It's a BOY!

I am extremely happy to announce the arrival of Hudson James - born last night at 10:30 pm. He weighed 8 lbs, 4 oz.

We arrived at the hospital the previous evening around 7 pm. After checking us in they set me up with some Cervadil to get me ready to be induced (or hopefully put me right into labor). I awoke the following morning (Aug 6th) with nothing going on yet labor wise, although my cervix was ready to go. They started me on pitocin at 7:30 am. The rest of the day was marked by a series of slow and steady increases in the amount of pitocin. By 3:00 pm my contractions were starting to get serious but unfortunately, I only measured to 1 cm and 60% effaced... not much change from when I checked in. I was starting to worry we'd be going home at the end of the day and trying again some other day.

Dr Cook came by around 6 pm and found me to be 2 cm and 40%. I looked down and saw him holding a long, thin stick. I shreiked "What are you doing?!" "I'm just going to break your water", he says, "just relax, this won't hurt at all." Okay, how in the world can I relax when someone is trying to poke a big long stick in there?

I'll skip the rest of the details for the sake of those who really don't want to know. After the water broke I progressed quickly. In a few more hours I was dialated up to 8 and almost completely effaced. By 10 pm I was telling the nurse that the baby was coming out on it's own. She checked me out, called the doc, and got the room all prepped. The doc had just enough time to wash up and hold his hands out. He asked for a push, which I did, and the head came right out. He told me to stop pushing... STOP PUSHING! And I told him I wasn't pushing, he was just coming on his own.

So it took a long time to get into labor, but boy did it go quick and easy once I was. I'm sure it wouldn't have been as easy had I not had an epidural.

So here are some pictures:

When Hudson was born, he was very quiet. He wimpers a lot, but just doesn't cry. They gave him a shot and he gave one big wail, but then was done.

I took this picture this morning. What a cutie! He's got my mouth and eyes (we think), and Jeff's nose and hands. His hair is light blonde.
My other sleepy guy:
Sorry for the bright flash buddy:

Hopefully we'll get to go home soon. We'll see what the doctor says. He was born so fast, his lungs didn't get a chance to clear very well on the way out, so he's had some respitory issues. He spent some time in the nursery and now he's sounding good and clear.

I don't know what else to say other than I gotta go hold my baby now. He's two feet from me and I miss him like crazy!