Well everyone, Emory is over 2 weeks old now - hard to believe how the time has flown! We are settling in and getting adjusted at home. We are loving it! Georgia and Jackson adore EmJ. She definitely is not lacking any visual or auditory stimulation around here. Jackson will hold Emory and just say "Hi baby" over and over again. He tried to hand her a car the other day - pushing it into her hand saying, "Car? Car?" So sweet - I know it will be fun for them when she can interact more. Georgia is the loving older sister. She will lay on the couch with EmJ on her chest for a good half hour. She just relishes the time with her. Georgia is still not quite used to calling her by her name yet - she mostly asks and talks about "the new baby". We call Emory "June Bug" sometimes (her middle name is June) and Georgia likes to call her "Lady Bug" or "Sweet Darling". I am not sure where she got that last one, but is is so neat to watch the way she loves her little sister. I never had a sister, and so I am thrilled that Georgia and Emory will be able to have this relationship. Here are some more pics! At home, not even a week old.Snuggling with DaddyNo, we didn't forget about the other kids - they play so well together. Jackson feels so special when we let him hold EmJWalking home from the park - boy, the double jogging stroller sure comes in handy!

GA and J love to spin - Brian and I love to watch Jackson "wind-up" before he takes off.

The rest of the story...

Diaper cake made for us by one of Brian's students - wow!!!
Getting ready to leave the hospital.
John and Joey (my brothers) with Brian and EmJ.

Ok, for the rest of the labor story! Where were we...back home laboring together. Contractions still about 6 minutes apart, but continuing to get more intense. Every time I would get up to pee I would have 3 or more contractions just to walk the 15 ft. to the bathroom. I would brace myself against Brian and breathe through it. Brian ran to my parents' house at 8 and picked up Jackson to put him down for bed. About 8:30 or so I was holding onto Brian's shoulders trying to walk to the bathroom. He said, "Hey, it's kind of like middle school dancing." He said that when I didn't laugh at that at all, he knew it was time to go to the hospital. He called our friend Tonya (who has done this 3 times before) and she agreed with him. We left the house shortly after 9 o'clock to go to the hospital and passed my mom walking with Georgia to our house. Mom told me later that Georgia kept asking her who was watching Jackson - such a thoughtful big sister! For those of you thinking of calling Child Protective Services, my parents live only 3 blocks away and Jackson was probaby not alone more than 3 minutes. We made it to the hospital about 9:30. While we were turning into the hospital the guy behind us honked - probably b/c Brian was turning slowly because I could feel the smallest bump and turn - and Brian said he wanted to give him the what-for, but I was in the middle of a contraction so he couldn't. Ha - good husband. I was 6-7 cm when we arrived and they put us in a room. We spoke to the midwife about breaking my water to get things moving. She had another mom who was at 9 cm, so she said that after she delivered that baby, she would come back to do it. So, about 10:45 they broke my water - which, by the way, doesn't hurt. But what does hurt is the contractions that hit you like a brick wall afterward. They were on top of each other and were really intense. I was doing the really deep, low breathing - think gorilla who has been shot and is moaning his last breaths. By the way, Brian is doing great this whole time, so encouraging, "Focus on your breathing - nice slow breaths, you're doing great..." After about 5-7 of these contractions, I am ready to push. For those of you who have never felt this sensation before, there is no way to describe it. When you say, "I need to push" what you really mean is "I feel like I am about to poop a watermelon, so somebody better be ready to catch this thing." Well after a good push and a half (not exactly sure what that means, but that is what the midwife said it was), Emory was born. Let's not mention how my throat was sore from semi-screaming her out. Sorry for the men out there reading this :). One thing that I find really amazing is how easily everyone can give you directions as you are doing the hardest thing you have ever done. Comments such as: keep your chin to your chest, bottom down, deep breaths, don't scream - all sound so easy off of the lips but they are not the one who is doing the work. Really, all I am thinking during the pushing phase is the harder I push, the faster this baby will come out. Leave it to me to be logical. Well, she arrived, a beautiful baby girl. Let me just say for the record that Brian and I were both really wanting a girl, so we were thrilled! They put her up on my chest right away. Boy, was she pink! We had asked for them to delay her getting eye drops and the vitamin K shot because I wanted to try to nurse her right away. So, I held her there on my chest and and got to nurse her until probably 1am - so amazing! It was such a neat time to bond with her, and that is something that I will never forget. What an amazing miracle to have a baby. God has truly blessed us, and we can't wait for all of you to meet our newest blessing!