4Years Old!

Karis 4 today!! I wanted to post her birth story the day of and then do pics of her and her party later. Her story is by far the most dramatic but I need to keep it short here as the little girls are running free and I have a party this afternoon and such. So here goes:
I was 10 days late with her (20 days longer than when I was pregnant with Hailey so it felt like an eternity). Brent and Hannah came for the weekend just for fun and to hopefully see the baby but she hadn't been born. I was craving a Cobb salad so they took us to Red Robin. I got my Cobb Salad and on the way home started having contractions. I had them for awhile so Scott took me to the hospital. I was in a lot of pain and they did not believe me!! They hooked me to the monitor and told me it was just "uterine irritability" and that I needed to go back home. I asked them to call the dr. on call (not my dr.) and they did but he said I had to go home too. I burst into tears and we went home. For the next 2 hours I was in agony. Moaning, rocking back and forth, pacing around but thinking I was going crazy from being pregnant so long and obviously not in labor. Finally I got on the toilet thinking I was having diarrhea and started pushing. Then I started to throw up and almost passed out. (Apparently this is called transition.)
Scott insisted we go to the hospital. I refused thinking they would send me home. I said we should just go to the emergency room instead because my appendix must have burst. Well we went to the hospital anyway. When I walked into labor and delivery the nurse actually looked at me with a smirk because I think she thought I was just being dramatic. Well she had me go in a room and she checked me and her face fell and she said, "I can't believe the work you've done. You are at a 7." At that point according to Scott I started yelling, "Why did you send me home? I told you I was in labor. I want an epidural. I can not do this without an epidural." The nurse left the room and sent another in who started undressing me. Then she checked me again and said, "You are at 9- we must get the dr. here, the bag of water has broken." I was in a panic then. Then the nurses kept saying, "QUIT PUSHING- or your baby will be born in the hall." Still no dr. And they wouldn't give me any drugs!! They wheeled me into a room since they still hadn't checked me in. I started pushing and the dr. came (all harried looking and said he'd gone through 3 red lights to get there) and she was born! 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital! The thing is she was posterior (sunny-side up) and the nurse said, "It's a good thing otherwise she would have been born in the car!" When the baby is posterior you have to spread farther (think even more painful) and it takes longer to deliver. So all in all it was a rather traumatic time for me. She weighed 9 pounds 4 ounces! And this wasn't at some little hospital either...it was at the biggest birthing center in Oregon!! I actually had a hard time dealing with it for awhile. When she was born the cord was wrapped around her neck 3 times which normally isn't a big deal but had she been born in the car it would have been devastating. God really had His hands on Karis in so many ways.
1. Brent and Hannah were there so we didn't have to wait for someone to come watch Hailey.
2. It was the middle of the night so the 30 minute car ride really was only 30 minutes- it would have been over an hour in traffic.
3. She was posterior- so she took longer and wasn't born in the car.
We are so thankful it all turned out OK and obviously she is just fine and dandy!!

We love Karis Rachael so much and can't imagine life without her!!! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!!