The details...Feel free to skip this!

Fair warning!!! Here comes the long story... In spite of my best efforts to start labor on my own--believe me, I tried just about everything--I finally gave in and went along with the scheduled induction. The midwives scheduled me to be induced 5 days early for various reasons, including Chance was getting bigger and my body was making no progress and I really did not want to go overdue, and of course I had PUPPS again (thankfully not as bad as with Garrett, but still getting worse) and most importantly, so that Paula could be the one to deliver me! I love all the midwives, but Paula is special to me. (When I changed practices right after Garrett was born and started going to the midwives, she is the one who helped me through my horrible recovery.) She wanted to be the one to deliver Chance just as much as I wanted her to. I spent the night before at the hospital to prep for the induction and first thing in the morning they started the pitocin. Our friend Mindy came to visit us that morning which was a fabulous distraction since my labor took a little longer than expected. Around 11 am, Paula suggested I go ahead and get an epidural so they could break my water and try to move things along. At that point I was managing the contractions so I was hesitant but went along with it. Thank goodness I did, because by the time I actually got my epidural around noon, my contractions were coming fast and hard. While there is a small part of me that wishes I would have held out longer, it was so wonderful to have that epidural! Things started speeding up that afternoon, but I couldn't get past 9 cm. Paula discovered that this was probably because Chance flipped into a posterior position. In spite of this, she said we could start pushing and she would work on getting him turned the right way. Thankfully she called anesthesiology and had them give me a little something extra. Of course, about the same time, my extra pumps of the epidural button started kicking in and so my legs were completely numb! I couldn't move them at all! I'm sure there is nothing like the feeling of natural childbirth, but I have to say my epidural experience this time was great. Other than the temporary numb legs, I could totally feel what was happening, it just didn't hurt. (I did have a backache for about a week but it is childbirth after all. I suppose there has to be some amount of pain.) Once I started pushing it only took about 45 minutes, which was fabulous compared to 2 1/2 hours with Garrett. Of course I got sick and threw up all over everyone during the process--sorry for that unfortunate detail! Chance was a little purple when he came out and wasn't breathing well (if at all) because of the cord being wrapped around his neck. Paula quickly handed him to the nurses who "bagged" him (I feel like an "ER" episode--but I really don't know how else to say it.) and worked to help him breathe. It felt like an eternity before we heard the first cry. Once it started, it grew so loud and so strong so quickly that it became almost comical. He seemed so determined to make his prescence known and reassure all of us. My arms were so shaky and I was so tired that I was scared to hold him. I managed long enough for Jeff to snap a picture but then my nurse noticed I didn't look so good and whisked Chance away just before I threw up all over everyone again. (All the nurses were wonderful! This particular one was a little ornery, but she was my nurse at the beginning and at the end, which was kind of fun.) After that, I sent Chance with the nurse to the nursery to get cleaned up and sent Jeff to pick up Garrett so he could come see the baby before it got too late. (Garrett had spent the morning with his friend Yuri and the rest of the day at Mindy's with Owen, Wyatt and Olivia. Thanks everyone!) This experience was SO much better than the first time around and I believe a lot of the credit goes to Paula! She was so determined to make it a good experience for us and she did. I am so grateful for her!