the past 2 weeks

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.

The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."  

Psalm 121

Emma will be two weeks old tomorrow.  It's crazy how the days just fly by.  During the pregnancy, I loved this Psalm and how it proclaimed God as our keeper.  Thought it was perfect in praying for Emma as well...that He would keep and protect her life from this time forth and forevermore!  So far, He has answered this prayer of mine as well as so many others regarding labor and her delivery.  

I did go ahead and get induced thursday night, the 28th, at midnight.  And to be honest, I was excited to have and meet our baby girl...but pretty nervous too - mostly about the pain and how inducing would go.  Here's some pics before the big night...

Feeling big...

And here's what happened next...

When we got to the hospital, it took about an hour to get settled in our room.  They ended up starting me on pitocin at 1 am.  Soon, I started having small/cramp-like contractions which lasted until about 8 am.  Chad and I were able to sleep through these which was nice - especially knowing what was coming ahead.  At 8 am, my midwife came in to check me and break my water.  I was dilated at a 2 at this point.  As soon as she broke my water, the contractions started coming on HARD and STRONG.  I knew I wanted an epidural, since I was being induced, so, I asked for one right away.  However, the anesthesiologist was busy with a c-section for at least another hour.  I thought, "No big deal...I can handle an hour of hard contractions.  I've done this before".  But whoa...they just didn't slow down!  I got some neumorphine (with memories that it was WONDERFUL with Livie), but it didn't really take any edge off the pain this time.  By 9:30, they had checked me at least 3 times, and each time I was dilating more and more.  Around 10am, the anesthesiologist was still busy :(...and they checked me again...I was at an 8.  They told me at that point that I wasn't going to have time for an epidural.  I was so scared...but thought "God can get me through!".  Just then though, the anesthesiologist was free and outside the door :).   She came in and administered an intrathecal shot (a local drug that's similar to an epidural - it numbs the pain - but you can still feel and move your legs).  SO GREAT...but also really weird to go from so much pain to nothing.  About that time too, I found out my midwife had to leave and go deliver another baby...so, they took me off the pitocin until she got back.  I still had contractions during that time, but they were about 5 min apart and I couldn't feel them.  She was back by 11:15 (praise God for a quick delivery for the other mom!).  They started the pitocin again, I pushed around 15 minutes...and Emma was here at 11:40 :).  Such a different labor story than Livie's...but I truly LOVED both of the experiences.  SUCH a praise!

All brand new...

Livie getting to hold her for the first time...she was so giddy!

New family pic

Going home...

Meeting cousin Remy for the first time...Remy is just 8 weeks older than Emma.

Love her cheeks :)

Trying to explain the love I have for our girls is really hard...I just have to say that it's God-given and so strong.  I am so excited to watch them grow up!

Here's some more pictures from Rachel, taken when Emma was 5 days old.  

Since Emma's birth, our days (me and the girls') have been pretty relaxing - mostly staying home and enjoying the each other.  We've been out a little...to Walmart, Chad's office, church, walking the neighborhood, and a few other places (no traumatic experiences so far!).  Emma has been perfect...sleeping and eating consume her days :).  And Livie LOVES her so much.  She always is saying "hold me!"...meaning she wants to hold her, and "where'd Emma go?"...anytime she's out of sight.  She's been adjusting pretty well overall...just VERY clingy...to me especially.  Oh, and her stubbornness is coming out strong too - this little girl knows what she wants!  When she doesn't get it?...well, the pictures speak for themselves :). 

Chad has been super busy with work the past week and a half.  Between monday and tuesday this week he put in 30 hours :(.  Crazy...but such a blessing that NHS has so much work.  Construction on our new house has been at a stand-still for a couple of weeks because we still haven't got our first floor walls in (delays, delays).  They are supposed to come tomorrow though...so Chad is getting a crew together to put them up on Saturday.  It seems like forever since we've both been out to the lot...and now that Emma's here, we're just itching to get things going!