The day an Angel was born

This post is a very special one. I hold it very close to my heart. This story, is about the painful journey that led to the most beautiful, magical and memorable moment of my life.

This, is the story of how little Emery came into this world.

December 13th, 2010

5:00pm I remember looking at the time and felt cramping pains. I didn't think much of it because I didn't want to get my hopes up. So I went about my night like nothing different. Every 20 min I'd feel cramping. Was this it? Was I feeling contractions?

11:00pm The contractions grew stronger and stronger, more painful, where I couldn't sleep. I was getting them every 10 min. I still hadn't told my Mom nor T. I just silently went downstairs and laid on the couch trying to sleep in between contractions. I was told that I wouldn't need to go in to the hospital until my contractions were every 3-5min apart for a complete 2 hours. So I was just keeping track of them.

6:00am Tuesday December 14th My contractions grew to every 5mins. Then at 7:00am I was having them ever 2-4 min. I had already showered and told my Mom and T. Then we hopped in the car and called the labor and delivery.

I got up to L&D and checked in. They asked me why I was there. I said, "Um...well, I think I'm having my baby" They asked me when my due date was and I told them it was that day. They were all confused. Apparently babies don't usually come exactly on their due date.

I was told that they would check me. I had to be at a 4 in order to be admitted and be considered "in labor". What the heck?! I had been having extremely painful contractions for hours now. They checked me, I was only at a 2. They told me to put my walking shoes on and to go for an hour walk. T came with me, we were walking around the general area of the hospital. I had to stop every 2 min to breathe through the pain. We made it back up to the room and they checked me, the blessed doctor said I was a 3, small 4. And said she could feel the hair on Emery's head. She then popped my water then said those heavenly words, "Well, you're staying! She's staying." YES!

So, I put on my gown, got all hooked up to all the crazy machines. Was first given my IV with antibiotics (I had tested positive for Strep B, so once my water broke, they had to hook me up with them so it wouldn't hurt E) then with pitocin.

This is the happy me, in between contractions.

Then as the contractions started again, I'd tell T to hurry and be by my side.

Oh, they were so painful! But then of course, I'd have maybe a minute or two of rest. And I'd be happy again. By this point, I started getting so cold! I asked for warm blankets. I think my body was sort of having a panic attack.

Then those blasted contractions would start again. I recall telling T, "Babe, I just can't do this anymore. It's so horrible." I was crying. T cried with me and would tell me over and over again how I was doing so well and that he wished he could take the pain away.

Finally, around 2:00pm (mind you, I got admitted at noon) they said they could start getting the epidural ready. It couldn't come fast enough! Let me tell you, getting a gigantic needle in your back while trying to breathe through contractions every min, is way difficult! The lady that was doing the epidural wasn't very nice. That's my only complaint out of my entire experience at the hospital. She only got it to work on one side! So then I was feeling concentrated pain on my left side. Ugh. It was awful. Finally, the real anesthesiologist came and was able to fix it so it distributed evenly.

My gosh, did that make a difference! Life was grand and heavenly afterwards! They told me to rest up. I was only at a 5cm at that point, so I still had time to rest before pushing. They said they would come check in on me an hour later. That would be 6pm. I tried to rest. Well, I did my best. It felt so nice not to feel the contractions anymore. T left to go get food with his brother and friend. They came back and said hello for a few min.

6:00pm the nurse came in to check me. Believe it or not, I was 10cm dilated and 100% effaced. For those of you that don't know, that means it's time to push. Everything was ready to go. I couldn't believe it. I had progressed that quickly so fast.

The nurse had me do some "practice" pushing with her. I thought that it meant to just push a few times so I would get the hang of it. No, it really meant that I would push until E was in position to be pushed OUT. haha T's brother was in the room experiencing all of this with myself, T and my Mom. T really wanted his brother there to experience this. By the time he asked me if it was okay, I didn't care because I just wanted E out! haha So, Tuhk (T's brother) stayed behind the bed where he couldn't see anything. I, of course, couldn't have a mirror like I wanted because that would make everything viewable to Tuhk. So, the doctor let me reach down and feel Emery's head as it was starting to crown. I was in love. Finally feeling her little flesh made it all so worth it. I was even more determined to push as hard as ever and for however long to get her out.

I'll spare you from any gruesome photos.

