The Birth Story!

Emily Bly Posson was born on Friday, March 19 at 8:51PM. She weighed 6lbs., 11 ounces and measured 19 inches long. Those are her stats...now here's how she got here!

On Thursday morning at 8:00AM, I pulled into the hospital's parking garage intending on just going to my 38 week appointment. This was the appointment my regular doctor would not be seeing me because she was on Spring Break with her kids. I had a normal visit...I was still not dilated and had no effacement. The only thing was that my blood pressure was really, really high. As most of you know, I struggled with my blood pressure throughout the pregnancy, but that day was different. Usually my high blood pressure is due to anxiety, and I can tell you before you put the cuff on me whether I will give a high reading or not. Well, I felt totally calm and was still giving a 156/97 reading! The doctor had me lay down in the exam room for about 5 minutes, and the nurse came back to retake it. It came down, but not enough...136/94. The bottom number was just too high. So, Dr. Durrani sent me over to labor & delivery to be monitored. At this point I was scared to death! Ben had not come with me to this appointment, so there I was in a hospital gown, in a tiny room, laid on a bed, with straps around my belly and a blood pressure cuff taking my pressure every 15 minutes all by myself! They took my blood and a urine sample to test for preeclampsia symptoms and told me it would take a few hours, so I called Ben to come on over to be with me. After Ben arrived, my blood pressure started to come down, and my urine sample showed no protein, so I expected them to come in any moment and tell me I could go home. Well, the blood test came back and Dr. Durrani came in with the report. She told me my blood platelet count was low. Normal is 140,000-400,000. Mine was 94,000. She told me if the count continued to drop, there would be bleeding risks and a possibility of no epidural! She suggested that since I was 38, almost 39 weeks along, we should go ahead and deliver! I was excited, but still scared out of my mind! We called our parents to tell them Emily would be here some time on Friday!

They then moved me to a labor & delivery room around 4:00PM and started me on the pill that would start the dilation process. The main job of the cytotek is to open everything, but it also can start contractions as well...which it did. So my labor actually started around 4:00PM on Thursday and would last a total of 29 hours. They started me on the pytocin drip around 9:00AM on Friday morning, and as they plugged it in to my IV, I was told my blood platelet count had gone down further to 85,000 and the anesthesiologist would not perform an epidural on me because of the risk of bleeding in the spine. So, I was going to have to go all natural! Again, I was terrified!

After that, the contractions started to get stronger and stronger and closer and closer together. I tried to practice my breathing that we'd gone over in the prepared childbirth class, but towards the end it was so painful, it was all I could do to take in a deep breath and then let out a loud, gutteral groan. A lot of the sequence of events between the hard contractions and when she was actually born are quite a blur to me. I can't remember what I said, I don't remember who was there (other than Ben), and I didn't care about anything other than getting her out! Ben did a great job...he held my hand and let me squeeze the ever loving crud out of his, and helped me remember to breathe. I do remember seeing the look in his eyes...it was a pained expression that said he wished he could go through it for me. I love him dearly!

Around 8:30PM, it was time to start pushing...I pushed maybe 9-10 times (again, a lot of this was a blur) for about 20 minutes and little Emily Bly was born and screaming her head off! They laid her on my stomach while Ben cut the umbilical cord, and all I remember saying was "Oh, I love you" over and over as I petted my new baby girl! Emily, Ben, and I stayed at the hospital until Sunday afternoon and were then discharged to go home. We're all doing wonderfully!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us during the pregnany and during the labor & delivery. I'd like to ask that you continue to pray that Ben and I will be the godly parents Emily needs. My heart's desire at this moment is that she's happy, healthy, and that we're able to one day lead her to the Lord that so graciously gave her to us!

The day after Emily was born...

Dressed in Aggie gear, ready to go home...

About to head out to her first doctor's appointment and looking pretty ticked about it :)~...