So, we've been getting a lot of questions about how everything went, and I am going to use this forum to give the details. If you are not comfortable reading some birth related terms, stop reading now.

Saturday I could tell things were feeling a little different, and told Chris we should probably see if his parents could come up a day early. They arrived and we headed to dinner. I started having contractions at regular intervals on the way to dinner, but thought I would see how things went. They kept up, about 7-8 minutes apart. On the way home they jumped to about 4 minutes apart, and started getting pretty dang intense. So when we got home we packed up and headed out. We checked in about 8 pm. They checked me shortly after arriving and I was about 4 cm. I originally has intended on trying to go natural, but admittedly the pain I was feeling at 4 cm was about what I had with Josh at 9cm. Between the intense pain, and my doctors recommendation to have it in, in case the c-section became necessary, I caved.

By the time they finally got the epidural in and checked me I was at 9 cm. The nurse told me she hadn't seen contractions this close and intense in any one other than someone who was induced and on pitocin. Very comforting while I was about to pass out from the pain. I felt relief from the contractions for about 10 minutes before I started feeling a lot of pressure from the need to push. Each contraction they have you push 3 times. I did that about 6 or 7 times and he was out. He came very quickly, and because of that I experienced some major tearing. It was amazing though, such a different experience than the c-section. He came out nice and reddish purple too, unlike Josh who was blue. After a couple dozen stitches they moved us to recovery.

He was born at 12:29am was 8 pounds even and 20 1/2 inches. Since he was born in the middle of the night we didn't disturb anyone, or have anyone come until the morning. It was a nice bonding time. Josh came up in the morning to see his baby brother, and was great. He cannot stop giving him kisses and hugs and wants to be by him all the time.

We are all recovering well. Jack is a great sleeper, and nights haven't been too rough so far. I'm sore, but nothing compared to recovering from the c-section. We are feeling incredibly blessed! Now we are wrapping up loose ends and preparing for the move. The moving truck comes on Wednesday, and we leave Connecticut on Thursday. If you want to see pictures, there is a link in the post below. I may try to upload some more pictures in the next couple of days, so check back. Thank you for all of your congratulations, support and prayer! We have felt it and are very thankful.