As soon as they got her out and T cut the cord, they handed her directly to me. I finally got to hold my baby! My precious little angel who I had thought about for years and years. The one I talked to and felt kick and do flips in my tummy for 9 months. My baby girl. My precious precious girl.

Daddy is so proud.

Here are a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

7lbs 12oz 20inches long.

She did not like getting those eye drops!

Daddy gets to hold her for the first time!

Proud Uncle Tuhk!

I was in awe just staring at her. She was so happy and calm with me.

After the epidural wore off, I was able to walk to the recovery room. She got to stay the night with us.

T and I took turns holding her while the other slept. I didn't want her to sleep all by herself. I mean, she was so used to being with me for so long. It broke my heart to just have her sleep alone.

After getting her vitals taken. She's so peaceful!

Natural Induction Please?

While T and I discussed the "perfect" timing when to have a baby be born, we realized that we didn't want our baby born too close before or after Christmas because 2010 Christmas was going to be a big year. It was the first year in 3 years that our entire family (That's including my parents, 6 brothers, myself, 4 sister in-laws, 3 nieces and 6 nephews and of course, my man.) would be together. I didn't want to miss out on the fun!

Well, of course, God really is the one in charge here. E's due date fell on December 14th 2010. Just a week before we were scheduled to take off to Utah for our family extravaganza.

As soon as I was full-term (37 weeks) I was ready to have her. But, nothing felt different. I started googling and searching for ways to "naturally induce" labor. I found the Preggo Pizza, drinking Castor Oil, eating Eggplant Parmigiana from Olive Garden, and many other ways. Actually, a nurse at the labor and delivery told me the best way to get the baby out, is, "the same way you got the baby in there". Sorry if that's too much information. You can read more about other natural ways of inducing labor here.

I even tried running up and down my stairs several times to help move things along. I think every pregnant woman gets to the point of being desperate and will do anything to get that baby out. Mind you, I tried about everything besides the castor oil!

My Mom had come out to visit December 4th to help finish the last things around the house and preparation for Emery. We were so busy getting things together. I'm so grateful she had come out. She kept me calm and reminded me that everything would happen at the right time.

I constantly prayed to God and talked to Emery telling them both how important it was for me to be there for our family's Christmas. I had talked with my doctor and she said that they wouldn't induce me until I was over a week past my due date. That put me at December 21st, the day I was suppose to drive to Utah. I sure felt the pressure of jump starting the labor. I was comfortable and happy. Had I not been on a time crunch, I could have kept Emery in there for another month!

The day before the due date I lost it. I was so emotional, I started crying. I had no idea what to do. Had it been any longer it would have made me not able to go on the family vacation. I cried and cried. I was so upset. So hurt. I felt so helpless. I had no control over it. I did everything I could to get my little angel in the world and none of it was working. T was so sweet and talked with me, calmed me. I felt better. My Mom, T and I went and ate then walked around the outdoor mall.

It was then, that I started cramping.

The Proposal

How could I forget?!

I move on to the wedding details and forgot to even mention the proposal. How very silly of me.

I knew that the proposal was inevitable. I just didn't know how or when T was going to pop the question. I just told him it had to be before we had our bridals taken.

Then on March 8th, 2009 as my Mom and I were stuffing the invites, T had to work that night so we had planned on hanging out a bit before he had to take off. He told me he had to go on base real quick to get some things and then we'd grab a bite to eat and he'd drop me off at the hotel. We get on base and head to the dorms where T was living, as he turns at a stop sign we see cop lights light up our car. I was so confused.

I say to T: Um, babe. I think a cop is pulling us over.
T: Really? You think that's for us? Hmm...

Me: Uh....yeaaaaah. What did we do wrong?!

Cop comes up to T's door. Tell's T to roll down all the windows in the vehicle and for us both to step out. Oh my gosh, I was so nervous. I've never been asked to step out of the vehicle. The cop goes to his patrol car and back to us to inform us the following.

Cop: Do you know why I'm pulling you over?

T: No.

Cop: You ran that stop sign back there.

Me: No, he didn't. I remember him completely stopping. (Oh man, me and my big mouth!)

Cop: Sir, are you registered to this vehicle?

T: No, I'm not.

Me: It's my car. I'm registered to the vehicle.

Cop: You see, there's a law on base that no one is allowed driving on base in a vehicle they are not registered for.

What the heck?! I'm dying over here. I try explaining I had no idea....T even says he didn't know.

