Last Sunday around 1:00 am I started having mild contractions. Since my due date was still 4 weeks away, I thought they were probably just braxton hicks contractions and went back to bed. After trying unsuccessfully so sleep for a few more hours I decided to wake up Mike and ask him what he thought. He agreed that it was probably false labor so I should try to just sleep it off. At 9:00 I informed him that the contractions were getting closer together and much more painful. We started timing them and they were five minutes apart. At this point we decided to go the hospital to get checked out. We both assumed that they would check us, tell us it was not true labor, and we would be on our way within an hour. We didn't bring our bags or anything.
We got to the hospital and got taken back to the exam room. Soon the nure came in and asked a a million questions and finally checked to see if I was dialating. After checking me she says "you are going to have a baby today!" Mike and I both looked at each other and I think I said "Are you kidding?"
We got settled into our labor and delivery room and shortly after that I got an epidural. The next 5 hours were smooth sailing and I felt great! At about 5:30 the doctor said I was fully dialated and ready to push. After two hours of pushing we welcomed Emmalyn Kate Babinicz into the world at 7:37 pm. We were both overcome with emotions and couldn't believe the love we felt for our little girl.
Here we are one week later. Emmalyn had her first pediatrician appointment today and the dr. said she looks great. We are enjoying being parents (even with the lack of sleep). Here is another picture of our beautiful baby girl.
