4 years ago today

Today is Emily's 4th birthday. It's hard to believe something so fresh in my mind happened 4 years ago. I had such high hopes for the day she was to be born. I really enjoyed the day Tyler was born. I felt no pain after the initial 6 centimeters and I just sat in a bed and visited with many friends and family that dropped by. People came and went all day long. I really connected with my nurse, who dropped by the visit even on her off time. Regardless of his stay in NICU, the whole birthing experience was a good memory. I really looked forward to that again. We were to deliver Emily at a different hospital, one designed for many people to visit and leisurely enjoy their stay while we chatted around refreshments in the large seating area and watched TV on the large entertainment unit. Brent's mom came for the big day and we were all looking forward to a great day. I was supposed to be induced on July 22, checking into the hospital at 6:00. I woke at 3:00 a.m. not feeling so great. After asking Brent what time it was every 5 minutes for an hour, we decided to go in a little early and see if they had an opening (Like a hair salon or something). I was dying on the way to the hospital. Then , Emily did some sort of stretching, flip thing and I just about came out of the van. My water broke EVERYWHERE and I just thought I would die. I was laughing so hard at my water breaking and crying so hard because of the pain. I am sure I was a sight. We pulled up to the door of the hospital and didn't even park the van. Brent ran in ahead of me and told the moron at the desk that I was to be induced at 6:00, but my water had broken. This man picked up the phone and said to someone on the other end,"I have a woman that thinks her water has broken." ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I am soaked from the waist down and their is a river from my van to this desk!!! So, they already had my room ready with an XXXXL gown on the bed. I immediately began asking for my IV to be started, knowing I would need 2 bags of fluid before I could get an epidural. They looked at me like I was a wannabe OB nurse. She checked me and said I was at 4 cm. She wasn't out of the room 3 minutes and I made Brent go get her and tell her I had to push. She came in a said, "Oh, honey. That's just your baby moving down. You are fine." Just to humor me, she checked me again and her eyes just about popped out of her head. She ran out and 2 seconds later, 4 or 5 nurses and a dr. came in and a warming bed was pulled in the room. Brent said, "I don't think you are getting an epidural!" I screamed," Can't you just spray something on me?" How stupid. About 10 minutes later, Emily Kate came into the world ready to party. It was really fun calling everyone that was supposed to come up in a few hours to visit and tell them about our morning. My parents got their pretty quickly and we were taken upstairs to our room. I was dreaming about what fabulous breakfast I would send out for and Brent came into the room. He said, "Turn on the TV. All the nurses are gathered around their TV like something is going on." We turned on the TV just in time to hear STRAIGHT LINE WINDS and the power went out. We opened the blinds and the trees were all bent in half. A nurse came in and asked me to go sit in the hall. I had to tell her that I had given birth less than 2 hours before, so they unhooked my bed from all the wires and wheeled me out into the hall. All the babies had to go the "Safe Room", whatever that is. The storm passed and I got to go back to my room. Power was out all over Memphis and no one could get anywhere. It took my mother in law hours to get there. No one could come visit me. We had no power at all for several hours, and then we got it since we were a hospital. We were the only place in Memphis with an A/C. We were lucky, though. Our power at home came on as we were leaving the hospital. Some people were out of power for a month. What a day. Emily has brought us 4 years of joy and laughter. We knew by her entrance, she would take the world by storm!