Oh, baby....

So, If any of you were aware I have something called Endometriosis. This is when the tissue from the uterus starts to grow in other places inside the body. For example it can grow on the bladder, intestines, literally anywhere inside the body. It is painful, and it is one of the leading causes of infertility in women. When I found out, it really wasn't very big. The size of the tip of my pinky finger. But it grows as time goes on and the normal thing they do for this is either A. tell you to get pregnant as soon as possible or B. put you on a birth control shot that is known to sometimes send people into early menopause. Now, I've been on the shot before. It's not fun and there are way too many side effects. On top of this Todd and I were wanting to have a baby in the future. After a year of pain I saw a doctor. She told me the best thing for me would be to try to get pregnant, because there was a very big chance that A. it wouldn't happen or B. it would take years. We tried for 2 years. It didn't matter that we weren't married yet. If there was a a chance of not ever being able to conceive in the future, we were doing this NOW.

After 2 years of trying we gave up. We accepted the fact that it would only be the three of us. We were okay with it. As much as we wanted another child, we had Carsyn. So we were happy anyway. A couple months after we stopped trying I found out I was 4 weeks along. We scheduled a genetics tests to see if there was a chance for something happening to this baby, much like what happened when i was pregnant with Carsyn. Turns out there was a mix up and we got the dates wrong. But the wonderful people at the Buffalo Perinatal Center decided to squeeze me in for an anomaly test to make sure there wasn't anything wrong at that time.

During this test we found out that I also have what they call an "incompetent cervix". I was very slowly, week by week starting to dilate. A few weeks later I was hospitalized. They were sure if I was home I was going to give birth to a VERY premature baby. One that would not live. My anxiety went through the roof. Come to find out I had a reaction similar to PTSD while in the hospital. The baby had stopped moving. I was stressing her out so bad that eventually, had I stayed I would have had her. I took myself out against medical advice and things started calming down. About a month later I dilated to 3cm. I was put on strict bed rest. They didn't even want me to take a shower standing up. No baths. No dishes. No sitting in chairs. Just bed.

After 36 1/2 long and unbearable weeks my water broke.

and I gave birth to a healthy, beautiful baby girl.

Everyone: meet miss Emma Leigh Jenkins

She sure does love her big brother <3 <3