Emma Gene is here!

On August 3, 2014 at 8:25am Emma Gene Cook was born.  And your birth story is a good one.  At around 5 am I started having contractions.  They were a little more painful than all the Braxton hicks contractions I had been having for the past few weeks, so I decided to start timing them.  With every contraction I had to get up and move around so in my gut I knew that it was probably the real thing but I wanted to be sure.  So after an hour of having contractions about 10 mins apart we started making phone calls and got moving.

We called your Mimi and Big D to come and retrieve Weyland and we called the Dodd's to make sure they were ready to receive Weyland.  After gathering all of our things and getting Weyland ready we were on the road.  We dropped off Weyland a little before 7 at the Dodds, at which point my contractions were now about 6 mins apart.  Your Dad got me all the way to the hospital (in Tomball) in record time, thank God.  Within those 30 mins my contractions had now gone from being 6 mins apart to only 3 mins apart.  We park and get into the hospital as quick as possible.  After a quick encounter with a very rude and unsympathetic receptionist we discover on our own which floor labor and delivery is on and head to the elevators.  My contractions are continuing to get stronger and closer together.  It is now approximately 7:30am.  We find the front desk and a nurse and get checked in.

I don't think any of us were expecting to hear what we hear from the labor and delivery nurse after she helps me get changed checks to see how dilated I am.  8 cm!!  Holy moly!! I had only been in labor for 2.5 hours and I was already dilated to 8.  She instructs David to forget the birthing ball, that I had plans to labor on, and to come help me.  She fumbles with getting my IV in and ultimately has to get another nurse to help her.  By the time she gets done asking me all the necessary questions and completes her protocol I start getting the urge to push.  But the OB (the on call OB, not the OB I had been seeing for the past 4 months) is not there and come to find out won't be there for another 15-20 mins.  Those were the longest 15 mins of my life.  Our nurse frantically puts some consent forms in front of my face and gets me to sign them as fast as possible (since I'm already dilated to 10).

The next 10 mins I spent begging our L&D nurse to break my water and let me push.  Finally the doctor finally arrived! Hallelujah! She introduces herself, breaks my water and three pushes later you were here.  You were perfect!  You weighed 8 pounds and 5 ounces and measured 20.5 inches (although I think you were a little longer than that).  You were born with a full head of dark hair.  I'm excited to see if it stays or all falls out like your big brothers' did.
My heart grew even more full that morning.  Love, that I knew existed but didn't comprehend, was there as soon as I saw your precious little face.  You are my sweet little girl and I love you more that you will ever know.  I can not wait to see how you grow and change in the next year.  I love you Emma Gene!

Your first bow!

Your big brother was very excited to meet you!  He was so curious as to who this mysterious "baby sister" really was.  I think he fell in love with you the minute he saw you.