He is finally here!

Chad Austin Black is finally here! Thursday night Gerod's parents got into town and we went to Olive Garden as my "last meal" before I was to be induced on Friday morning at 7:30am. After dinner my mom got to town and her and I stayed up chatting till almost midnight... and I finally fell asleep between 1:00 and 1:30am.

I woke around 2:00am to contractions that were ranging between 4 to 6 minutes apart. I called the hospital and the nurse told us to come in to make sure I was in real labor. Part of me thought I might be over analyzing everything and maybe was making up the contractions, but after being checked by the nurse I found out I was in true labor and was 7cm dilated. They wheeled me up to the maternity ward, and I got admitted into a room where I was checked again, and was found to be 8cm dilated. Shortly after being checked again my water broke, and things took off from there.

I was given the epidural, and before too long was a full 10cm and fully effaced. Around 7:30am I started "practice pushes" which the nurse had me do... and after only 3 sets of pushes they were ready to call the doctor. When the doctor arrived I only pushed for about 30 minutes and Chad was born.

Chad Austin Black came into the world at 9:14am weighing 9lbs 13oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. I was surprised and very happy with myself that I had such a large baby without having to have a c-section.

Chad and I are both doing great and we should be going home tomorrow afternoon sometime. Check back soon as I hope to have more pictures and updates!