And our Family of Four Becomes Five

You guys this is so long! I hesitate sharing it all because I'm emotional just as I type it and think back to everything. But I am tired and have been wanting to post for a while, and don't want to take the time to edit so please excuse all the details of the birth story. And skip this long next paragraph and you'll get the brief version :-)
On Wednesday the 20th I went in for a Dr.'s appointment and was told that I was dilated to a 3. This was great news to me and I asked my Dr. if he thought next week I could get my membranes stripped. He said that even though that hasn't been proved medically to induce labor, that he could do it right then and if it was going to work on anyone, my cervix was very favorable. So it was done and I got pretty excited thinking this could happen early. I did a lot of grocery shopping and went home and got the house ready in case something did happen in the night. We actually even detailed our car because we were really close to buying a new one and wanted to have that one ready to trade in. I was feeling pretty crampy and having occasional contractions but not consistent. At 9 I finally sat down and I felt back to normal. I was thinking I needed to get up and keep going to get it going again, but was too tired so we just got ready and went to bed. At 10:30 I had my first contraction, and I thought, "What the heck, I'm gonna see how long this lasts and time how long til the next one." I didn't have to time long, about 5 minutes they started coming over and over. I can't explain how excited and nervous and second guessing I was in the next hour and 1/2. It's amazing how fast the time went by and I could not sleep. At midnight Grace woke up crying and I turned to Nolan and said "Just so you know, I've been having contractions since 10:30 about 5 minutes apart. He got right up and was like, "let's go, call Tayna." So we did. I still didn't feel in too much pain and was since I was 10 days early I was so scared they would send us home after driving the hour there and back. We still decided to go, and as we got in the car they picked up to about 2 minutes apart and were getting stronger and longer. We got to the hospital and I was determined to not use a wheelchair, but regretted that choice once we walked what felt like a long walk to the womens center. There was only a secretary no nurse, no one else was laboring or had had a baby so it was slow there. I was put in a room and we waited as the contractions got worse. The nurse came in and checked me finally, she couldn't feel my water bag, and she thought I was fully dilated. She checked for what felt like 5 minutes, it was excruciating with the contractions. She called my Dr. and he got there around 2. They checked me again and I was an 8. At this point I was in a lot of pain and really wanting the epidural. They'd been trying to call in the anesthesiologist but had no luck. Finally at 3 he came, and the contractions were killer. Sitting up and being still while he did the epidural was so hard. Unfortunately he went through a blood vessel the first time and it caused more pain and I he had to start over to try again. Finally it was in and relief was coming. They decided to break my water and the Dr. couldn't find it. He's like I think I am hitting this babies head, so apparently my water broke sometime without me realizing it, and a little before 4 they checked me, I was a 10 it was time to push. Everything up to this point was fine for me up until this point I have a terrible track record of pushing for 2 hours with both of my other kids. I was feeling optimistic because this was different because I could feel each contraction and still fully use my legs. I thought to myself I will get this done so fast now because I can feel it. I was wrong and after an hour and a 1/2 it was obvious I was needing some help. The Dr. got out the vacuum and it helped get Emma down to the right station after some work. He thought her face was down, but it wasn't and the vacuum was in the wrong place and kept popping off. After 3 times he said we couldn't use that anymore, it would be too much for the baby. By this point I am really dying and beyond frustrated, scared and incredibly exhausted. I was ready to do a C-Section, but a few more pushes got her down more and he was able to do an episiotomy and after a few more pushes she came sunny side up, and a GIRL! 7 pounds 3 ounces born at 5:46. We were all pretty emotional, I can never put into words the way I felt seeing her for the first time. This was definitely my hardest labor, and finding out she was a girl made us so excited. Things weren't so great right away, with the vacuum being in the front of the head instead of what he thought was the back she had a major bruise/bump on her head. I felt so terrible and guilty for her poor forehead, but was reassured by many it was fine and she would be ok. Her lungs were still filled with fluid at birth so they had her on a CPAP Machine for an hour. I didn't hold her or get a good look at her for a bit. It was scary, and I think if I weren't so physically drained I would have realized more what was going on. They thought they may have to fly her to SLC if things didn't get better over the next hour so we did skin to skin and at the hour her numbers were better than they could have hoped. I was so happy and felt like we were being watched after and blessed in many ways. The rest is pretty normal, they monitored her lungs, jaundice levels, and blood sugar very closely. My blood pressure was very low and they kept me full of fluids and had been being watched. I fainted in the shower, luckily Nolan caught me, and the nurse brought me back, it was pretty scary. I should take a whole post to write about what an amazing husband and man Nolan is. I couldn't have asked for more, he has been so supportive and great to me this whole time. I don't know what I would do without such a good man in my life.We slept most of the day and enjoyed being the three of us. She was so sweet, we aren't sure who she looks like, but definitely see some Grace in her. Unlike my other two kids she doesn't have the birth mark on her forehead, aside from her poor forehead, she's perfect. They wouldn't let kids 14 and under in so we took Emma to the nursery and the kids met her through the window. It was so sweet how excited they were. They kept feeling my squishy baby and saying, "There's no baby in there mom." I am sure they were wondering why I still looked big haha! We went home on the 22nd at 10. Nolans mom had been watching the kids and brought them home to. It was great to be together, and it was fun having the kids hold her and ask so many questions about Emma. Grace will be a great helper, she didn't leave my side or Emma's for awhile after we got home. She is a non stop talker! The next day Nolan went back to work and we're figuring this all out. Emma is doing so great, her bump is far less noticeable. Her eyes stay shut most of the day but once and a while she peeks at us. Nolan's mom has helped with so many things, I am so grateful to have her with me. The kids are in love with all her attention and we've been spoiled with such yummy food and a clean house.
Well you've made it, this was written in the space of many free minutes through the day, I hope it's not too scattered. Thanks for all the love. I've enjoyed getting so many comments and facebook messages and texts. I feel so blessed by all the love and support we have, and am so happy Emma is here. It's great to have the spirit of a baby in our home again.