Announcing the arrival of Nathan Michael

He is finally here! Happy Happy day! I am still really tired and I don't want to give a play by play but I do want to share the basics. Most of the stuff you already know.

Nathan was born Tuesday November 3rd at 5:12pm mountain standard time. He weighed 7 lbs 6 ounces and was 21 inches long. He has long skinny legs and his facial features look remarkably like his father. He has brown hair that is thicker on the sides and hangs down over his ears.

I was in labor for almost 19 hours. I got a pill around 10:30pm Monday night and that put me into labor fairly quickly. It was difficult but I managed to sleep a little in a rocking chair amidst all the contractions. They were going to give me a second dose of the pill but I did not need it because my contractions never slowed down. My labor progressed quickly but I did not dilate very much. My doctor came in and checked me and at about 8:15am and I was only dilated at 2 centimeters. She broke my water to help speed the process. My contractions continued to escalate and got much more painful but the dilation process continued to be slow. At around 1:00pm I was still only dilated to a 3 and the pain was now beyond barable so I got an epidural. Over the next 4 hours I slowly dilated to a 6 but the epidural was in and out a lot and I had to keep getting extra doses of pain medication. Finally at around 4:30 the anesthesiologist recommended a second epidural in a new location. I got it and at 5:00pm they checked me again. I was hoping to at least be a 7 but to my surprise they said there was a head and I was a 10. The next 10 minutes were exciting but crazy as we waited for my doctor to arrive. Luckily the second epidural kicked in and I could not feel anything painful.

Nathan came after only 3 contractions and David cut the umbilical cord. I cried a little just because I was so happy. I tore a little so I watched the nurses clean up Nathan while I was being stitched up. After an hour or so of bonding David took Nathan to the nursery and I was moved to my postpartum room. I was happy to be able to eat because I was hungry...make that starving after nothing to eat for over 24 hours!! After I was done eating I fell asleep and was so tired that I slept through his first visit from the nursery. I was woken at 2:00am by the nurse and asked her how my baby was. She told me to call the nursery where he had been returned. I did and they brought him to me soon after. Nathan stayed in our room most of the day and saw many visitors. His doctor came and saw him also and said he was doing well. We came home on thursday and have been trying to figure this all out ever since.

More updates and photos later.