The Rhinestones of a DramaQueen: Our Baby is 1 Today!!!

Emmaelynn Don Britten

Feb. 2, 2009

5 lbs. 3 oz.

17 and a half inches

10:53 pm

My sweet baby is 1 today. Last year, Brad and I were in the hospital waiting for her to arrive. Anxious to see her face and touch her little fingers and toes. I remember that day as if I experienced it yesterday. What I vividly remember was how Brad and I had eaten at Cracker Barrel the night before and at midnight I couldn’t eat anything else. So the whole day I was in labor I was so hungry. We were also watching the Food Network; it was torture. My parents, MiMi, and mother-in-law came up in the afternoon and waited. My dad kept watching all the monitors saying stuff like, “Man, your contractions aren’t strong at all!” (and yes they were, I could feel them) I had a hard time dialating, so I was given an epidural to relax. Even then, I was still having difficulty progressing. At 8:30ish a nurse came in to change my position; nothing had changed since 4:30pm. At 9:30, I told Brad I was ready to give up and ask for a c-section. I just was not progressing at all. And that, is when our miracle started to happen and our renewed faith set in. My wonderful, sensitive, and loving husband began to talk to my tummy. He explained to Emma that there were a lot of people waiting to see her and that our arms felt empty. He told her how much she was loved and how he wanted to see her face. He asked her to get ready and be welcomed into the world. And then that husband of mine grabbed my hand and put our hands on Emma and prayed. Then Nelson called. They talked for about 10 mins. And that is when I told Brad to go down and get a nurse. Things started happening at 10:10pm and (if we had not had to wait on the doctor) at 10:53pm; we met Emma.

So tiny, so frail, with barely any meat on her bones; we held that little girl. I listened to her cry and felt joy. I saw her face and I knew love. And then I watched as my husband held her; and my life became perfect. What a joy it is to have this little girl!

We got to bring her home and my wonderful mother came to help me out for that first week. That week was a roller coaster in both our lives, so many things happened and the best thing that week was her.

How wonderful it was to have so much family around during this time!

That first month with her was hard and amazing!

At 4 and a half weeks, our baby rolled over from her back to her tummy! We were so proud. She was still so little and here Brad and I thought that she would do things at a much slower rate than other babies born around this time. Silly us! Of course, she does have a whole lot of "Olson" in her! Just Kidding!

And today is her FIRST birthday, these past twelve months have just flown by so fast! And so, during this past year here is what we learned to do!

By month 3-4 we were rolling over with no problems! She was our little rolly poley!

In July, we started to sit up all on our own!

In Sept. we started to crawl!

In Oct. we said, "Da Da" for the first time and she started to try and stand on her own!

In Dec. and Jan., she began to test her little feet by walking. However, until a couple weeks ago we didn't start "running" around. (I think she realized she could get there faster by crawling or she knew someone would carry her!)

This morning, my little girl was illusive. No picture could be taken of her smiling face! But what I did catch her doing was reading her book. And that was better than nothing!