A Long Story..... Leading to Plans for Emily

We finally have plans for Emily's arrival, but before I tell you all that, I need to start at the beginning to get you all caught up.

We arrived home late from a recruitment dinner Tuesday night. I worked on the nursery a little and then crawled into bed around 12:30 to read. (I know, awful sleep routine- but it's only about to get worse!) Usually when I lay my Bible across my belly, Emily starts rolling around like crazy inside of me-- every night, never fails. After a few minutes of reading, I noticed that the weight of the book hadn't done anything tonight. I tried rubbing my belly some and still no movements. For the next 30 minutes or so, Brad and I poked and prodded, trying to get Emily to move. We eventually decided we better go to the hospital and get it checked out. So, we hopped in the car around 1:00 am and headed to the hospital. Once there, they hooked me up to a machine, and we heard Emily's heartbeat. What a huge relief!! They monitored me for a while and gave me a little button to push each time I felt Emily move. After a while, Brad noticed that I was pushing that button in a pretty regular pattern. He got up and walked around the bed to check the little machine with the print-out. He looked up at me and said, "Angie, you're not feeling Emily move. You're feeling contractions!" Oops! :) I now officially know what a contraction feels like. Apparently I had been having small contractions for a while now but thought it was Emily doing a special roll move inside of me. The nurses called the on-call doctor and let me go home after about 2 hours. Since my contractions were not "painful" to me, and since I had an appointment that afternoon with my OB, I headed home.

Once home, those contractions started getting very uncomfortable. By 5:00 am, my lower back was hurting with each contraction, and my legs were going numb. I couldn't tell if things had intensified or if it was just the addition of the back pain that made it worse. Brad and I decided we would make a decision at 6:00 as to whether or not to go back to the hospital. (I hated to be "that woman" who went 2 times in one night!) I had my last contraction just before 6:00, and then that was it. It was over. I was finally able to drift off to sleep and get some much needed rest.

I told this long story to my doctor that afternoon at my appointment, and he continues to think Emily will be making her grand entrance very soon. Because of all the action I've been feeling lately, we decided to go ahead and make plans for induction. My doctor is going out of town Wednesday, and we really want him to deliver. So..... an induction has been set for this Saturday, January 12th in the morning! I was very nervous about the thought of not letting my body do this on its own, but I'm starting to feel a little better about it. Please say prayers that I will do well.

I suppose this will be my last post to you before I take on the title "Mommy." (Maybe I'll come back from birth a little less winded. That was a really long story--sorry!) We are very excited but also very nervous thinking that a little girl is about to be given to us. Thanks for all your well wishes, and please continue to pray as we begin this very new stage of our life!