Emma's first trip

I guess I am getting worse at figuring this blog out because when I attach pictures they show up wherever, and then when I try and write things this is what happens, it goes wherever it decides it should go. But, I've also realized that blogs are the best way to transfer pictures, so the first couple of pictures are for my mom- they are the ones I took of my siblings in Oregon. Well and then with Maddie and my mom on the plane. The next few are also for my mom, but some of my favorites. Other than becoming a mother myself, this was the ultimate mother's day present, even though it came a week later. I got to take a 4 generation picture with my mom and grammy. I think it's also kind of neat, because I've always been told that I look like my mother and grandmother, so to be in a picture with them and our little Emma is kind of a neat opportunity. They are the best mothers I know and hope I can be half of what they are. Happy Belated Mother's Day Mom and Grammy!

Mommy's girl

Emma definitely has her dad in her, but sometimes it just makes me look back at my old pictures when I see her make certain faces. It's quite obvious which one is me based on picture quality and etc. But, it certainly makes me look back and forth between them looking at the similarities

It's so fun to be a mommy!

We love our little Emma! It has been so much fun getting to know her. I feel like there is too much to say about her. When we went in for her two week appointment the doctor was surprised at how intently she was trying to roll over. So we haven't been putting her on the bed by herself at all. But she weighed 7 pounds. Which I'm sure her weight has gone up a lot more because she LOVES to eat. A few other things that she loves; car rides- you never hear a peep from her once she is in the car, baths- probably from all of the baths mommy took during the last few months of pregnancy, music- she loves music! Again probably from all of the country music that we listen to. She is quite social now and loves to communicate in her own little ways. She leaves nothing to your imagination, if she is feeling uncomfortable or less than pleasant she will let you know with her many faces. It's so fun having her in our family and we just adore her!

Our Little Emma

Well first I should tell everyone about James, he is AMAZING. I don't know how much I've written about his graduate applications, but he applied to
University of Arizona- got in
University of Utah- got in and got a scholarship
Boston College- got in and got a scholarship
Vanderbilt- got in and got a scholarship
University of Rochester- got in and got a scholarship
Duke- still waiting to hear back

Isn't that amazing? He was so worried about not getting in, and now it seems like he really has every option at his fingertips. I guess we'll be doing a lot of praying over the next few weeks so we can make a decision.

Anyway, so to reprimand all of you who said that I'd probably be dialated to a 3 for a while. WRONG! I went in the next week for an appointment, and the doctor had me 100 percent effaced and between 3 and a half and 4 centimeters. Granted that is between half and one centimeter in a week, but I hadn't felt anything up until this point. But, the doctor wanted to schedule me for an induction. After James and I talked about it for a while, we agreed that a week from that Wednesday we would go in to be induced so that it would be easier on James so the baby would be here before finals. But, I started to feel contractions that night, which continued on to the next day, but I was still hoping that it would be a little while. But, Thursday night they started getting a lot worse. I was trying to let James sleep, but at about 1:30 Friday morning, I had to wake him up and knew we had to go to the hospital. Needless to say it took James a little while to get himself up and ready, so by the time we actually got to the hospital it was 2:00, and I think I was checked in soon after that. The nurse checked me and said I was 4.5, she said she'd come back and check on me in 20 minutes to see if I had progressed any. When she came back she was surprised that I was at a 5, but able to tolerate the pain. So they admitted me into the hospital. They hooked me up to an IV and were going through asking a bunch of questions after admitting me. The nurse left and came back about twenty minutes later and I had progressed to a 6. At this point I was having a harder time and wanted some pain medication, but didn't want to get an epidural yet in case it slowed me down. Well the pain medication completely made me dizzy, but didn't do much for the pain, except made me relax a little bit, so the contractions were more effective . . . so within about 5 minutes I asked for the epidural. I kind of felt like a wimp trying to suffer through it with other pain medication, and then asking a short time later for the epidural. But, when she checked me for the epidural I had progressed to a 7 in about 10-15 minutes of time! The epidural was SO WONDERFUL! I didn't feel a thing, and it was nice to relax after all of that pain, but in just over an hour I was fully dialated, surprising the nurses, they called the doctor, and told me to start pushing. Well after three contractions of pushing the nurses told me to stop because the baby was right there. So we waited another 10 minutes for the doctor to get there, which he did at just after 6. By the time he was dressed and washed up, he had me push for one contraction and told me not to push anymore, and during the next contraction he just slid her out. At 6:12 a.m. on Friday, April 9th our first child was born. Everyone was so amazed that I was only there for 4 hours, and that I was only pushing for 4 contractions. It was by far a shocking delivery for the doctor, nurses, as well as James and I.

