Parker's Birth Story

many of you were present at parker's debut but here is the inside scoop of how it all went down. since parker loved to be inside we scheduled to be induced on friday june 20th. we checked into the hospital at 7am and lo an behold as soon as we stepped off the elevator my super supportive parents were sitting in the waiting room as if the baby was coming any second! they assigned us to a room and then we signed alot of papers. around 9 they gave me my iv. that hurt soo bad! it was in my left hand (it goes in your hand bc you use your arms during labor to push and bear down) and i could hardly move my fingers. after about 30 minutes of just pain they moved it to my right hand...which was a life savor. around 10:30 i began to receive my petosin....this is the drug that begins the labor process. next i received my epidural. although you may hear terrible stories about this and the needle and the pain...it actually is a very easy process. they give you a local numbing drug right in the area where it goes so you don't feel anything. then the good stuff starts flowing and after about 30 minutes you can't feel a thing. its a miracle drug and no one should go through labor with out this. around 3:45 they checked me (still thinking it would be around 7pm for her delivery) and stated "alrightie girl you are ready to push!" i insisted that i was not ready and didn't have any type of urge to push like they explained in our child birth classes. however, they began to transition my bed, bring in dr. golden and some table full of instruments. several encouraging statements later, 5 easy pushes and aprox 23 minutes and little parker elizabeth pate was born. it was an absolute joy and miracle to witness. words cannot express the overwhelming feeling of emotions that you feel all in a matter of seconds of meeting her. she was placed in my arms, daddy ralph cut the cord and she was cleaned up and ready to meet her family. our stay at eamc was wonderful and the nursing and nursery staff were great. all in all it was a wonderful experience and we are so glad that everyone was able to come be apart of it.