So this is my life now huh?: Finally!!!

He's here! He's here! The biggest blessing of my life.. Richard Lee Coldwell II
Born on May 19, 2012 he weighed 7 pounds 5 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long :)

My contractions started at 2 am but I wasn't sure if they were contractions or Braxton Hicks (because I didn't know what either felt like) so I called my mom at 3:45 and I told her that she might as well come up because if he doesn't come today he's coming tomorrow. She ended up leaving town around 6 and got here at 11:45. I called Jeremy at 4:30 (they had to go get him so they had him call me back) and he called me back shortly after. I told him that Jessica and I are headed to the hospital. I called Jeremy's dad at 6:45 to let him know what was going on.

When we got there they check to see how dilated I was. I was dilated to 5 and they told me I could either go home or stay but if I go home I'd be back shortly after. I asked if they were going to let me eat if I stayed and they said no so I told them I'd be back. It was early and I hadn't eaten anything yet! So we came home and I tried to take a bath, that helped for a short period so I got out and had some breakfast while using the massage pillow on my back. I decided I couldn't take it any more so we headed back to the hospital at 8.

When we got there they checked me again, still only dilated to 5 so I got in the whirlpool bath and it was awesome! I was falling asleep in there (remember I had been up since 2!) until it stopped (it was on a timer) and that made me wake right up and my contractions got worse so I got out and we got going on the epidural. My contractions were one right after another.. no break in between. The nurse told me I was doing a good job considering they are strong contractions with no break. When the anesthesiologist came in I felt like the heavens opened up! I was really happy to see him! He was funny, he asked me if my tattoo hurt worse than getting the epidural put it. I told him that considering my tattoo took and hour and 45 minutes, it hurt worse. He said that his record for an epidural is only an hour. I told him it better not take that long to put it in!

Once that kicked in, all was right with the world again! Meanwhile Jessica is keeping my mom and Jeremy in the loop. They broke my water at 11:30 and my mom got there at 11:45. So it was just breathing through the contractions and once it started wearing off they gave me a little extra which all went to my right side. So I asked the nurse why and she told me to just lay on my left side so the medicine will go to that side. It worked and it was awesome! I was trying to fall asleep but my phone kept ringing, my voicemail alarm kept going off and I kept getting text messages. Needless to say my phone was driving me CRAZY!

The doctor(s) (1 doctor and 2 residents) came in and they said we were going to start slowly pushing so things could slowly stretch out. That started at 2:15 and well Richard Lee Coldwell II was born at 2:29! Jeremy got to be there for all of it, helping me breathe through the contractions and encouraging me. I was so grateful that it was easy to get ahold of him and he had a good internet connection.

When they put Richie on me he peed (there wasn't any gusto behind it thank goodness)! It was amazing. He's such a blessing to us!