So we wait. The cop had to call his boss. I'm not kidding, 5 cop cars showed up. I was so embarrassed. We were parked right in front of the COP DORMS. So everyone saw us.

Cop's boss shows up and repeats the same. And then says, "The only way you could be okay driving on base in this vehicle is if you two were married." I start interrupting wanting to say, "Wait! We are getting married" And then T interrupted and said, "So you're saying, if we're married, I will be ok to drive?"

Then the cop says, "Well, hey! Get married!" And hands T the ring box. I am in total shock. haha

You can imagine the rest. Luckily, one of the cops that showed up was recording it. Actually, he explained to me during this whole scene that he was recording it for training purposes. haha I fell for it. Yes, I did.

Here is the video. This is actually our wedding video and has pictures of us as kids, then it has the proposal then pictures of our bridals. So, if you want to skip all the pictures, just fast forward to 4:18.

Well, blogger wont let me post it, so you can check it out here.

After the whole flight congratulated us, I come to find out that all the guys are the guys that actually work with T. He had tricked me for days thinking that the flights switched hours and that his flight wouldn't be working for a few more hours. T's flight chief (the boss) told T he could have the rest of the night off. So we called my Mom and brother up, they met us up for dinner as we celebrated and gawked over my ring! The orignal cop that pulled us over is one of T's friends that mysteriously could never "get together" before hand.

T and the flight pulled it off perfectly. I had no idea and was taken away.

Fun little side note:
T's orignal plan to propose was actually have ME get pulled over while T was "at work" for a random car search with K-9's. They would "find" drugs in my possession and put me in jail. Then that is where T would come and "rescue" me and propose while I'm behind bars. haha!

Now to the HAPPY day!

Though my morning started off bad, T was right. It was all going to be better. (Why it was a bad morning) Thank goodness too! I was so pleased to see everyone we had invited to the Temple show up. It was so beautiful and touching looking around the room being surrounded by all our family and friends.

The Temple Sealing was beautiful. It's an amazing feeling, the bond between husband and wife. And given the promise that if we live righteously and do what Heavenly Father has asked of us, we will be together forever, literally. Wow. I am sure glad I picked someone amazing!

After the sealing, T and I finished getting ready to take pictures. Well, more like, I had to retouch everything from crying during the ceremony! As we were inside, everyone else was waiting outside for us to make our grand entrance! Or rather, exit! lol

Then we finally made our exit through the doors they anticipated on. It was so fun seeing everyone out there celebrating with us on our beautiful day!
Everyone wanted to see my red heels, so I showed them off. Then my brother's teased T to show his shoes off too.

I love this man so much. I truly am so grateful to be married to him.
How did I get so lucky?

Then we greeted and hugged everyone. It sure felt nice to feel the love.



Then it was time to take pictures! Everyone who was there to celebrate and then just both sides of the immediate families.

It was then T's turn to take pictures with all the bridesmaids. T's brother wanted in on the fun!


Here is the groom and all the groomsmen. T's brother is in the red tie, whereas all but one of my brothers are there too.


Just me with my gorgeous bridesmaids!



We figured it was time to take shots with the kiddos. My niece and nephews. Unfortunately my other niece wasn't there at this time. You'll see some with her in other photos.

Here I am with my brothers (remember one was in Peru!), they wanted to lift me and I started laughing so hard that I...excuse me for TMI, but I swear I almost peed myself! lol We were laughing so hard, as you can tell! We couldn't get a good shot.



T with his gorgeous sisters and his studly brother.

It was then time to take photos with our amazing parents whom we love so very much!



Now starts the photos of just T and myself on the grounds of the SLC, Utah Temple.

Isn't the Temple just breathtaking?



Then it was time to re-freshen up for the luncheon!

Happy day...???

You would think that every bride wakes up in the morning feeling rather beautiful, refreshed and uber excited for her big day, you would think so.

Here are a few DON'T's on what NOT to do the day/night before the wedding. For, I tell you this, from personal experience.

#1. Do not go tanning at the salon for the same amount of minutes you would had you been going regularly the day before your wedding. This will result to burning and redness all over your body.

#2. Do not use any new product on your entire body without testing it on a smaller part of your body first. This may result in intense pain and rash. Especially after doing #1.

#3. Do not stay up late.

#4. Do not panic

So. Here's my story to explain all of the above.

