She Was Ready to Come and Party!

I think Emma is just like her Daddy and wanted to join in all of the fun, because she came early and to top it off, my water broke while we were at a bar! Only Joel's child would do that. Joel and I had gone to dinner on Saturday night Dec 26th to celebrate Cameron's birthday at Winslows in For Worth with Elizabeth, Guinan, Cameron and Erin Mac. We had a great dinner, and it was good to catch up with everyone! The group said they were going to go out, and I decided I would join them since they were not going to a smokey bar, I had some energy and I though Joel would would enjoy the night out! So we headed to Capital bar. It was a bit awkward to be a pregnant lady in a bar, but I sucked it up for Joel. Around midnight, I was headed to the bathroom and felt like maybe I had peed my pants...this was a bit concerning considering I was at a bar and pregnant and everyone was already staring at me. I decided that it may be my water had broke, and quickly headed back to the table to tell Joel it was time to head home. I did not tell anyone as to not cause a scene at the bar. Joel and I got int he car, and I turned to him and said, "I think my water broke!" We drove back to my Mom's and Casey was still up. She and my mom, Brian, Jeff and Brett had been out to dinner and had had a few drinks as well. So here I am sober as can be with drunk Joel and drunk Casey trying to figure out what we should do. I finally told them that Joel and I would head to the emergency room and call Mom and Casey when we found out was going on. So I drove Joel and I to the emergency room. On the way there, Joel turned to me and said "If this is a false alarm I am not drinking until she really arrives!"
We arrived at the emergency room and Joel parked the car while I went in...I was not having contractions yet. We headed up to L&D and got to a room. The nurse did a test, and sure enough, my water had broke! So Joel went back down to the car to get my emergency labor bag I had packed just in case. While he was gone they moved me, but I figured someone would tell him where I was. Joel went moved the car as well to a parking garage. Not knowing really were he was he ran out of the garage and headed into the emergency room saying "My wife is in labor, and I need to be taken to her room." The nurse looked at him and said, "Sir, you are in the wrong hospital...this is the children's hospital." So they pointed him in the right direction to Harris Hospital, but once he got there, non of the doors were open. So here Joel is running around the hospital trying to get in. He finally finds an open door, and the nurses show him to my room. The L&D nurse said it might be a while since my water had just broken and I was still on 1 and 1/2 cm dilated, so we had better try to get some rest. Joel hit the couch and was out of course, snoring away! I was fine with that, and hoped he could sleep off a few of the beers he had had that night. I of course was wide awake as the contractions started to come. The nurse had put me on pitocin and then I asked for some pain meds. She gave me stadol, which knocked me out so I was able to rest.
I woke up about 2 hours later really feeling like the contractions were close and very painful, so I asked for the epidural. Once I got that (and it was not bad at all) I was able to rest some more. I pretty much slept the whole day, until about 1pm, when my L&D nurse Caroline said we would be having this baby in about and hour and a half! She was really great and very helpful to both Joel and I. Finally at 2:51pm on December 27th, Emma was born!
We had many visitors at the hospital since we were in Fort Worth...everyone was so excited that she decided to make her debut in Fort Worth at the same hospital that her Mommy was born in, and on Mimi's (my mom's) birthday. I really had a great birthing experience and could not have asked for a better "surprise birth"! Every nurse and doctor was so surprised to hear that Emma was early and that we were from Austin...they could not believe my doctor would let my travel so close to my due date. And they laughed even harder at the fact that my water broke at a bar! I guess she wanted to be a Fort Worth girl!