We named her Emma Kathleen Sweeney. We had a list of names, but she didn't look like any of the others, particularly because she came out with dark brown hair. I also wanted to use my name in part, but I really didn't like using "Erin" as a middle name, it just didn't fit with anything, and I thought it sounded funny. So I'm passing on my middle name. But she was born 6 pounds 14 ounces, and was 19 inches long. But, she is absolutely beautiful. We've been taking tons of pictures, but I've only uploaded a few from my camera, but here are the ones that I have.

-I love the picture of her in the carseat, it just shows how small she is. That was on the way to the doctors appointment where we found out little Emma was a bit jaundiced, even though the doctor said she most likely wasn't because she didn't look like it nor show any signs of it. And the pictures of her in the blue are after they delivered the bilibed and the biliblanket. We love just so cute!
just so cute!
her! Isn't she

Last One :(

This will probably be our last blog before we become three, but we're so excited about that. I guess unless the baby does come on time, but the doctor was pretty sure the baby was going to come early. Or unless we get lots of news from graduate schools. But, good news, I have completely finished my capstone paper. I put my nose to the grindstone and wrote it in just over two days! All of my finals are taken care of except for one test which I am going to be scheduling a time to take with my professor, but I finally feel able to have this baby, like life won't be too strained if she came early. I haven't really had any free time since our last appointment because the doctor made me nervous so I've been getting all of my school work done, but after I finished my capstone paper, this is what I did. My friend Alyssa showed me how to do it, and I found some cute ideas . . . so this is what I did with all of those white onesies. Just kidding . . . not all of them, I still feel like I have tons! But it made me feel crafty and like I was able to do something fun for the baby, since I am totally not up to making a quilt or sewing anything. So I learned how to applique!

37 and a half weeks!

Dear Baby,

We went to the doctors yesterday and you're starting to make mommy nervous. The doctor measured me to be 3 centimeters dialated and 80 percent effaced already. I was hoping to have another 3 and a half weeks, not less than 2 and a half. We're really excited for you to come, but mommy and daddy aren't done with school yet. I guess that's not an excuse since it is my fault that my capstone paper isn't finished yet. So I will work my hardest to get it finished within the next week- because we're so excited to meet you! But, we do wish you would stay inside mommy a little longer so that you can be as big and healthy as you can be.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Less than 7 weeks to go

But doesn't that feel like an eternity? I mean when you are carrying so much extra weight around? It's gotten harder, when you sit on our couch you sink down and I have to have James give me a little push to help me up. As well as help me put my socks on. I have never been a fan of untying my shoes, so I can slip all of mine on- including sneakers (which I'm basically wearing all of the time right now). So he's lucky there :) I have discovered a lot of things I definitely don't like about pregnancy. The biggest being that everyone stares at your stomach. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, "how rude!" It's just funny, it's like you are an alien and they've never seen anyone pregnant before. And maybe I'm not a touchy-feely enough person, but I don't really enjoy all of the tummy touching. So- sorry friends who read this- no offense, it's just weird having you rub my tummy!

Our last check up was great, the doctor is still shocked that my blood pressure isn't rising. I think he last measured me at 98 over 60. The doctor said our baby is starting to slow down in growth, he said this is normal, but it makes me feel so much better! I pray almost every night that she'll be late. I know this is normal for most first time mothers, and it makes me feel even better knowing that I'll be similar to my mom who was never less than 6 days late with all of her pregnancies. It just makes me worry, I would like a few days free from school to relax before I become a mother. And I would have a hard time having the baby during finals, or at graduation. So we're still praying that the baby will come April 27th!

But I should be blogging about James. He'll never toot his own horn, so I'll do it for him. He hasn't finished applying to graduate programs yet, but already gotten into 2. University of Arizona for a masters in Finance and the University of Rochester for an MBA. And he's already been offered a $20,000 scholarship to Rochester! He has a couple more applications to finish, so we won't know for a while where he's going, but I think he's holding out for Boston College, Duke or Vanderbilt. It's confusing weighing the scholarships with the prestige of the school, but I'm positive he knows what he's doing, while we continue to pray about it, his options seem to get more and more broad. But isn't he so smart?!

He would never let me take a picture of just him, but these are from our engagement pictures, and since he didn't know our photographer he wasn't comfortable saying no. Aren't strangers great! He took a couple of just James and they are some of my favorite ones, but I'll most likely never get anymore of just him. Unless I'm sneaky, but he's so handsome that it's a shame he doesn't like pictures!