By 6 pm I was 8 cm dilated and the nurses thought that Emma would be ready to make her big debut by 8 pm or so!!!! Then things took a little bit of a turn!! The next time they checked me there was no progress and I was really starting to feel pain in my back! This kind of pain was not your typical back ache this was something completely different and a pain that the epidural did absolutely nothing for. Turns out little miss Emma was not ready to come yet - she had decided to flip positions so she was no longer face down ready for delivery she was face up. This is apparently what onset the back labor! All we could do was wait it out as I had to be fully dilated for them to be able to flip her over as I pushed. We didn't think that would be too bad since I was dilating fairly quickly! Well that was no longer that case either - it took another 4 hours to get there!

Once midnight rolled around, little miss E had decided to flip over on her on and it was time to start pushing!!! Once she had flipped the back pain got so much better and after that experience it made pushing pretty easy!! Nothing compared to the back pain - pushing sounded exciting!! And it was!!! We pushed for an hour and our perfect daughter was born at 1:06 am!! SHE WAS PERFECT and well worth the 21 hours of labor!!!! Every discomfort was quickly forgotten when I laid eyes on our precious angel.

After a long delivery we were settling into the hospital for the next few days - since we delivered after midnight we ended up staying until Thursday - we had lots of visitors and the chance to get some amazing photos of our girl.

I could go on here for ages - but most importantly our baby girl is healthy and we are loving the feeling of family!!! I truly have never been more in love with Dan as I am when I watch him with our daughter! From the moment he laid eyes on her he became the most amazing father an an even better husband than the moments before. I never thought it possible but my love for him his forever changed for the better - just like the rest of my life!!! What an journey we are about to begin!!!

Check out some pics from the past week!! Of course there will be more to come once I can pull my self away from staring at my beautiful daughter!!!!

The FINAL belly shot!! 40 weeks and 2 days!

Daddy is officially wrapped around that cute little finger

Emma hanging out in Mom and Dads room

Emma Rae Flynn
8 pounds 7 ounces
June 29th, 2o1o 1:06 am