#1. As I previously mentioned that the day before our wedding us girls went out for a bit that day. Well, one of the things we did was tanning. I hadn't been tanning for about 2 years and thought it would be a great idea to get a little bronze before the big day. Yeah, for some reason I thought my skin could handle 8 min in the highest level of tanning beds, because! that is what I did when I tanned back in the day. BIG mistake.
I was hurting all afternoon into the night. All night to be exact.

#2. You know how you want to have fresh shaven legs for your big day? Well, duh, I did too. See, what I thought would be a great idea is wait until the day before to do one of those hair removals that you rub in this type of lotion that eats at the hair then use a razor-less razor (I don't know any other way to explain it) to wipe the hairs away.
Here's a story you will laugh about for ever. So, some time in the day after tanning, I was in the bathroom applying this cream to both of my legs. Mind you, I had the door closed. So as I'm sitting there suffocating myself due to the fumes, my legs are literally burning feeling like they are on fire. I immediately get a rash up to my knees. Thankfully, I only did half my legs to start. Here I am, ready to pass out and I can't get my legs to stop hurting. So I rush over and open the door to get fresh air.

#3. Of course, with my entire body in agony at this point, how in the world was I suppose to sleep?! I laid there for hours, and I was so anxious because I had my hair appointment early in the morning etc. Let's just say, I didn't get any sleep that night.

#4. Because I was so overly tired and exhausted from the pain, I was pretty panicked in the morning. I couldn't find the slip to my dress, I didn't have time to get my make up done. And when it was time to leave for the Temple, I hop in the back seat of my parents car and start bawling. They question what is wrong. I told them, "I don't want to get married today. Today is a very bad day". My parents asked, "C, are you sure? You don't want to be married? Is something wrong? Do you feel like it's not right?" Boy did I have some explaining to do. As I'm there bawling my eyes out explaining to them my torturous night they do their best to calm me down. Then I cry even harder because we were 5 min from the Temple and my eyes and face were all messed up and I had to put my make up on. *exhale* T tried calling me and I ignored it. Texting him I explain I am bawling and can't speak. Well gosh, that didn't help the poor guy. He asked me if everything was okay and I told him that I was excited to marry him but that I wasn't having a good morning. lol

He was so sweet as he embraced me at the doors of the Temple. He hugged me, told me softly in my ear how much he loved me and that no matter what had happened, everything was going to be better now. That cheered me up and I went on my way to get changed, and do my make up.

Last night as a Miss

April 10th 2009

What a celebration! The P & S family would be reunited once again, after so many years. I think our Dad's were looking forward to it the most. (Though they had just seen each other a fewweeks prior) All brothers and sisters would all be together, except for T's brother and his family who were stationed in Germany with the Air Force, on top of that, T's sister in-law was waiting to have her 4th baby so she had her hands tied. My younger brother was serving a mission in Peru. So, all but them. We missed them dearly, but we knew this was the right time to be married.

The night before our wedding everyone met up at the house T's family stayed at. We first ate lunch, us girls went out for a bit and I enjoyed my last day as a single lady!

(Ignore the fact my eyes are closed)

T came back from snowboarding with my brothers (I gave him plenty of speeches not to do anything stupid, for, it was the eve of our wedding! Can you imagine having to cancel a wedding due to the fact the groom broke something the day before? lol) and it was a happy reunion. Here is T's older sister and her husband! They are so awesome and are currently the only ones left in Birmingham, AL. What can we do to get them out of there, and move west?

T's family in Germany were very anxious to see everyone all together. So we made sure to have a few skype sessions during the activities!

After dinner, (which I do not have photos of!) T's Mom surprised us with something I wish they would do every year on our anniversary! lol But we are so very grateful for it and it sure helped pay our way through our honeymoon!

T's Mom asked everyone who was going to be at our party if they would like to donate any little (or big) cash that they had to us. Wow! But, it wasn't going to be that easy. T and I were blindfolded as everyone distributed all the money into easter eggs and hid them all over the house.

The race was on!!!!!

I don't remember to this day, who won but I do know we were

both very grateful. Thankfully, we like to share things so it doesn't really matter who won, right? For those who are wondering, we found over $600!!! Sweet! Thank you to everyone who made it a fun night!

A night isn't over until we make a McDonalds run. And we did just that. After my brother showed up we went on a little adventure. Yum.