Little Emma Leigh! All dressed up in her Sabbath finery! Thank-you Grandma A for the pretty dress, and Auntie Raini for the pretty sweater, and Great-Aunt Gaye for the cutie slippers! At Aunt Gaye's house for the family holidays, November 26, 2005 

Momma and Emma Leigh at the family holidays, November 26, 2005 

Colby's cousin Katie holding Emma Leigh at the family holiday get-together. November 26, 2005 

Daddy and Josh went out on the snowmobile to the horse barn, and Josh enjoyed riding around very much! Every time they stopped he'd ask to go ride some more!... until they drove under a snowy tree and got some cold snow in their faces! Daddy dropped off Josh at the door and went to complete the chorse, and Josh came in and took a nice warm bath! November 25, 2005 

This is Josh all dressed up to go outside in the snow with Daddy to feed the horses! November 25, 2005 

Our family of four! We were just getting ready to leave Colby's grandparents' house - Joshua's only nap was the 15 minutes in the high chair, and Emma Leigh was getting VERY hungry. The storm outside had gotten worse while we had been there visiting, though, and the 8 mile drive home at almost 0 visibility took more than half an hour, which made it a bit stressful! November 24, 2005. 

Thursday night we went over to Colby's grandparents' house. Grandma M read to Joshua the same two books about 10 times each, I think! November 24, 2005 

Joshua didn't get a nap in before Thanksgiving dinner! Poor little guy just passed out right there in his high chair! Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2005 

New tickers for my kids!

Had to update the ticker situation since when you scroll down it still says I'm 41 weeks and some days pregnant!

The bride and groom: Josh and Kristen. Josh is one of Colby's oldest friends, and I hope they have a happy life together! November 19, 2005 

Colby's friend Josh got married in a beautiful ski lodge on Saturday evening. You can't see much for details, but they got married in front of the rock fireplace, with a fire going inside, with two Christmas trees on either side. It was really pretty inside. November 19, 2005 

Funny girl! She's so laid back! November 18, 2005 

Busy Daddy! Holding his baby girl and trying to walk around with Josh with his head between his knees is tricky! November 18, 2005 

Our first snowfall of the season was a doozy! We had about 8 inches when we woke up, and got a few more inches during the day! November 17, 2005 

Emma Leigh sleeping in a cute little outfit. November 16, 2005 

Grandma's initiation! While changing Emma Leigh, she started to cough, so Grandma scooped her up and started patting her back. Emma Leigh chose that moment to finish what she'd started... Grandma was a mess, but we were laughing too hysterically to notice! November 15, 2005 

Auntie Raini proudly introduces Emma Leigh Anne, who was born November 13, 2005 at 1:15 am. She weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz. and was 20.75 inches long!  

Finally coming home! Colby actually had to move the straps from the smallest setting to the middle setting because she was too big to fit! We were so thrilled to finally be going home! Tuesday November 15, 2005 

Because it hadn't been 4 hours between the administering of my antibiotics and when Emma Leigh was born, they wanted to keep her for 48 hours to moniter her lungs and make sure she wasn't fighting the Group B Strep infection. She had a lot of mucous in her lungs that she continually spit up, and her breathing was fast, so they decided to run some tests on Monday night. They x-rayed her chest, and took some blood. They tried twice to get into her little veins and couldn't, so they wheeled her off to the NICU to get a baby-vein expert to get it in. She came back with the IV start still in, in case they needed to give her antibiotics. It was hard to watch her go through, but she was a tough little chick and only cried when they swabbed her skin with the cold alcohol preps!  

After everyone settled in, Grandma M and Auntie Raini made it to the hospital (we hadn't given them enough warning!) and got to see the baby. After a short visit they went home with Grandma A and we all slept. Later in the morning they came back with Aunt Gaye who had taken care of Josh for the night, and Josh got to meet his baby sister! He was SO excited! He thought she was pretty special, and shared his tractor with her! 

I couldn't believe that she was born with dark hair! She looks so different than Josh did when he was born! Her head is shaped differently, her complexion is darker, and she has dark hair! And no one in the room could believe how much she weighed! I never would have believed I was capable of giving birth to such a big baby! No one rushed me through anything, and I held her on my tummy for about 20 min. before they took her to clean her up and weigh her. I had only been there for 3 hrs and 15 minutes when she was born! 

By the time the IV was in and the antibiotics fully administered it was about midnight, and I was starting to feel more pain. And then I started to get a little grumpy, which was quickly followed by feeling really nauseated. Everyone could tell how quickly I was going through transition! About 15 minutes after the nausea I felt the need to push. Colby was an amazing coach! In the moments when I felt like panicking, he calmed me down, lifted me up with his strength and got me through it! Then, 5 pushes and 16 minutes later, my baby girl was born! I couldn't believe how much faster that went than Joshua's birth! She was perfect and healthy and she pinked up quickly when she started crying! 

We were checked in at 10 pm, and I was already dilated to 6 cm. After getting settled in to my room, my midwife did a procedure involving sterile water papules, which took the pain of back labor down to almost nothing immediately! I couldn't believe the difference it made, and I could then concentrate on cooperating with what was going on inside of me rather than trying not to fight the pain. After that they had to administer an IV to me to give me antibiotics. It took them 30 minutes and 4 tries to get it in! 

Colby came home from the bonfire at a little after 9 and it woke me up when he came to bed. He asked how I was doing and I told him things were starting to pick up. I got up to use the bathroom and immediately had a contraction. About 10 steps later I had another one, which put me on my hands and knees. This really got Colby's attention! Trying to get back to bed after using the bathroom did the same thing, and Colby was in gear! We got ourselves dressed and downstairs and out the door in about 15 minutes, knowing this was it! Aunt Gaye had already taken Joshua with her to her house, so we didn't have to wait. The drive over was uncomfortable, but quick, and they didn't waste any time getting me checked in.