What a blessing!!

Emma Has Arrived!!

EMMA MORGAN STUCK
2/6/09
9:09 PM
7 LBS 7 OZ
19 INCHES

three weeks ago tomorrow (friday, february 6th) we checked into the hospital at 6am. my best friends (tiff and joy) from houston came in the night before on thursday to support me through this exciting time. my mom, dad, grandma, tiff and joy all were great support the entire day while waiting on emma to arrive. the rest of the family showed up later that evening but still no emma. she was being stuburn!
i started off 90% effaced and 3cm and doc came in around 8am to break my water so things started speeding up to a cm a hour. clint and i walked around alot and finally we got to 5-6 cm and couldn't handle the pain so i requested the epideral (spelling). clint was so great durring all of this, he feed me ice chips, held my hand and layed in the bed with me to make me feel better and less nervous. i don't care what anyone says but it doesn't hurt to get the epideral, the worst part is having a contraction while trying to round your back for them to put the needle in. after that everything felt great!! the only down side is that it did kind of slow things down (i think it was around 1pm when they gave me the epideral). so we all just hung out and finally clint asked everyone to the waiting room so that we could get a nap in just before the actions started.
it was kind of funny how things progressed so... quickly. we were visiting with emma's Godparents (adam and adrianne) the doc and nurse came in and asked them to step outside so they could check me and then they could come back in. clint walked them out and came back around the corner and doc said, "Push Brandi Push!!" that was the only time clint looked stressed. he said, "we are pushing now? i thought we were just checking her!" he told the doc to hang on because he had to go to the waiting room to tell my family that it was "Go Time!"
after pushing for about a hour or after figuring out how to push the doc said we wont make it to 9pm we might shot for 10pm. i was thinking it is only 8:15 and we are GOING to make it to 9pm, if it kills me! i was so... tired but ready to meet emma so some how i figured out how to push through the epideral and we meet our little girl at 9:09pm! it was the most amazing feeling seeing her, seeing clint cut the cord and just being there together with our new little healthy baby girl. it didn't feel real, almost like a dream! after she was born clint watched them clean her up as they were fixing me up so after all that the family began to pour in and then they moved us to our room to relax and enjoy or little miracle.
the next day and a half was nice but busy with lots of visitors and it didn't change much when we got home on sunday to the next week. lots of visitors!
breastfeeding started out to be a challenge but after milk came in on monday, emma was finally feeling full. the breastfeeding center at the hospital was my saver!! they helped me figure it all out and put some weight on this tiny baby. we saw them on tuesday, thursday and by saturday she had put on the right amount of weight.
we had her 2 week doc apt last friday and she was already 8lbs 4oz and 20 1/2 inches, that is great because they want her to be back at birth weight and she was well over that by almost a pound. doc gave her a A+!
nights are tough but they are getting easier with feedings every 2 1/2 - 3 hours now. she is doing great and changing so much everyday. i can't believe she is almost 3 weeks old, time really does fly!
enjoy everyday!!

end is near...

90% effaced and 2cm dilated but if she doesn't arrive today or tomorrow we are scheduled for friday at 6am.

can't wait to meet our little girl!

start of 40 weeks...

official last week of pregnancy... went to the doc on friday and i was 80% effaced - 2cm and if she doesn't come this this weekend or before doc apt on wednesday we will be haiving her next friday, 6th.