how sweet it is...

Up all night long trying to breastfeed. Check.
Tears from both mommy and baby. Check.
Baby Whisperer Daddy to calm us both down. Check.

I've been anxious to have a few minutes to post some pictures of my sweet baby boy. Luckily, I have an awesome mother in law who came over for a few hours today to simply hold the baby so I could get some homework done (but, of course, I have to do the important stuff first, you know...blogging).

So we'll start at the beginning. If you don't want the long version, skip down a little bit to see a few pictures.

Saturday night my mom and I were at her friend Leslie's house for dinner and our traditional General Conference Priesthood report from her husband. I had been a little uncomfortable all afternoon, feeling a dull pain in my lower back and small contractions. We ate dinner and were waiting for Jim to come home to give us the Priesthood session report and I was laying on one of their leather chairs, covered in a blanket, and trying to work through the discomfort.

Jim got home and began telling us about Priesthood session. He was in the middle of telling a really neat story (though now I couldn't tell you what it was about!) when I felt a little snap/twinge/pop (I haven't quite been able to label what it really was) in my uterus. I thought at first, no way, can't be my water breaking. Then I felt a bunch of movement and sat up. I looked at my mom with a weird expression and she asked if I was OK. I said, "I think my water just broke." Then I stood up and confirmed that yes, my water had definitely broken. I got cleaned up and called Ben, who was just on his way to dinner with his brothers and dad. I asked him what he was doing and then said, "Well, my water just broke." Then we went into panic mode--though not real panic, but an excited panic as we both tried to remember what our doctor had told us at every appointment about if my water broke. He drove home to get my bag and my mom drove me to the hospital where Ben and his brothers and dad met me. Ben and dad gave me a blessing and we got all hooked up by 10pm.

My contractions started getting really intense (though, not really that intense but I have a low threshold for pain) at around 10:30. The doctor came in (my doc wasn't on call but her partner ended up being my doc all night and she was GREAT) and said I was still just a 3, but encouraged me to go ahead to get the epidural so that I might be able to get some sleep before I had a "few hours of pushing" ahead of me (her exact words). I kind of felt bummed that I couldn't go a little longer without it, but looking back, it was a great choice because we were able to sleep for a few hours at least. The epidural wasn't so bad; the shot that they gave me to numb my back before the epidural hurt worse. It instantly kicked in on my left side, but took a long while to fully kick in on my right side. I could feel the contractions on my right side and they were ouchy! When the epidural finally kicked in on my right side, I was amazed at the total lack of feeling of my legs, pretty cool! I slept for about two hours and Ben and my mom got some sleep too. Somewhere in there, the nurse gave me something that now I don't remember the name of but it has something to do with glucose...the idea being that it would speed up labor.

At 3am, the nurse came in to see how I was doing and checked for dilation. She was very quiet and didn't say anything like they normally do, so my mom asked how far I was. The nurse responded "She's totally complete," all the while running around the room to get things set up. She called the doctor in and while she was checking me said, "I was going to go next door and finish filling in paper work, but I don't think I'll have time. This baby is on it's way!" The nurse told me to start pushing at about 3:05. I pushed through 5 contractions (about 7 minutes total, I think), and at 3:12, baby Erich Benjamin Hubert had arrived! Ben was able to tell me it was a boy before they put him on my chest. The first thing I noticed was his hair...super cute. Next, I noticed he was a complete clone of Ben! Everyone was amazed at how fast things went considering this was my first. The doctor said that next time, they'll tell me I can't laugh or cough or the baby will just fall out.

We came home Monday afternoon. It's definitely been an adjustment, but a good one at that. I've been so lucky to have my mom here during the day to help and cook. She's been wonderful at helping me figure out the art of breastfeeding (which is super hard, but getting easier each time) and also helping me through a few episodes of emotional teariness. I couldn't have survived the last few days without her help!!!

Here are a few fun pictures of Erich's birthday and fun at home!! Foir those who don't know, Erich's name is a family one passed down from Ben's great grandpa Erich AND Ben's dad Erich. It is the German spelling of the name, but pronounced just like "Eric" or "Erick." We now have three "Erich's" in the family: Grandpa Erich (Ben's dad), Uncle Eric (my oldest brother), and little Erich.


Grandma Mary Ellen, master of all things sewing and embrodery, made this little bib that says "Happy Brithday, Erich Benjamin April 5, 2009" It's the cutest! Yesterday mom and I gave him a little sponge bath. He didn't love it, but we had a fun time playing with his hair after. I call this his "old man" look...parted on the side. I did have a fauhawk but forgot to take a picture of it. His hair is super long in the back...kind of like an 80's mullet. He also has two cowlicks on the back of his head (just like everything else about him, he inherited these from daddy).