Welcoming Jack Gerard

Thursday made me realize I do not possess the Jedi mind tricks needed to speed up the clock. Physically, I felt pretty bad so I started watching the clock. "Was that a contraction?" Start the timer .
4:05. 4:06. 4:07. 4:08.
"Was that a contraction or is my back finally giving out after lifting Cameron? Wait, what time was my last contraction?"
The minutes continued to pass by. I actually stopped trying to figure out if and when my last contraction occurred, and I just resorted to establish a time when Brian would get home.
5:15. 5:16. 5:17.
"Should I call him? Maybe I'm just being a wimp. Do I go upstairs and take a shower? I really need to wash my hair first. I'm sure we don't need to go in."
5:18.
"My water really needs to break so I know for sure. What do I do with Cameron? Am I packed?"
The pain is definitely getting very regular at this point.
5:31.
Brian walks in and I'm lying on the sofa. "You probably want to eat something quick and take a shower because we may be going to the hospital tonight." He says, "Okay," then picks up Cameron and starts playing.
5:33.
"No, like you need to take a shower right now." Panicked, he says, "Oh, okay. I'll just take a quick shower and pack my bag." You are kidding me, right? I'm almost 39 weeks pregnant, and he still hasn't packed a bag.

At around 7:00 we finally get to the hospital, and Brian had strict instructions not to remove a single bag until I was admitted. I was about 3 cm dilated and contractions were about every 2-3 minutes. At 8:10 we were officially admitted and they wheeled us up to a labor and delivery room. The doctor came in and asked if I was going to do this natural. "Not at all." "Well then let's get an epidural, break your water, get some pitossin and have this baby." I like this doctor very much. :-)

By 10:30 I had all the above and was at 4 cm. At 11:00 I had my hand on the Call Nurse button because of the pressure I was feeling. The nurse checks me and I'm fully dilated. Brian wakes up mid snore, and I'm sure my eyes are as big as his. I started doing a couple of practice pushes before the nurse tells me to stop because the doctor is in another delivery.

28 minutes. It was 28 minutes of my legs in the stirrups while Jack's head is trying to forcefully rip out of my vagina. All I heard was the nurse saying, "You're going to need a bag of ice after this." Great. Now I'm going to need reconstructive surgery to put all the pieces back together because everyone is refusing to catch my kid. 28 minutes and the doctor walks in. He empties my bladder and as he does that Jack's head comes out. Does "I told you so" fit right here?

All that being said at 11:56 we were so blessed to welcome Jack Gerard Rodrigue into our family. He was 8 pounds 2 ounces and 21 inches long. Thank you to everyone for all the prayers and support. We're taking him home on Sunday. You can resume the prayers. :-)