A Guy, A Girl, Two Cats, and a Baby: November 2009

Wow, I really can't believe my little man is over 3 weeks old! He's growing so much already and it makes me sad that he's not my tiny little newborn any more! Anyhow, I figured I better post the birth story while he's napping (otherwise it might never get done!)
Over three weeks ago I had my 39 week appointment with my doctor and had her strip my membranes to see if that would kick start labor. I was really thinking that it wasn't working because I didn't really have any contractions or cramps. My parents came up to visit that weekend, and on Saturday my mom and I went to the mall to "Walk him out." Came back home and went to sleep.
Sunday morning around 2 am, Nya crawled under the bed covers and cuddled against the back of my legs. I remember thinking "I really hope my water doesn't break on my cat." A few hours later I woke up, kind of feeling like I had to go to the bathroom. As soon as I sat up my water broke! I woke up Keenan, then my parents and called labor and delivery, who told me to take my time but to come in. Thinking I had many, many hours ahead of me, I took time to put on my makeup, sent Keenan to go get himself a cup of coffee, ate some toast, packed my bag, etc. By the time we finally got to the hospital it was around 7 am.
The first nurse who checked me told me I was already at 10 cm! I was shocked because I really had felt no pain, and worried that I may have missed the chance for my epidural! Another nurse checked me as well, and told me I was actually at 3 cm. They then hooked me up to pitocin, and the contractions really started getting bad then! After a few hours, I was sweating and making myself nauseous by breathing so hard through contractions. The nurse checked me and I was at 5 cm. I then asked for my epidural and within a few minutes the Good Doctor came in! He noticed the needle went a little to the left as he put it in, and sure enough, my left side got real numb but the right side still had feeling. I wasn't complaining because it was still only half the pain, and this I could deal with, but the nurse noticed I tensed up with every contraction still so another doctor came in to fix the epi and gave me another dose. Needless to say, I was really, really numb!
Around 11, the nurse checked me again and I was at 10 cm already! She told me I could do some practice pushes to see if I was even able to push since I was so numb. I must have done a good job, because everything was set up and by 11:30 I was pushing! Baby started to get fatigued after an hour, so I was given some oxygen and the on call doctor came in and explained that she would have to use a vacuum to help the baby out. The vacuum, two cuts and a tear later, and my baby boy was out! Even with his cone shaped head he was still the most precious thing I had ever seen!
And now it's three weeks later and he is already growing into those giant hands he had at birth. His cone head is beginning to fade, and he is starting to hold his head up and really look at mommy and daddy. He's becoming my big boy.

Okay, this is probably a week over due, and most of you know our news by now, but we have ourselves a healthy baby boy!!! Courtland was born on October 25th at 12:50 pm, weighing in at 7lbs, 14oz and measuring 20 3/4 inches. He looks exactly like Daddy, and is absolutely gorgeous!
I promise to write a birth story later, but I thought there may be some people who are anxious to see some new photos! Here are a few that I took the other day. It's much more difficult to take photos of your own child than a client, let me tell you! His "newborn" photos are going to take days to do!