The story of Emma Kate Peterson

Emma Kate was born August 25, 2011. This is the story of her labor and delivery. The weather had been in the 100's and I was SO ready for her to be born. At about 35 weeks I started to dilate and efface. By my 39 week appt. I was dilated to about a 4 and 90% effaced. I had my membranes stripped and thought for sure that I would go into labor some time that night. My mother in law graciously stayed the night just in case I went into labor so we could leave asap. I tested positive for Group Strep B and I wanted to make sure to get to the hospital as early as possible to get on the meds to protect Emma from getting sick. They would like you to be on the meds for about 4 hours. That night I woke up around 3 am and was NOT in labor! I was so mad and decided to jog around the living room and jump up and down. Nothing happened so I went back to bed. The next day I woke up still not in labor and felt like I was being tortured. I was SO uncomfortable and I had been having contractions for 4 weeks. I was so done with it all. I thought the stripping of the membranes had not worked and I would just have to be induced. (With both Claire and Olivia I went into labor the night I had my membranes stripped). I was so sad about it all because the Dr I wanted to deliver was on call until 12 am that night and I was going to miss him. ;( My mother in law decided to stay at our house until Emma arrived, but I was skeptical that she would arrive any time soon. I decided to try and stay active and on my feet to maybe induce labor. We walked to the park, went grocery shopping and I even did some running with the girls in the back yard.

That night I decided to take a bath after the girls went to bed. It was 9:00pm and I was sweaty from our long hot day. Brett went to church meetings and to play basketball for the night. He usually gets home around 11:30pm. I lied in the bath wishing something would happen, but just felt the random weak/moderate contractions I had been feeling for weeks. I dreamed of having my water break or SOMEthing to happen. After I got out of the bath I realized I had felt contractions most of my bath and that they MAY be getting regular. I finished getting ready for bed and by 10:30pm I decided to track the contractions, just in case. They were about every 6 minutes. I got a twinge of hope and texted Brett that I thought MAYBE I might be going into labor soon but to not worry or come home early. By the time Brett got home at 11:20 ish I decided I was in labor, it was just really inconsistent with how weak or strong the contractions were. Some were barely there while others hurt pretty badly. I called my mom and we decided I better head to the hospital and the worse that could happen was they would send me walking. So- Brett took a shower and we were off. We arrived around midnight. The contractions were pretty strong by then and regular. I thought I had MAYBE dilated to 4.5 maybe 5 if I were lucky. They checked me and I was at an 8!! I couldn't believe it! They quickly got me hooked up to everything and got an epidural for me so that maybe I could have the anti-biotics for a little while. By 1:30am the Dr came to break my water and deliver the baby. I was not really ready or expecting to push yet. I hadn't mentally really realized what was about to happen. The next thing I knew the Dr is telling me to push and all I could think was "this hurts SOOO bad! I should have pushed the button for more medicine from the epidural!" I realized then that if I pushed (the one thing I did NOT want to do, since I knew it would hurt even more) that she would come out and the pain would be gone. So I pushed and pushed again. She was out and I just could not believe my eyes. There she was. A new sweet tiny baby girl. How was she here already!? I was so shocked she was out and it was over with. She was beautiful and we were SO happy. On a side note, during the pushing the Dr gave me an episiotomy. Another side note, when we arrived at the hospital I found out the Dr that I wanted was on call! I was SO happy to hear that he would deliver Emma. I guess there shifts go from 7am-7am the next day. So, if I had went into labor the night before he would not have been my Dr. The Lord was blessing me all along.

After Emma was delivered I was on such a happy high. I was just SOO happy to not be pregnant. So happy that I arrived at the hospital in time and so happy the labor and delivery was easy. Every thing just turned out perfect. There were so many conflicting things going on in our schedule the next few days that it would have been a pain to have her any other day. Things like Olivia starting school on Tuesday. I was elated. It seemed everything was perfect. We are now home and everything is going really well. Emma is 2.5 days old and a good nurser. My nipples hurt extremely bad, but she is eating well and I know it will get better with a little time. I've had help from 2 lactation specialist and I think I've got all the help I could ask for. We are all so happy and mostly healthy. (the girls and Brett have had colds) Hopefully Emma won't catch anything.