Cade & Melissa: John Cade Hunter

Our little boy finally arrived. John Cade Hunter was born Monday June 20 at 6:32 a.m. I had been having contractions on and off for weeks and Friday night they started to get a bit stronger and were 8-10 min apart but I knew I needed to wait until they were more like 5 min apart so I went to bed to wait for them to get closer. When I woke up in the morning they were gone. Same thing happened Saturday night and they were gone again by Sunday morning. So Sunday evening about 5:30 they started again but I didn't think much of it until I realized they were getting a little stronger and were 5 min apart. At 6:30 I called Cade at work to tell hum to come home. We got to the hospital about 8 and I was nervous because I wasn't in terrible pain yet and I really didn't want to go home since it was my due date.
The nurse checked me and I dilated to a 3 and about 80% effaced. She said we'd watch my contractions and check again in an hour to see if I would be staying or not. An hour later I was dilated to a 3+ but my contractions were getting really close together and were getting a lot stronger. She talked to the doctor and they decided to give me another hour. We went on a few walks and I sat on the birthing ball for a while. At the next check I was still only a 3 and 1/2, but since my contractions were so hard and so close together they decided to let me stay and the doctor (not my regular doc, but the one who was on call for her) would break my water later in the night.
Shortly after midnight I was ready for an epidural and they put that in about 12:30. The doctor finished another delivery and came to break my water at 1 a.m. By this time I was barely dilated to a 4 so progress was being made, but slowly. It took me until about 3 a.m. to get to a 5, but then when the nurse checked me again at 5 a.m. I was complete and ready to deliver. They had me wait to start pushing until 5:45 and had me stop pushing at 6 a.m. to wait for my doctor to get there (my doctor came back on shift at 5 a.m. Monday morning). I started pushing again about 6:15 and little John was born at 6:32 a.m.
Mostly my labor was pretty uneventful especially after getting my epidural, but I kept throwing up the whole time. Actually vomitting probably made me have to push a little less since throwing up is a really good push with my abdomen. :) During delivery my left leg was completely numb which was a really weird feeling and Cade had to move it for me when needed. Anyways here are some pictures of the event.

Just before leaving for the hospital. Full term right on my due date.