Warning: The following entry is rated NFW (not for wimps).
As I said, toward the end, I was pretty uncomfortable all the time. Then August 3rd came and I was fairly certain that going into labor was imminent. Later that evening, I started contracting. Britton went to bed and I told him that I'd wake him when my contractions got closer together. I stayed awake packing and watching a movie, completely unaware if there was some "normal" protocol that I was supposed to be following. By 1 am, my contractions were two minutes apart but I was still feeling relatively okay and I woke Britton so that we could go to the hospital. Right before we left, my water broke and my pain level went through the roof. I was no longer a happy camper (understatement of the year) and we drove to the hospital on a road that I found shockingly bumpy (considering I drive to work that way every day and never noticed the bumps). When we got to triage, we were greeted by our friends (nurses and residents that were hoping we'd go into labor on their shift), but at that point I didn't want to talk to anyone, I just
wanted an epidural!!! To make a long story short, for some reason I was not an easy epidural patient (difficulties with dosing) and there was a 1 1/2 hour period where I was in a LOT of pain (next time we will try to get to the hospital sooner).
Then I was perfectly happy after the epidural finally worked (see picture of side-lying happy preggo lady) and Britton felt comfortable taking on the roll of managing my labor as my physician.
By about 3 AM I was blissfully painfree and started to push for the first time around 5:30, but after a few pushes we determined that I was not ready and that the epidural had to be turned off. Around 6:00 I started pushing again, feeling only mild contractions, and I watched my husband help the baby's head descend more and more in a large mirror.
Finally at 6:38 AM, Nathan Britton Crigler emerged and I was SO eager to hold him. My arms are out-
stretched waiting to touch my sweet baby boy for the first time as his daddy is busy cutting the cord.
Finally I was handed our gooey, messy baby straight from the womb and he was the most
beautiful thing I had ever seen!!!
It was the most emotional moment of my life (new under- statement of the year)
and the tears of joy came pouring out!
After a few minutes of holding Nathan, he was taken to the other side of the room to get cleaned up and checked out by his daddy and a
pedi- atrician. Then Britton had the honor of placing the first diaper!
And once again he was in my arms... mmmm... baby.... I am now a believer in love at first sight!
In less than an hour, I was stitched up and taken care of, fed, and transferred to another room with Nathan.
Luckily, Nathan and I never needed to be separated because I was having a hard time taking my eyes off him for even a moment! He's so cute I could hardly stand it!
A lactation specialist came to my room and I tried breastfeeding for the first time. It was an interesting experience and unfortunately we are still struggling to master it and get mommy to make enough milk now that Nathan is over 2 weeks old.
This was truly the best day of my life! I am so proud and overjoyed to get to welcome
Nathan into the world and into a very loving home! To us, he is
perfect!
It was wonderful to see my family and to get to spend precious time with Todd, Shu-Fen and Connor. They stayed with us for
a few days to help out when I got out of the hospital. While I loved having family fun time, I finally figured out that what I really needed was just a little help and a quiet house so that I could truly rest. So with Britton still working, my dad stayed for another week while the rest of my family returned to Jupiter. The aftermath of delivery turned out to not be as simple as I thought it would be and in retrospect I wished I had 
accepted the extra day in the hospital that was offered. At least with fewer people to visit with at home, I had more time to rest, sleep, take care of myself and get to know Nathan.
picking up around the house, and providing me with food and hydration. My dad and I gave him his first bath and took him to his first appointment with the pediatrician where Nathan received 
his first good report card. Nathan also put on a 3-foot waterworks display while being weighed and luckily my dad was the one handling him at the time...fun times for grandpa! Dad also got some baby-holding time in and cleaned my whole house before he left, that's one heck of a house guest! ;-)
