Scene - Sunday, April 21st, 2002...3AM

I am awoken by a sharp pain in my side. I sit up abruptly thinking...Could this be it?!?!?!? I laid still for ten more minutes counting..indeed at least one more pain that came and went. They were painful. I got up and decided to shower to see if that would calm them down. As soon as the hot water hit my belly, the pain increased. This was definitely it. I walked out to the living room where my husband had been up all night watching movies and told him it was time. His response? "No way!" Yes way. We got dressed, woke up Molli and Jonah, called my mom and off we went. By the time we got to my parents house it was 5 AM. My contractions were increasing. I could barely say goodbye as we passed our small children into the waiting arms of their grandparents. We started off to the hospital. I was calculating in my head...ok, it takes 45 minutes to get there...I can do this.....

I had to pee. There was just no getting around it. Unfortunately for me, there was NOTHING on the stretch of highway between us and the hospital. I made Matt pull over and I stood and peed on the side of the road. WOW, that made the contractions even harder and closer together. I asked Matt to PLEASE drive faster. Not five minutes later, there are red lights flashing behind us. I moan as another contraction hits, so irritated with this officer, it's 5 AM for pity sake!! He walks up to the window and bends over to look into the car. Matt can barely get these words out.."um, she has to....baby.....gotta go..." I groan as yet another contraction hits not three minutes after the last one. The officer's eyes shoot open. "Do you need an ambulance??" he asked. "No, no...just gotta go...", Matt sputters. "Alright, be careful!", the officer says. "GO!" I scream. We get here without any further ado. By this time, I am in so much pain. Nothing I do, no position I am in can help. All of a sudden, Matt leans over me and says, "Honey, I'm not sure I want to name her Emma..." I look up and him in amazement. "Are you joking me???", I demanded. "And what, pray tell are we going to call her????" He shrugs. I can't keep up the dialog as I am swept into yet another contraction. I beg Matt for an epidural. "Honey, you don't really want one of those, remember??", he says to me. Crying, I grab his hand and say, "YES I DO!!!!", ever so calmly. The doctor comes strolling in. "May I please have an epidural????" I ask. He decides to check me first. GRRRR....I am at 9, no time for an epidural. He says I can have a shot...something, anything. He turns around to get the shot and I have to push ready or not, here we go. Never has anything ever been so painful and yet 4 pushes later, out she came. Pink, crying and the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.



Welcome to the world my little Emma Jane.....and now, four years later, happy birthday my beautiful girl.....