A Birth Story

I read a blog a while ago that shared the birth story of their child on their birthday. So I decided to share the story of Emmie’s birth in honor of her birthday which was Saturday! About this time 4 years ago, I was pregnant with our second child, Emmie. During my first delivery, Coleman’s shoulder got stuck but they were able to help him out without any damage to his shoulder. He was a couple of weeks early and only weighed 6 lbs 12 oz. So the second time around my doctor was worried that the birth canal was a bit narrow and there was a chance that Emmie may get stuck as well. I was trying to decide if we should try it again or go for a C-section. But I didn’t have a chance to finish my research since Emmie decided to come even earlier than Coleman. On August 26, 2002, (at 36 weeks and 6 days), I woke up and had red urine (is that too graphic? Well, it is a birth story …) Thinking I was having another kidney stone (I seem to have kidney stones with every pregnancy but that is a different blog post), I called the Doctor and they told me to come in.

So, I loaded up 16-month old Coleman and Daddy met us at the hospital. They decided to monitor the baby while I was there. The nurse asked me if I could feel the contractions. I was like, contractions? What contractions? I was already at 3 cm and didn’t know. I was a little nervous since I hadn’t decided about what type of delivery to try that we went ahead and scheduled the C-section. Brian and I took Coleman home to stay with Granny and then we headed back up to the hospital. They prepped me for surgery and at 3:23 pm, little Emmie joined us in person! (I won’t go into graphic details about the C-section, because, frankly, I can’t stomach it! Ha! Seriously, I’m not good with those kind of things, I couldn’t even look at the incision for the longest time.) Little Emmie weighed only 6 lb 5 oz. so I probably could have delivered her the other way. (Later, I had a VBAC with the 3rd who weighed the same as Emmie and all went fine). But oh well. You live and learn. At least she was here safe and sound.

Coleman was thrilled with his new little sister, Emmie. And we are thrilled with her still. I can’t believe she is 4 years old already. She brings so much joy to our family – and questions – LOTS of questions. She is full of life and continually makes us laugh. She loves to play “Mommy” to her baby dolls and swing on her swing set. I pray for many more years together with her. Most of all, I pray for her heart to be tender towards God. I pray He will draw her to Himself and that we will be faithful to continually expose her to His Word! We love you Emmie-lou!