Happy Birth-Day

We are so excited to have our newest addition to our family...Bennett Nathan. He was born Monday, February 20th at 8:26 pm. He weighed in at 7 lbs 10 ounces and is 20 inches long. He is melting our hearts and we couldn't be happier! The girls are SO happy to have him home to hold and love on. He is our buddy. He was born on Presidents Day, making him our third baby born on a holiday. Whohoo!
I posted a bunch of pictures that are probably out of order but I wanted to be able to remember this special time. Here is our story...for those of you who don't have a few hours to read it, just skip and look at the pictures. I mostly just need to journal down the happenings so I don't forget myself. :)
On Wednesday and Thursday before Bennett made his appearance, my two sisters and mom flew in to have some fun and be here to help me out. We had a great time doing the Hawaiian tourist thing and spending time together eating, laughing, eating some more and chatting it up.
To try to get me to go into labor on Sunday before my scheduled induction we hiked up a look out place here in Hawaii and it did not do a thing! I don't know if I would ever go into labor on my own.
Monday morning I called over to the hospital to see if there was room for me to come in for my scheduled induction. If they have too many women in labor they bump you to the next day. Thankfully they told me to come on over. We live right next to the hospital so we walked on over and got all checked in. They started with some blood work and just after they got me going they came in to tell me that there were a few woman that walked in in labor and that they wouldn't be able to start me for awhile. WHAT? So, they wanted to send me home but my doctor convinced them to just wait a little and then start me up...which they did, at 2:00 in the afternoon. Nate and I tried to just enjoy our time together before all the excitement would start.
At 2:00 they gave me some pitocin. I was 80% effaced and 1 cm dialated. After 2 hours on pitocin the doctor check me and I was 4cm so she broke my water (4:30). The contractions kicked into high gear so at 5:00 I got my epidural...love those things like crazy. :) I rocked it out for a little while not feeling anything and it was great. I told the nurses to check me lots because I go fast and I wanted my sisters and mom to be there. At 7:15 they checked me and I was at 5cm. They switched nurses over and the new one came in to meet me. I chatted with her and I asked her to just check me again to make sure, this was at 7:45. She kind of made a funny face when she checked me and called for another nurse to come in. I was a 9, almost 10 and ready to go! So, in 45 min I went from a 5-10cm! My sisters and mom ran over, they prepped the room, they called the doctor and Bennett came at 8:26pm! It was such a special night. I loved having my sisters and mom there to welcome this sweet little spirit. Nate was feeling faint standing up at my head, so my mom cut the cord. We got some great pictures of our little guy so fresh. He was covered, I mean covered in the white cheese as we call it. He just nestled up to me and I just couldn't get enough of him. He cried and screamed for the first hour or so which made the doctor and nurses happy. What a miracle it all is! I am so thankful for the memory I have of this special day. We love out Bennett!