Gavin's Birth

These pictures are obviously all from Gavin's birth, January 1, 2010. I was having contractions starting at about 7 am on New Year's Eve. I still went to Target with my mom and we all went to dinner at Outback Steakhouse. Even though I was in some pain, I could still manage for most of the morning. The evening was when things got worse and I was finally having contractions about every 5 minutes, so we called the hospital. They told us that since this was our first baby, we needed to wait for the contractions to be 2 minutes apart for 2 hours. As we neared midnight, the contractions got closer together, but were never steady enough to warrant another call to the hospital. We watched the fireworks for our lanai and then went to bed. Daniel gave me his phone, so I could try to time my contractions. I timed them as best I could as I drifted in a out of sleep. Shortly before 2 am, I went to the bathroom and my water broke which turned out to be very convenient. We went to the hospital and I was only 2 cm. I was afraid that I was in for a long night. I got medication through an IV that pretty much knocked me out between contractions. I didn't want an epidural if I could help it. Somehow I managed to reach 10 cm in just under 4 hours and after only 10 minutes of pushing, Gavin came into the world at 6:07 am. Daniel cut his cord and the nurses whisked him away to be cleaned up. I didn't want to touch him until he was all clean. Gavin weighed in at 8 lbs and measured 20 inches. Daniel was so proud of me for not having an epidural and I proclaimed myself to be a champion. I got a much deserved pancake breakfast just after 7 and then moved the mom and baby wing. It had been a long couple of days, so my mom and Daniel went home to shower and rest while I rested with our brand new, prefect baby boy. Thirty-six hours later, I was discharged and we all went home as a family.