Emma Beth Jackson

Our beautiful baby girl was born July 29th, 2009 at 7:43am, sharing a birthday (and a name) with Grandma Hoggan. She weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 inches long. We are both so happy and can't believe the amount of love we have for her! She is our precious little angel and our cute little squeaker! She has a squeaky little voice that just melts your heart. Here she is just 7 minutes after birth:

Here she is with Grandma and Grandpa Hoggan:

Mommy and Emma:

Aunt Stacey and Grandma Jackson with her:

Emma being held by cousin Kaiya with cousin Ella and Aunt Heidi looking on:

Making a cute little face for the camera!

The labor and delivery went well, although it wasn't very fun...lol. The story actually starts back on Saturday the 25th. We had our big stake celebration for it's 25th anniversay that day. There were lots of fun family games and Nate and I decided to join in on some. We were just crossing the finish line for the 3 legged race when we noticed my parents standing right there cheering us on. We were completely shocked!! It took me a second to realize my parents were really here and I just thought "How the heck did you find us and why are you here??" They had driven up the day before and decided to surprise us. And they certainly did. At that point I was really excited and really worried all at the same time because I knew they were here hoping that Emma would come really soon and I hadn't felt any contractions and was sure labor was forever away (even though I was dilated to a 4 and a half). They came for the week and so we were all hoping she would come while they were here! We did a lot of walking, went to Seattle to sight see, and just did things to keep ourselves busy so that labor would possibly get started. I had my routine check up on Tuesday so we thought that if nothing had progressed by then we would possibly ask about induction so that my parents didn't come up here for nothing. Well it turned out that we didn't even have to ask. The doctor saw that I was dilated to a 7 and completely effaced and sent me straight to the hospital. I felt totally normal until I got dressed and laid down in the hospital bed. It was then that I felt my first real contraction...weird huh? I had a few more but they didn't get closer or more intense so they decided that later they would break my water. They had to put me on antibiotics for at least 4 hours before baby came out because I was GBS positive, but after that they finally broke my water. It was about 1:30 in the morning when this happened and the contractions came on really strong after that! I decided not to take any meds for the pain so Nate and I worked through the contractions until about 5:15 am. (Nate was an amazing coach, by the way. I couldn't have done it without him. He's the best husband in the whole world!!!!!!!) That's when I was finally at a 10 and started pushing. After 2 and half hours of pushing, getting a tear and then an episiotomy, and having the vacuum extractor used (poor baby!), Emma came into the world, eyes wide open and everything!! It was the most amazing feeling I've ever felt to hold that baby for the first time. Nate and I were both so emotional and happy about this miracle of ours. It was like we were in a dream world for those first few hours and even the first day or two. We were also very tired...lol. It is an amazing feeling being a parent. We absolutely love it!! This beautiful little girl is our baby and we are so incredibly happy to have her here!! We can already tell she'll be a quick developer too. She is already doing very well at moving her neck and head, she latches and eats just wonderfully, and she also loves to roll to her side when we lay her down to sleep. She is a very special spirit and we are so blessed to have been given this beautiful girl!