David & Mandy Phillips

Our daughter Emily Rae Phillips was born on Tuesday August 26th. I feel like my pregnancy went by so fast! I was supposed to be induced on Thursday the 21st. About an hour before we were to leave for the hospital, they called and said that they were too busy and couldn't take me until Monday. We were so disappointed! So, we had to wait. I was hoping that she would want to come out by herself before Monday seeing as my due date was Friday the 22nd. But, the weekend came and went and before we knew it, it was Monday morning and we were on our way to the hospital.

The plan was to start the pitocin and go from there. By about 8:30am I was all hooked up and the pitocin had started running though me. I was not even a centimeter dialated. The contractions weren't bad at all. I took a few naps during the day. By about 3:00pm they had maxed out the pitocin and decided to turn it off. I was still only about a centimeter dialated. They decided to start the cervix medicine to try and thin it out. I got that at about 5:00pm. After about a half hour, the contractions started to get more intense. Each one was worse than the one before it. The nurses said that it was probably just my body's reaction to the medicine and that I probably wasnt in labor yet. Around 7:00pm, my water broke. They werent sure if my water actually broke or if it was just liquids being pushed out from the contractions. In the mean time, the contractions were getting stronger and stronger. They checked my cervix and I was about 2cm dialated. That was good news. The medicine was doing it's job.

As the night went on, I was getting more and more uncomfortable. They said that they couldnt give me an epidural yet because they werent sure if I was actually in labor. They had to keep checking the fluids that were leaking out to see if it had amniotic fluid in it. They tried to give me some pain meds to help with the pain. Those just made me tired and sick to my stomach. Finally as midnight approached, they determined that I did in fact break my water and that I could get an epidural. I dont really remember much at that point. They checked my cervix and I was 6cm dialated. After I got the epidural, I fell right asleep.

At around 2:45am, the nurse came in to check my cervix again and determined that the baby's head was sticking out and I was ready to push. We woke Dave up, called my mom and step-dad and the nurses called the doctor. I only had to push for about 20 minutes and she was out. That was the best day of my life!

Emily was born at 3:30am. She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long.

Today she is doing great! I feel like she is growing way too fast. She eats all the time and sleeps through most of the night, only waking up once. We are so thankful for such a healthy and happy baby.