It's so hard to find the time to keep this blog updated.  And now with two kids it's VERY hard to find the time to do anything... It gets better right?!?  This motherhood thing is not for the faint of heart!  

Graham made his entrance into the world in a quick and alarming way.  First he scared me when I started dilating and contracting at 32 weeks.  I was told to take it easy... if you've met Emmett you know it was a rough 6 weeks!  I continued working a couple days a week but I really did try to sit as much as possible.  I didn't progress any further so at 38 weeks I was still a 3 and 80% effaced.  I continued to have contractions all the time but nothing extremely painful or regular.  

Preston got home from the church around 8.   I said, Honey, I'm in labor.  He said, Can I go shower really fast?  I told him he could because I wanted to count for a full hour and make sure I really was in labor.  We got sent home from the hospital with Emmett and I really didn't want that to happen again, plus the contractions weren't super painful yet... till about 8:15.  Holy Moly!  The pain came on so fast!  I ran upstairs and told Preston to get out of the shower.  He had Emmett showering with him and they were not fast enough!  Preston told me to go lay down and try to relax... didn't work.  I called my mom and paced around my bedroom.  My mother of course freaked out and said Hurry and get up to the hospital.  She had all her babies super fast.  While talking to my mom my water broke... Or at least I thought it was.  Nope, it was a huge blood clot and tons of bright red blood.  So scary!  Thinking back on this moment now I kind of have to laugh at Preston... Poor guy.  He was running around our upstairs, in nothing but socks and garments, with absolutely no idea what to do.  He grabbed me a towel finally and we attempted to avoid anymore blood on the carpet.  I finally sat on the edge of the bathtub because the bleeding was not stopping.  I yelled at Preston to get dressed... seriously, I had to yell at him.  My hospital bag was only half packed since I was planning on getting induced the next week.  We threw a few weird things in, I grabbed another towel and went to the car.  Preston ran and got our neighbors to watch Emmett till my dad got there and we hurried out the door.  Preston had to run back into the house 3 different times for things like my purse, camera and pillow.  Very important items that are still very important even when in extreme pain.  I called Labor and Delivery and let them know we were coming.  We left the house about 8:40.  As we were pulling out my dad was pulling in.  Preston yelled out the window, "There is a little bit of blood upstairs if you could try and clean it up that would be great".  My dad said later that it looked like someone had been murdered in our bedroom and bathroom.  I kind of wish I had a picture because I can't remember what it looked like.  (Blood can be removed from carpet with hydrogen peroxide!) The weather that night was horrible!  It was a complete blizzard and the roads were pretty bad.  I don't remember much from the drive there except Preston telling me he knew everything was going to be alright.  I think I yelled at him because of the extreme level of pain I was in... Sorry Pres.  I remember sitting in the car waiting for a contraction to pass and then running to the door of the hospital.  Preston had a wheelchair ready for me and we hurried to the elevator and then the 2nd floor.  The girl at the NICU window took FOREVER to check us in.  I was dying at this point and seriously considered punching her.  They hurried me back to a room and got me into a gown and into bed.  The nurse checked my progress and simply stated that I was dilated to an 8... AN 8! I knew at this point I was screwed yet I still asked for an epidural.  Stupid, I know.  The anesthesiologist laughed at me too.   Okay, he really didn't but he was laughing inside because we both knew it wasn't going to do a thing.  At this point everything kind of blurs together and I don't know what time things happened.  I don't even know where Preston was for most of the time.  I had two fantastic nurses in my face the whole time and I honestly don't think I would have made it without them.  And the thing that really got me through that half hour... retarded breathing techniques.  Hee hee whooo.  Hee hee hee whoo.  Dr Blackett was the doc on call and she was at home at the time I came into the hospital.  I think she got to the hospital around 9:25 or so.  She got her gloves and gown on, checked my progress and told me to start pushing.  The pressure at this point is indescribable.  You just want that baby out.  I think I pushed 3 or 4 times before he was born, can't really remember.  You tend to block out the bad parts of labor and delivery.  With a nasty blast of blood (spraying the doctor in the face) Graham was born at 9:36.  He weighed a whopping 4 lbs 12 oz and was 18.5 inches long.  He was healthy and had APGAR scores of 8 and 9.  My family came running through the door only a few minutes after he was born.  Of course we had left the camera in the car so all of these pictures are from after the delivery.  Also I looked like death in most pictures so I was very selective of the ones posted here.