Hugh's Birthday!

Well, I suppose I should record the story of Hugh being born for posterity's sake, huh?

I was scheduled to go into the hospital at 5am on June 30th to be induced. I had a doctors appointment the day before (June 29th) to see if I was progressing at all and we were pleasantly surprised to find that I was dilated to a 4 (although the process of finding that out was quite UNpleasant)! So I went home, put my feet up and anxiously awaited 5am to get this thing started!

My back was really bothering me all day...I just could NOT get comfortable. I assumed it was my sciatica, which I have been having problems with my entire pregnancy and just dealt with it. It took me almost the entire morning and afternoon to finally realize that I was having contractions! Luckily they really weren't that big of a deal for me. Not a lot of pain, just annoying. Once nighttime came around, my contractions were at a steady 8-10 minutes apart. They gradually got more intense and I couldn't sleep very well, so I just got up and started timing them again. I let myself go for a couple of hours at 5-7 minutes apart and then finally broke down and called the midwife two hours before we were scheduled to come in to tell her I went into labor on my own! She just laughed and said to come on in. So I woke Ogg up and we headed to the hospital. Once we were in the car, the contractions started getting pretty intense, but I could just about talk through them! I've been so terrified of labor and birth for about 10 years now, and as strange as it sounds, I think Heavenly Father gave me intense 'time of the month' pains for a reason. It truly wasn't any worse than the worst pain I'd felt in that sense. I was grateful I didn't have to deal with any surprising kinds of pain. But as soon as we got to the hospital I said, "Drug me UP!" What? I didn't need to be a hero! And I was able to sleep and rest for the big moment! The epidural was not bad at ALL to get...just a really creepy and weird feeling going through my spine at first!

I didn't dilate from the time we got there until about 10am, so they did end up giving me some pitocin to get things going. We watched Marley & Me and just chilled while I tried to fight off my hunger! I went from a 5 to a 7 in a couple hours and then 7 to fully dilated around 1pm.

My midwife came in and just chatted with me for a while to make sure I was okay and then very casually she said, "Okay, why don't we try a few practice pushes?" Ogg and I were speechless and just looked at each other. I took a deep breath and started to push around 140pm! It was really nice to only have my midwife and husband there with me. It made it seem so much more intimate and less 'medical'. Then for the last few pushes two nurses came in to help with the baby, etc, but it felt so private and I really loved that. So I pushed for about 30 minutes, and the absolute strangest feeling in the world is when his head crowned and he popped out. I honestly could not believe I had done it, and so quickly! They laid him on my chest and Hugh and I both cried together. I had a 2nd degree tear, so Dixie (my midwife) sewed me up and everything was over! I could barely keep my eyes open afterwards, but oh my gosh, I can't even put words to what it was like! I definitely am going to wait a couple more years to do that again, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. The worst part is the recovery! No one tells you that! But now, two weeks later, I feel a million times better and am just tired trying to figure out this night schedule thing! We love our little Hugh so much and can't stop holding or staring at him!

Our first moment together