Down the stretch

Thankfully, the epidural worked and gave Erin some much needed rest (she was gonna need it)


Dr Haskins came back in and check her progression at 7:15 Monday morning.....Erin was at 5 cm.....we were getting closer to the finish!!!  While Dr Haskins was scheduled to be in the OR for a few hours in the morning, she was confident that we would be delivering a baby by sometime in the afternoon


Erin was doing so well fighting through her contractions and staying focused on the goal


11 am: Erin is at 8 cm (in the not-too-distant future, we're gonna be pushing!!!!!)


1 pm:  10 cm....time to start pushing


And push she did.....for the next 2.5 hrs, Erin pushed w/ every contraction....Dr Haskins checked on us every hour or so to see how things were moving along


Within the first hour, we got our first actual glimpse of baby Hudson when Erin managed to push him to the point where we could see the crown of his head......and this baby had a FULL head of dark hair!!!


By the time we got to 3 pm, the doctor decided that she would use the vacuum to help move him through the birth canal while Erin still had plenty of strength.....this baby was holding on to his cocoon of warmth and not ready to come and see his mama and daddy


When the decision was made for the vacuum, we ended up w/ a crew of folks in our room.....went from the doctor and the nurse to several doctors and several nurses all waiting to do their thing with a healthy baby


Once Dr Haskins got the vacuum on the baby, and with a few more pushes from mama, Hudson Cree White finally arrived at 3:29 pm


And boy did he arrive.....21.75 inches and 9.39 lbs......we had a VERY healthy baby boy!!!!!


Mama and baby are doing very well....in fact, as I write this at 3:45 am, Hudson is feeding/falling asleep w/ his mama.....we have managed to get a few hrs of sleep tonight already.....though he may not be asleep in his bassinet, he has been alert from the word go....this child has so much to see and figure out and it appears he trying to do it all at one time

Mama giving her new boy some lovin'

The next several hours and the next few days will be a huge learning curve for mama and daddy (we've already had our first wet diaper.....still waiting tar-filled changing experience that is we know is headed our way at some point)


Tuesday will be a big day for Hudson w/ screenings and circumcision on his agenda (I am so thankful that some life experiences are done so early that I have ZERO chance of remembering the unpleasantries)

Dr Haskins and family

First family photo (seriously....isn't it a little early to be performing for a camera???) 

"Okay....so it's not so bad under this
heat lamp!"

"Can you say 'healthy' baby?"

Thank goodness this thing only
 has 3 snaps....otherwise you'd spend most
 of your early life runnin' around naked

"I've probably had as much sleep as I'm
 gonna get for quite some time"